Open structure design for sash sheet metal product

This paper presents an open structured design concept for thin sheet metal products. Our system used the boundary representation method to represent sheet metal products, and applied an object–oriented program to develop the system module. In an open environment, the user can design, as he pleases, any shape of sheet metal outlines constituted by lines, any shape of slots formed by holes and lines, and any shape of slots formed by lines and arcs. Besides, a heat diffusion slot designed in column–and–row form was provided for the convenience of a user's design work. The system automatically transferred the designed sheet metal products into system data, and automatically established the–development rule in the design process. It can therefore automatically conduct the development of the sheet metal products already designed by the user. In addition, the concept of additional face design was proposed, in which sheet metal product data established in the database can be retrieved to add face design to the products already established. The newly additional face can be combined with the original product to form a brand new product.