Computer-Aided Design

Computer-Aided Design
There are several fundamental reasons for implementing a computer-aided design
system:
• 1. To Increase the productivity of the designer. This is accomplished by helping the
designer to visualize the product and its component subassemblies and parts; and
by reducing the time required in synthesizing, analyzing, and documenting the
design. This productivity improvement translates not only into lower design cost
but also into shorter project completion times.
• 2. To improve the quality of design. A CAD system permits a more thorough
engineering analysis and a larger number of design alternatives can be
investigated. Design errors are also reduced through the greater accuracy provided
by the system. These factors lead to a better design.
Computer-Aided Design
• 3. To improve communications. Use of a CAD system provides better
engineering drawings, more standardization in the drawings, better
documentation of the design, fewer drawing errors, and greater
legibility.
• 4. To create a data base for manufacturing. In the process of creating
the documentation for the product design (geometries and dimensions
of the product and its components, material specifications for
components, bill of materials, etc.), much of the required data base to
manufacture the product is also created.
Design Process
THE APPLICATION OF COMPUTERS FOR DESIGN

1. Geometric modeling
2. Engineering analysis
3. Design review and evaluation
4. Automated drafting
Geometric modeling

• In computer-aided design, geometric modeling is concerned with the computer

compatible mathematical description of the geometry of an object. The
mathematical description allows the image of the object to be displayed and
manipulated on a graphics terminal through signals from the CPU of the CAD
system.The software that provides geometric modeling capabilities must be
designed for efficient use both by the computer and the human designer.
• To use geometric modeling, the designer constructs the graphical image of the
object on the CRT screen of the (Interactive computer graphics) ICG system by
inputting three types of commands to the computer.
Geometric modeling
• The first type of command generates basic geometric elements such as
points, lines, and circles.
• The second command type is used to accomplish scaling, rotation, or
other transformations of these elements.
• The third type of command causes the various elements to be joined
into the desired shape of the object being created on the ICG system
Engineering analysis
• In the formulation of nearly any engineering design project, some type of analysis
is required. The analysis may involve stress—strain calculations, heat-transfer
computations, or the use of differential equations to describe the dynamic behavior
of the system being designed.
• The computer can be used to aid in this analysis work. It is often necessary that
specific programs be developed internally by the engineering analysis group to
solve a particular design problem. In other situations, commercially available
general-purpose programs can be used to perform the engineering analysis.
Design review and evaluation

• Checking the accuracy of the design can be accomplished conveniently on the

graphics terminal.
• Semiautomatic dimensioning and tolerancing routines which assign size
specifications to surfaces indicated by the user help to reduce the possibility of
dimensioning errors.
• The designer can zoom in on part design details and magnify the image on the
graphics screen for close scrutiny.
Automated drafting

• Automated drafting involves the creation of hard-copy engineering drawings

directly from the CAD data base.
• In some early computer-aided design departments, automation of the drafting
process represented the principal justification for investing in the CAD system.
• Indeed, CAD systems can increase productivity in the drafting function by roughly
five times over manual drafting.
Group technology

• Group technology is a manufacturing philosophy in which similar

parts are identified and grouped together to take advantage of their
similarities in design and production.
• Similar parts are arranged into part families. where each part family
possesses similar design and/or manufacturing characteristics.
• For example, a plant producing 10,000 different part numbers may be
able to group the vast majority of these parts into 30 or 40 distinct
families.
• It is reasonable to believe that the processing of each member of a
given family is similar. and this should result in manufacturing
efficiencies.
• There are two major tasks that a company must undertake when it
implements group technology. These two tasks represent significant
obstacles to the application of GT.
• Identifying the part families. If the plant makes 10,000 different parts,
reviewing all of the part drawings and grouping the parts into families is a
substantial task that consumes a significant amount of time.
• Rearranging production machines into machine cells. It is time consuming
and costly 10 plan and accomplish this rearrangement, and the machines are
not producing during the changeover
CREATING THE MANUFACTURING DATA BASE

• Another important reason for using a CAD system is that it offers the opportunity
to develop the data base needed to manufacture the product.
• In the conventional manufacturing cycle practiced for so many years in industry,
engineering drawings were prepared by design draftsmen and then used by
manufacturing engineers to develop the process plan (i.e., the "route sheets")-
• The activities involved in designing the product were separated from the activities
associated with process
• planning.
• Essentially, a two-step procedure was employed. This was both time consuming
and involved duplication of effort by design and manufacturing personnel.
Desirable relationship of CAD/CAM data base to CAD and CAM.
BENEFITS OF COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN

• Productivity improvement in design

• Shorter lead times
• Design analysis
• Fewer design errors
• Greater accuracy in design calculations
• Standardization of design, drafting, and documentation procedures
• Drawings are more understandable
 Hardware In Computer-Aided Design

