Released July 2006

D-Cubed announced the latest release of the AEM component, the motion simulation technology that provides design engineers with a more realistic and productive assembly environment integrated at the core of their chosen CAD system. New enhancements specific to version 35.0 are listed below. See the full product description.

Enhanced simulation environments: Support for massless construction entities

One of the strengths of the AEM is that it enables sophisticated motion simulations to be performed directly on the CAD parts with little or no preparation. However, not all entities in a simulation are solid parts, one example being construction geometry. An example of a use of construction geometry is to represent a plane of symmetry in an assembly. The correct handling of such entities is an important issue for user productivity.

Previous releases of the AEM have required all entities in a simulation to have non-zero mass properties even if such elements represented non-solid construction geometries. This requirement has been removed in the latest release, enabling more flexible use of construction geometries in assemblies and motion simulation. The latest release of Solid Edge®, Version 19, uses this new AEM capability to support enhancements to its full motion simulation environment.

More flexible integration with the D-Cubed Collision Detection Manager (CDM)

The AEM enables designers to simulate the contact and separation of parts and determine their subsequent motion. Such contacts can be a deliberate and fundamental part of the operation of a particular mechanism. However, there may be other collisions which occur that alert the user to errors in their current design. The CDM can identify such collisions, being optimised for use in mechanisms and assemblies with moving parts. This release permits parts and faces to be added to the CDM, but not the AEM. This enhancement enables the AEM to simulate the full range of contact based motion without interruption by collisions that are not directly relevant to such motion whilst at the same time using the CDM to check for the unwanted collisions. Previously, all parts and faces in the CDM also had to be in the AEM.

For example, the parts which make up a mechanism can be added to the AEM and the CDM. The parts that are not involved in the function of the mechanism, such as mountings and housings, may be added to the CDM but not the AEM. As the mechanism is driven using the AEM, for example with a linear or rotational motor, any collisions with the mountings and housings do not interrupt the simulation. The CDM can thus identify all unwanted collisions between the moving parts and the mountings and housings in just one AEM based simulation cycle.

Performance improvements to contact calculations

Fundamental to the fast and accurate computation of motion when parts collide and push each other around is the algorithm which determines the exact touching solution for bodies that collide. Improvements have been made in this release to the performance of this algorithm in some specific situations that commonly occur in typical assemblies and mechanisms. One example would be simulating the motion of a bolt that is being dragged out of a hole of slightly larger radius than the shaft of the bolt.

About AEM

The AEM, first released in 2001, realistically models the behaviour of assemblies and mechanisms. It takes account of the mass properties of parts, the motion caused by a variety of engineering related forces and devices, and the interaction of parts as they collide and push each other around. The AEM is integrated at the core of a CAD system rather than as an external module. Its usage requires no specialist expertise or model preparation, making AEM based design productivity enhancements immediately accessible to any CAD end-user.

About D-Cubed

D-Cubed software is part of the PLM Components suite of solutions and represents a family of geometric software components that enable key functionality in CAD, CAM, CAE, and PLM applications, including sketching, part and assembly modeling, motion simulation, collision detection, clearance measurement and hidden-line visualization.

Contact

Jim Thorpe

UGS (D-Cubed)

Tel: +44-1223-722655

jim.thorpe@ugs.com