Automatic Disassembly Plan Generation from CAD Assembly Models

This paper describes a methodology for the generation of disassembly sequences based on CAD assembly models. The components geometry and their mating information are derived from the CAD model and the disassembly scheme is evaluated using surface mesh representations of the components. The algorithm entails determining pair-wise contact interactions between components and generation of feasible path transformations that enable disassociation of the interacting components. The physical interactions of the bodies are determined using standard contact algorithms between meshed bodies. For each pair of bodies, one component is considered the target body and the other the contactor. The disassembly direction between interfering components is the result of minimizing a penetration function that describes the interference between the components using a ray-triangle intersection test. A feasible disassembly direction has the interference between the components to be zero when the contactor is moved along the disassembly direction. A part is considered "disassembled" when it is outside the bounding box of the product assembly. Simple verification examples are presented to illustrate the methodology.