MAN 547

MAN 547
Reverse Engineering in Mechanical Design

Product Realization
&
Reverse Engineering
Dr. Arafa Soliman
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Important consideration before RE
1. Reason for reverse engineering a part

2. Number of parts to be scanned–single or
multiple
3. Part size–large or small
4. Part complexity–simple or complex
5. Part material–hard or soft
Important consideration before RE
6. Part finish–shiny or dull

7. Part geometry–organic or prismatic and internal
or external
8. Accuracy required–linear and volumetric
Reverse Engineering process includes:
1. Study product shape and features

2. Study product materials
3. Study product function
It is a process of 3D measurements of part features.
3D laser scanning
3D CMM
“Coordinate measuring
machine”
DICOM data reader

“Digital Imaging and
Communications in
Medicine”
Using testing methods to estimate product material

and composition
XRF
“X-Ray fluorescence”
Using testing methods to estimate product material

and composition
XRD
“X-Ray diffraction”
3. Study product function
To enhance the capabilities of the product and add

new features and update it, as necessary.
To use more economic materials and processing.

Reverse Engineering of product shape
RE Generic process:
3D
1 Scanning Scanning
Point Cloud of Scanning

2 processing points passes
Facet
Polygonization model
NURBS STL Rapid Inspection

Application surface prototype with CAD
3 Solid model
3d solid
model
RE Generic process:
(NURBS) Non-uniform
rational basis spline
(STL) Standard Triangle

Language
Phase (1) Scanning
Three-dimensional scanners are employed to scan the part
geometry, producing clouds of points, which define the
surface geometry.
Scanning
Contact Non-contact
Phase (1) Scanning - Contact
scanning devices are based on CMM technologies, with a
tolerance range of 0.0005 to 0.02mm. However, depending
on the size of the part scanned, contact methods can be slow
because each point is generated sequentially at the tip of the
probe.
Tactile device probes must deflect to register a point; hence,

a degree of contact pressure is maintained during the
scanning process.
CMM can work for measurements on feature basis:
• Plan
• Cylinder
• Cone
• Sphere
• Etc…
CMM can work for measurements on feature basis:
• Plan
• Cylinder
• Cone
• Sphere
• Etc…
So many products can be measure using CMM for RE.
So many products can be measure using CMM for RE.
Advantages:
1. High precision and accuracy
2. Can measure coordinates and distance between the two reference points
3. Resolution of measurements can reach 0.0005mm
Disadvantages:
1. CMMs are very costly
2. CMMs are less portable
3. Some features may be unreachable by the probe
4. Unsatisfactory results with soft surfaces measurements, for
example rubber
Phase (1) Scanning – Non-Contact
Based on using CCD camera. Although these devices
capture large amounts of data in a relatively short space of
time, there are several issues related to this scanning
technology.
• The typical tolerance of noncontact scanning is within
±0.002 to 0.2 mm.
• There are some problems when the light impinges on
shiny surfaces, and hence some surfaces must be prepared
with a temporary coating of fine powder before scanning.
Advantages:
1. Fast & Thorough
2. Can measure soft and rubber surfaces
3. Resolution of measurements can reach 0.002mm
Disadvantages:
1. Line of sight (It has problems generating data describing surfaces,
which are parallel to the axis of the laser)
2. Ambient Light can affect measurements
3. Shinney surfaces cannot be measured correctly
Phase (1) Scanning – Non-Contact (DICOM)
RE Generic process:
3D
1 Scanning Scanning
Point Cloud of Scanning

2 processing points passes
Facet
Polygonization model
NURBS STL Rapid Inspection

Application surface prototype with CAD
3 Solid model
3d solid
model
Phase (2) Point Processing
This phase involves importing the point cloud data,
reducing the noise in the data collected, and reducing the
number of points. These tasks are performed using a range
of predefined filters.
It is extremely important that the users have very good
understanding of the filter algorithms so that they know
which filter is the most appropriate for each task.
The output of the point processing phase is a clean ,

merged, point cloud data set in the most convenient
format.
Example for cloud of points
Example for cloud of points
The output of this phase is geometric model in one

of the proprietary formats such as IGES, STL, DXF,
VRML.
Example for polygonization
Example for polygonization
Phase (3) Application Geometric Model Development
The generation of CAD models from point data is
probably the most complex activity within RE because a
very powerful surface fitting algorithms are required to
generate surfaces that accurately represent the three-
dimensional information described within the point cloud
data sets.
The output of this phase is geometric model in one of the
proprietary formats such as IGES, OBJ, VRML, ISO G
Code.
3D Solid model Phase

MAN 547 - Lect. 2 - Reverse Engineering

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

MAN 547 - Lect. 2 - Reverse Engineering

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Reverse Engineering in Mechanical Design

1. Reason for reverse engineering a part

6. Part finish–shiny or dull

1. Study product shape and features

It is a process of 3D measurements of part features.

It is a process of 3D measurements of part features.

It is a process of 3D measurements of part features.

DICOM data reader

Using testing methods to estimate product material

Using testing methods to estimate product material

To enhance the capabilities of the product and add

To use more economic materials and processing.

Point Cloud of Scanning

NURBS STL Rapid Inspection

(STL) Standard Triangle

Tactile device probes must deflect to register a point; hence,

Point Cloud of Scanning

NURBS STL Rapid Inspection

The output of the point processing phase is a clean ,

The output of this phase is geometric model in one

You might also like