Automated Analysis of Mechanical Designs

Number: 20210141869
Published: 2021-05-13
Filed: 2019-11-08
Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Inventors: Bächer; Moritz Niklaus, Hafner; Christian, Bickel; Bernd, Schumacher; Christian Gabriel, Knoop; Lars Espen
CPC: G06F30/17; G06F30/20; G06F30/23
Verdict: High Notable software
Source: Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline

The keeper's note

Automated mechanical-design analysis tool (Bächer, robotics-adjacent CAD).

Abstract

An automated mechanical design analysis system includes a computing platform having a hardware processor and a system memory storing a software code. The hardware processor executes the software code to receive an input model of a mechanical object, identify one or more design parameter(s) of the input model for automated analysis, and perform a parametric mapping of the input model based on the design parameter(s) to produce a parameterized model corresponding to the input model. The hardware processor further executes the software code to embed the parameterized model in a grid to produce model-grid intersections defining multiple subvolumes of the parameterized model, and generate a simulation of the input model based on the model-grid intersections and the subvolumes, where the simulation of the input model provides a differentiable mathematical representation of the input model.

Background

BACKGROUND

In modern Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems, a boundary representation composed primarily of Non-Uniform Rational Basis Spline (NURBS) patches is typically used to describe solid models. The efficacy of such boundary representations is attributed to the many desirable properties of NURBS, which enable the precise representation of analytical and free-form shapes, their intuitive control, and modeling operations such as extrusion, chamfering, or blending. Nevertheless, and despite the advantages of boundary representations for manual design, strength-to-weight or rest shape optimization require the solution of a Partial Differential Equation (PDE) on the volume enclosed by the representative boundary.

Although progress has been made in isogeometric analysis, where PDEs are solved on volumetric NURBS representations, the generation of volumetric NURBS for general boundary representation input continues to present challenges in the conventional art. As a result, it is still typical to solve PDEs on a volumetric mesh representation. However, because shape optimization requires a differentiable simulator, and even moderate changes to design variables demand repeated conversion and remeshing, the use of CAD in combination with design optimization remains unfortunately limited in the conventional art. SUMMARY

There are provided systems and methods for performing automated analysis and/or optimization of mechanical designs, substantially as shown in

Claims

1. An automated mechanical design analysis system comprising: a computing platform including a hardware processor and a system memory; a software code stored in the system memory; the hardware processor configured to execute the software code to: receive an input model of a mechanical object; identify at least one design parameter of the input model for automated analysis; perform a parametric mapping of the input model based on the at least one design parameter to produce a parameterized model corresponding to the input model; embed the parameterized model in a grid to produce a plurality of model-grid intersections defining a plurality of subvolumes of the parameterized model; and generate a simulation of the input model based on the plurality of model-grid intersections and the plurality of subvolumes; wherein the simulation of the input model comprises a differentiable mathematical representation of the input model. || 11. A method for use by an automated mechanical design analysis system including a computing platform having a hardware processor and a system memory storing a software code, the method comprising: receiving, by the software code executed by the hardware processor, an input model of a mechanical object; identifying, by the software code executed by the hardware processor, at least one design parameter of the input model for automated analysis; performing a parametric mapping of the input model, by the software code executed by the hardware processor, based on the at least one design parameter to produce a parameterized model corresponding to the input model; embedding the parameterized model in a grid, by the software code executed by the hardware processor, to produce a plurality of model-grid intersections defining a plurality of subvolumes of the parameterized model; and generating a simulation of the input model, by the software code executed by the hardware processor, based on the plurality of model-grid intersections and the plurality of subvolumes; wherein the simulation of the input model comprises a differentiable mathematical representation of the input model.