| Abstract | This paper describes a system and underlying algorithms toperform geometric containment analysis to determine if a
newly designed rotational part can be manufactured from a part
in an existing database of rotational parts. Only material
removal of the database part is considered in order to obtain the
newly designed part from the database part. The system uses a
three-step algorithm to test for containment. The first step
analyzes feasibility of containment using bounding cylinders. If
the bounding cylinder of the query part is bigger than the part
in the database, then the database part cannot contain the query
part and it is eliminated from consideration. The second step
analyzes feasibility of containment by ignoring off-axis
features. Any part that fails to satisfy containment at this stage
is eliminated from consideration. The third step analyzes the
remaining parts from the database for feasibility of containment
by including the off-axis features. Finally, the system rank-
orders all the database parts that can contain the query part
based on their volume differences with the query part. The
system described in this paper can be used to find an existing
part from which to manufacture a newly designed part. This
capability is expected to significantly reduce proliferation of
parts, to improve manufacturing responsiveness, and to reduce
the cost of new products.
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