Extended Interference Matrices for Exploded View of Assembly Planning

One of the tasks in assembly planning is to create the exploded views for the visualization purpose and the verification of assembly plans. In this paper, we introduce how to generate exploded views automatically from an assembly model. To increase the level of automation, a new relational matrix called extended interference matrix (EIM) is used to represent the assembly relations among constitutive parts. Information in an EIM is used to create the exploded views. An innovative method is developed to generate the exploded views based on the assembly sequences and EIMs. The corresponding Application Programming Interface (API) to the Unigraphics software has been developed as an integration of the algorithm with the CAD software tool. The assembly model of a gear reducer is used as a case study.