Constraint modeling and assembly intention capturing technology for virtual assembly

To ensure the precision and efficiency of virtual assembly operations, a novel assembly intention capturing algorithm was proposed. The expression of constraint model and modeling method in virtual assembly environment were presented. The concept of Constraint Element Bounding Box(CEBB)was introduced and its construction rules and method were also put forward. Intersection test between two CEBB was used as the portal of assembly intention capturing algorithm. Constraints multi-layer recognition rules were presented to define the constraint type based on the mapping relationship between constraint elements and degree of freedom. Then, to realize the intelligent constraint confirmation, constraint priority and comparison strategy of motion increment between constraint elements were proposed. The time cost function was introduced to estimate the computation efficiency of the algorithm. Finally, effectiveness of the proposed method was verified by an application example in an aerospace product.