Method and apparatus for investigation of how a technical system can be broken down

1 - 23 . (canceled)

24 . A method for determining how to break down a technical system into its individual components in which a computer-available design model of the system is predetermined, one computer-available three-dimensional design model of each component of the system is predetermined, and a plurality of direction vectors are predetermined, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

determining which of the direction vectors of the design model meet at least one other component;

determining the directions in which a component can be removed from the system as a function of the result of the determination process,

selecting, for each component, a plurality of points in the design model of the component as foot points;

calculating a ray for each component and each selected foot point, starting at the foot point and running in the direction of a direction vector;

determining, for each component and each selected foot point and each direction vector, the number of rays in the design model of at least one other component which start at the foot point, run in the direction of the direction vector and meet;

calculating a weighting of the component for each direction vector as a function of

the determined number of rays which meet a different design model in the direction of the direction vector, and

the number of rays produced in total in the direction of the direction vector,

calculating an overall weighting of the component as a function of the weightings of the component with respect to the direction vectors,

determining those components which have the greatest weighting of all the calculated weightings with respect to which direction vector,

determining as a movement vector of the determined component of that direction vector with respect to which the determined component has the greatest weighting, and

removing the selected component from the system in the direction of the movement vector.

25 . The method as claimed in claim 24 , wherein each predetermined component design model comprises node points in a network of the surface of the respective component design model, and node points in the network are selected as foot points of the design model of the component.

26 . The method as claimed in claim 24 , wherein the method comprises the steps of:

determining, for each direction vector, a plane which is at right angles to the direction vector;

selecting points on this plane;

calculating, for each selected point, one straight line which runs through that point and is at right angles to the plane; and

selecting, as foot points for each component, at least one intersection of each straight line with the design model of the component.

27 . The method as claimed in claim 24 , wherein a three-dimensional coordinate system is predetermined, the three vectors in the direction of the three axes of the coordinate system are predetermined as direction vectors, and the three vectors in the opposite directions are predetermined as direction vectors.

28 . The method as claimed in claim 27 , comprising the steps of:

determining, for each component, a cuboid whose side surfaces are at right angles to in each case one axis of the coordinate system and which completely surrounds the design model of the component;

selecting a plurality of points on each side surface of the cuboid;

defining, for each selected point on a side surface, a straight line through the point which is at right angles to the side surface is defined;

and, if the straight line meets the design model of the component, selecting that intersection of the straight line with the design model which is closest to the side surface is selected as the foot point for that component.

29 . The method as claimed in claim 24 , wherein

each design model for a component is predetermined such that it defines the geometry of the surface of the component, and

the design model of the system is predetermined such that it defines the positions of the components relatively to one another in the system.

30 . The method as claimed in claim 24 , wherein the weighting of a component with respect to a direction vector is calculated as a function of the quotient of the number of rays which meet and the number of selected foot points.

31 . The method as claimed in claim 24 , wherein

for each selected foot point when the ray which starts at the foot point meets another design model, the distance between that foot point and the other design model is determined, and

the weighting of each component with respect to each direction vector is calculated as a function of the respectively determined distances.

32 . The method as claimed in claim 24 , wherein when it is determined for a direction vector that none of the rays running in the direction of this direction vector meets the design model of another component, removing the component from the system in the direction of that direction vector.

33 . The method as claimed in claim 24 , comprising the step of:

selecting for each component the greatest weighting of the weightings of the component with respect to the direction vectors and using the selected weighting as the overall weighting for that component.

34 . The method as claimed in claim 24 , wherein it is determined that the system cannot be broken down into its components when the overall weighting of each component is less than a predetermined limit.

35 . The method as claimed in claim 24 , wherein for each selected foot point, for each direction vector and for each selected foot point, when a ray which starts at the foot point meets a design model of another component in the direction of the direction vector, the method comprises the steps of:

determining the distance between that foot point and the relevant design model; and

calculating, as a function of the determined distances, the weighting of that component with respect to each direction vector.

36 . The method of claim 24 , wherein the method is carried out a plurality of times successively, and, in the process is applied to the predetermined system in a first run, and is applied in each subsequent run to the system which is created from the system from the previous run by omission of the component determined in the previous run, and

wherein the repeated running ends when the system which results from omission of the component determined in the previous runs has only one component.

37 . The method of claim 24 , wherein the method is carried out a plurality of times successively, and, in the process, is applied to the predetermined system in a first run and the component with the highest overall weighting being determined as the first component in the break-down sequence, and is applied in each subsequent run to the system which is created from the system from the previous run by omission of the component determined in the previous run, and

wherein the component for which the highest overall weighting is calculated in the subsequent run is inserted into the break-down sequence as the successor to the currently last component, and the repeated running is ended when the system which results from omission of the component determined in the previous run has only one component.

38 . The method of claim 37 , wherein the reverse break-down sequence is calculated as the assembly sequence.

