CAD Model Searching for Reusing Design Knowledge

An efficient way of searching the CAD models for reusing the design knowledge is proposed in this paper. Three searching interfaces are provided for the consideration of different requirements in the procedure of model design. The text-based searching interface is generally used in conceptual design to find the CAD models based on descriptive information, e.g. functional requirements or application etc.. The shape-based searching is further used to specify the geometry and topology of the CAD model in the detailed design. The global shape-based interface is employed to determine the geometrical shape of CAD models in coarse granularity and the local shape-based searching is used to specify the detailed structure. The experiments demonstrate the combination of the three different searching interfaces could help the users to locate the CAD model they need and reuse the design knowledge attached to the CAD model.