Decomposition of a 2D assembly drawing into 3D part drawings

This paper shows a method of automatically decomposing a 2D assembly drawing into 3D part drawings using a set of solid element equations. Solid elements are virtual elements that are constructed from orthographic views and which become the components of solid models of all of the parts described in the orthographic views. This method organizes the relationships between a 2D assembly drawing and solid elements as a system of solid element equations that can classify solid elements into true elements of some parts and false elements that do nor actually exist in any parts. The method generates ways of solving the system of solid element equations and the combination of true elements. If there is more than one solution, the method can generate all of the solutions. This method was tested on various 2D assembly drawings. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.