39 . The method of claim 24 , wherein a viewing direction is predetermined, and the method is carried out repeatedly and successively, and, during this process, is applied to the predetermined system in a first run, and is applied in each subsequent run to the system which is formed from the system in the previous run by omission of the component determined in the previous run,

wherein in each run of the method, the design model of the determined component is moved in the direction of the determined movement vector,

wherein the process of carrying out the method repeatedly is ended when the system which is obtained by omission of the component determined in the previous run has only one component,

wherein the representation of the component from the viewing direction is produced for each component, using the moved design model, and

wherein the representations that are produced of all of the components are assembled to form the exploded drawing.

40 . The method as claimed in claim 39 , wherein the design model of the first component in the break-down sequence is moved to a predetermined distance and the design model of each subsequent component in the break-down sequence is moved so far that, after the move, all of the design models of the components determined in the previous runs can be seen completely from the viewing direction.

41 . The method as claimed in claim 36 , wherein the method is terminated when an overall weighting below a predetermined limit has been calculated for all the components in the system in the previous run.

42 . A computer program product which is loaded in the internal memory of a computer and has software section to perform the steps of:

determining which of the direction vectors of the design model meet at least one other component;

determining the directions in which a component can be removed from the system as a function of the result of the determination process,

selecting, for each component, a plurality of points in the design model of the component as foot points;

calculating a ray for each component and each selected foot point, starting at the foot point and running in the direction of a direction vector;

determining, for each component and each selected foot point and each direction vector, the number of rays in the design model of at least one other component which start at the foot point, run in the direction of the direction vector and meet;

calculating a weighting of the component for each direction vector as a function of

the determined number of rays which meet a different design model in the direction of the direction vector, and

the number of rays produced in total in the direction of the direction vector,

calculating an overall weighting of the component as a function of the weightings of the component with respect to the direction vectors,

determining those components which have the greatest weighting of all the calculated weightings with respect to which direction vector,

determining as a movement vector of the determined component of that direction vector with respect to which the determined component has the greatest weighting, and

removing the selected component from the system in the direction of the movement vector.

43 . A computer program product which is stored on a computer-legible medium and has a computer-readable program which causes a computer to carry out the steps of:

determining which of the direction vectors of the design model meet at least one other component;

determining the directions in which a component can be removed from the system as a function of the result of the determination process,

selecting, for each component, a plurality of points in the design model of the component as foot points;

calculating a ray for each component and each selected foot point, starting at the foot point and running in the direction of a direction vector;

determining, for each component and each selected foot point and each direction vector, the number of rays in the design model of at least one other component which start at the foot point, run in the direction of the direction vector and meet;

calculating a weighting of the component for each direction vector as a function of

the determined number of rays which meet a different design model in the direction of the direction vector, and

the number of rays produced in total in the direction of the direction vector,

calculating an overall weighting of the component as a function of the weightings of the component with respect to the direction vectors,

determining those components which have the greatest weighting of all the calculated weightings with respect to which direction vector,

determining as a movement vector of the determined component of that direction vector with respect to which the determined component has the greatest weighting, and

removing the selected component from the system in the direction of the movement vector.

44 . A computer program product which has read access to a data memory, that stores a computer-available design model of a technical system, a computer-available three-dimensional design model for each component of the system, and computer-available definitions of a plurality of direction vectors in which the computer program of product performs the steps of:

determining which of the direction vectors meet the design model of at least one other component, and

determining the directions in which a component can be removed from the system as a function of the result of the determination process,

selecting, for each component, a plurality of points in the design model of the component as foot points,

calculating, for each component and for each selected foot point, a ray which starts at the foot point and runs in the direction of a direction vector,

determining, for each component, for each selected foot point and for each direction vector, how many rays which start at the foot point and run in the direction of the direction vector meet the design model of at least one other component,

calculating a weighting for each component with respect to each direction vector as a function of the determined number of rays in the direction of the direction vector which meet another design model, and the total number of rays produced in the direction of the direction vector,

calculating an overall weighting of the component as a function of the weightings of the component with respect to the direction vectors,

determining a direction vector which has the highest weighting with respect to the determined component as the movement vector for the determined component, and

outputting a result that the determined component can be removed from the system in the direction of the movement vector.

45 . A data processing installation which has read access to a data memory, that stores a computer-available design model of a technical system, a computer-available three-dimensional design model for each component of the system, and computer-available definitions of a plurality of direction vectors in which the computer program of product performs the steps of:

determining which of the direction vectors meet the design model of at least one other component, and

determining the directions in which a component can be removed from the system as a function of the result of the determination process,

selecting, for each component, a plurality of points in the design model of the component as foot points,

calculating, for each component and for each selected foot point, a ray which starts at the foot point and runs in the direction of a direction vector,

determining, for each component, for each selected foot point and for each direction vector, how many rays which start at the foot point and run in the direction of the direction vector meet the design model of at least one other component,

calculating a weighting for each component with respect to each direction vector as a function of the determined number of rays in the direction of the direction vector which meet another design model, and the total number of rays produced in the direction of the direction vector,

calculating an overall weighting of the component as a function of the weightings of the component with respect to the direction vectors,

determining a direction vector which has the highest weighting with respect to the determined component as the movement vector for the determined component, and

outputting a result that the determined component can be removed from the system in the direction of the movement vector.