• Hardware components for computer-aided design are available in a variety of

sizes, configurations, and capabilities.
• Hence it is possible to select a CAD system that meets the particular
computational and graphics requirements of the user firm.
• Engineering firms that are not involved in production would choose a system
exclusively for drafting and design-related functions.
• Manufacturing firms would choose a system to be part of a company-wide
CAD/CAM system.
Hardware In Computer-Aided Design
Typically, a stand-alone CAD system would include the following hardware
components:
• One or more design workstations.
These would consist of:
• A graphics terminal
• Operator input devices
• One or more plotters and other output devices
• Central processing unit (CPU)
• Secondary storage
 Typical configuration of hardware
components in a stand-alone CAD system.
THE DESIGN WORKSTATION

• The CAD workstation is the system interface with the outside world.
• It represents a significant factor in determining how convenient and efficient it is
for a designer to use the CAD system.
• The workstation must accomplish five function:
1. It must interface with the central processing unit.
2. It must generate a steady graphic image for the user.
3. It must provide digital descriptions of the graphic image.
4. It must translate computer commands into operating functions.
5. It must facilitate communication between the user and the system.
THE GRAPHICS TERMINAL

Image generation in computer graphics

• A heated cathode emits a high-speed electron beam onto a phosphor-coated glass
screen.
• The electrons energize the phosphor coating, causing it to glow at the points where
the beam makes contact
• By focusing the electron beam, changing its intensity, and controlling its point of
contact against the phosphor coating through the use of a deflector system, the
beam can be made to generate a picture on the CRT screen.puter graphics
Diagram of cathode ray tube (CRT)
THE GRAPHICS TERMINAL
There are two basic techniques used in current computer graphics terminals for generating the image on the CRT
screen. They are:
• 1. Stroke writing
• 2. Raster scan
Stroke-writing
• The stroke-writing system uses an electron beam which operates like a pencil to
create a line image on the CRT screen.
• The image is constructed out of a sequence of straight-line segments. Each line
segment is drawn on the screen by directing the beam to move from one point on
the screen to the next, where each point is defined by its x and y coordinates.
• Although the procedure results in images composed of only straight lines, smooth
curves can be approximated by making the connecting line segments short
enough.
Stroke writing for generating images in
computer graphics
 Raster scan

• In the raster scan approach, the viewing screen is divided into a large number of
discrete phosphor picture elements, called pixels.
• The matrix of pixels constitutes the raster. The number of separate pixels in the
raster display might typically range from 256 x 256 (a total of over 65,000) to
1024 x 1024 (a total of ove1 000 000 points). Each pixel on the screen can be
made to glow with a different brightness Color screens provide for the pixels to
have different colors as well as brightness
• During operation, an electron beam creates the image by sweeping along a
horizontal line on the screen from left to right and energizing the pixels in that line
during the sweep. When the sweep of one line is completed, the electron beam
moves to the next line below and proceeds in a fixed pattern.
• After sweeping the entire screen the process is repeated at a rate at 30 to 60 entire
scans of the screen per second.
Raster scan approach for generating
images in computer graphics
DlRECTED-BEAM REFRESH
• . The directed-beam refresh terminal utilizes the stroke-writing approach to generate the image on the CRT
screen.
• The term "refresh" in the name refers to the fact that the image must be regenerated many
• times per second in order to avoid noticeable flicker of the image.
• The phosphor elements on the screen surface are capable of maintaining their brightness for only a short time
(sometimes measured in microseconds).
• In order for the image to be continued, these picture tubes must be refreshed by causing the directed beam to
retrace the image repeatedly
DIRECT-VIEW STORAGE TUBE (DVST).
• DVST terminals also use the stroke-writing approach to generate the image on the
CRT screen.
• The term "storage tube" refers to the ability of the screen to retain the image which
has been projected against it, thus avoiding the need to rewrite the image
constantly.
• What makes this possible is the use of an electron flood gun directed at the
phosphor coated screen which keeps the phosphor elements illuminated once they
have been energized by the stroke-writing electron beam.
• The resulting image on the CRT screen is flicker-free.
RASTER SCAN TERMINALS.
• Raster scan terminals operate by causing an electron beam to trace a zigzag pattern
across the viewing screen.
• The operation is similar to that of a commercial television set.
• The difference is that a TV set uses analog signals originally generated by a video
camera to construct the image on the CRT screen, while the raster scan ICG
terminal uses digital signals generated by a computer.
• For this reason, the raster scan terminals used in computer graphics are sometimes
called digital TVs.
INPUT OUTPUT DEVICES
• Input devices
• Analog type:mouse (ball type)

X-y variable
Resistance
 • Track ball
• Joy stick
• Digital type
• Light pen
• Light sensitive diode to point the screen
• Positioned is sensed on basis of when pen senses light
 TABLET AND PEN

Grid of wire

Pen emits radio frequency and intensity received by each

wire tells the position
 HARDCOPY AND OUTPUT
DEVICES
• Flat bed plotters
• Pen
• X-drive motor & Y-drive motor
• Pen raise & lower mechanism
• Controller

• Drum plotter
• Pen
• Raise and lower mechanism
• X-drive(for pen) & Y drive(for drum) motors
• Controller
• Printers
• Laser
• Inkjet