Automatic Extraction and Synthesis of Disassembly Information From CAD Assembly STEP File

Product disassembly is critical to remanufacturing, reuse, and recycling activities, which are essential reverse flows in circular economy systems. While disassembly optimization and analysis methods are well developed, many of these methods rely on basic disassembly information, i.e. a precedence matrix. Obtaining this basic disassembly information is a non-trivial task that has, in the past, required extensive manual analysis of a product assembly. This process can be significantly improved by developing methods capable of automatically extracting disassembly data from CAD/CAM assemblies. If this can be achieved accurately, efficiently, and in a timely manner, numerous disassembly optimization methods will become readily available to product designers. In pursuit of this aim, the objective of this research is to automatically extract part contact information from assembly models and determine disassembly operation feasibility. The described method uses CAD assembly STEP data as input, extracts disassembly relevant information such as, component surface contour type, Cartesian points, and normal direction of the surface, and determines the feasibility of disassembly of each component which is represented as a precedence matrix. Disassembly feasibility is evaluated using the contact function. A case assembly was tested and the precedence matrix was successfully determined for part contact disassembly constraints. Results of the research indicate that the method is capable of extracting disassembly data from CAD STEP assemblies but has critical limitations that must be overcome to be influential during design.