A staged approach for feature extraction from sheet metal part models

This paper proposes a staged approach of feature identification and extraction for sheet metal parts from a solid model. The identification and extraction process is divided into several stages. Each stage is automatically processed and the results after each stage can be interactively corrected and modified for the next stage. With this approach, the features of sheet metal parts can be automatically extracted from their well-defined solid models. At the same time, for ill-defined or inaccurate solid models of sheet metal parts, their features can be extracted through certain user interaction at a suitable stage. An attribute is also introduced in the paper to measure the relationship between sheet surfaces and other surfaces, and simplify the identification process. The approach has been implemented in the AutoCAD environment and used by an industrial collaborator for the design of progressive dies.