Shape Comparison of 3D Models Based on Features and Parameters

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) is used extensively during mechanical product design, which involves creating 3D models of components and then assembling them into modules and systems. Methods and tools to compare components and identify a common platform using these 3D CAD models of components would facilitate faster specification of product family architecture. Hence, there is a need to develop means for comparing component geometry, in order to identify the common and distinct features, determine component commonality, and identify a common platform for the set of components. This paper presents an approach to determine geometric commonality between components from their 3D solid models. The approach consists of performing a pair-wise comparison between components. To measure commonality for a pair of components, first all feature-pair’s dimensions and positions are measured, which then combined to give the overall component-pair commonality.