Mobile 3D assembly process information construction and transfer to the assembly station of complex products

In the model-based definition design and manufacturing environment, 3D models have integrated the complete definition information of a product. Thus, they have been treated as the single data source for design and manufacturing stages in the product development lifecycle. Transferring the 3D models to the assembly station is crucial for facilitating the integration of the design and manufacturing processes of complex products and is full of challenges. This paper proposes a framework for mobile 3D assembly process information (API) construction and transfer to the assembly station of complex products with the purpose of providing direct and unambiguous assembly instruction to assembly operators, hence reducing their mental burden and improving the efficiency of assembly work. Within the framework, a dynamic assembly simplification method is investigated to support the downstream 3D API construction and transfer. After analysing the association relationship between assembly scene elements, an augmented reality (AR)-based method for 3D API construction and transfer is presented by merging the information of the assembly scene. The proposed approach has been tested on several test cases, and the results indicate that the improved dynamic assembly simplification method can search assembly features more efficiently compared to the divide-and-conquer algorithm and that the AR-based 3D API intuitively shows the assembly process.