Patent ID: 6901310
Filing Date: 2005-05-31
Classification: G05B,Y02P

Abstract:
1. A method for approximately reproducing the surface of a workpiece machined with a milling cutter, comprising the steps of: a) subdividing in a first approximation step a starting body representing at least a part of the workpiece into a plurality of volume elements, b) identifying a subset of volume elements from the plurality of volume elements having an intersection with an analytical representation of a milling volume traversed by the milling cutter along a traversed milling path, thus defining an outer surface of the milling volume, c) subdividing in a subsequent approximation step each volume element of the identified subset of volume elements that includes the outer surface of the milling volume into a new plurality of volume elements, d) repeating with the new plurality of volume elements steps b) and c) until a predetermined resolution is achieved, e) determining, for the plurality of volume elements with the predetermined resolution, at least approximately edge intersection points with the outer surface of the milling volume, and f) connecting the edge intersection points between pairs of adjacent edges of the volume elements to form a triangular grid representing the approximately reproduced surface.