Reverse engineering holds all the aces when it comes to research, innovation, cost saving or even bug fixing in certain cases. In fact, even the opposite is true; all these verticals need reverse engineering equally. Whenever manufacturers or research and development engineer need to bring any alterations, upgradations or innovations in existing product they go back to square one, i.e. to the designs of machinery. Analysis of the existing design needs to be done in order to optimize it. Almost every other industry needing design modeling for these purposes apply reverse engineering; that is to say, go from scanned images to CAD models, essentially to keep progressing and staying ahead in the market presence.

Also, design draft on paper eventually degrades; it simply becomes cumbersome then to preserve these paper documents over a long period of time. They might serve the need or have an appreciation during fabrication process but after that, to have their dedicated use, they need to be converted to digital models through software. Some powerful software popular in the market like Solidworks, Solid Edge, ProE, Creo and Geomagic Design X have these capabilities for creating models and for further enhanced targeted use.

Conversion Process of Scan Data to CAD Models

A laser scanner and CMM set up scans the entire topography of equipment to be modeled. Several setups are made at various different places onsite surrounding the device to be scanned. Number of setups depends on the level of detailing you are after. These scanned documents are nothing but a cloud of scanned points or polylines oriented systematically in X, Y and Z coordinate axis. Once the scanning phase is over these files are mapped, meshed and imported to CAD software and through software’s ability they are converted to CAD models. Since these files can be as big as up to several 100 GB, it is not practical to import all of the cloud data at once, and hence it is done in installments.

Here, the time required to scan the topography of machinery depends upon number of flat and curved surfaces and other factors like level of detailing does one need in the model, etc. Though the scanning process appears to be simple but when intersection of lines is encountered, it calls for a high quality scanner and CAD expert to interpret it. Moreover, during modeling, the phase that consumes the maximum amount of time in the entire process, by taking the sectional views of assembly model interior details like housing, casing for valves or pumps, bolts, fasteners, or doors and windows in case of a plant facility model etc. can be incorporated.

For a particular example when an engineering consultant in Europe approached Hi-Tech for conversion of 3D scan data to manufacturing ready CAD model. The client had provided the company with scanned data for the geometry which was mapped accurately for conversion. The dimensions were calculated and CAD model was prepared with zero to minimum deviation. This benefited the manufacturer in saving time and resources.

Applications and Benefits of Conversion

Out of several applications of scan to CAD conversion, a few are listed below:

Scanning is one of the fastest methods to obtain geometrical information of any equipment and CAD models can be generated accurately. It saves time since the digitization of design from initial stage is eliminated.

For manufacturing of replicated components this technique has the capability to deliver quick and optimum outputs since scanned data alone is not feasible during manufacturing phase.

Another application is when paper based design documents get degraded over time, but machinery is still in operation and requires improvement, model based test are to be done. Scanned data of this machinery can provide the information for model generation and analysis.

For newly introduced equipment, performance analysis tests of like Finite Element Analysis – FEA or Computational Fluid Dynamics – CFD a model is must needed.

The modeled information is easy for cost savings and design changes that may arise in future. It also supports the operations and maintenance team to manage the tasks well.

Conclusion

Though documents and blue prints of equipment are needed for fabrication, one needs the same information in the modeled form. If a research and development engineer has the design on paper or even the entire equipment, it is of no use to him. He needs to get that equipment scanned or design scanned and have a model in order to be able to perform its analysis and enhance it.

About Author: Kashyap Vyas is an Engineer at Hi-Tech CADD Services - CAD Drafting Services and holds a Master’s degree in Thermal Engineering with several research papers to his credit. He covers CAD and CAE topics for the engineering industry. His contributions are primarily focused on encouraging manufacturers and suppliers to adopt virtual product development tools to build efficient products with reduced time-to-market.