# Research on the Knowledge Based Parameterized CAD System of Wheat and Rice Combine Chassis

Xingzhen Xu, Shuangxi Liu, Weishi Cao, Peng Fa, Xianxi Liu, Jinxing Wang

► To cite this version:

Xingzhen Xu, Shuangxi Liu, Weishi Cao, Peng Fa, Xianxi Liu, et al.. Research on the Knowledge Based Parameterized CAD System of Wheat and Rice Combine Chassis. 7th International Conference on Computer and Computing Technologies in Agriculture (CCTA), Sep 2013, Beijing, China. pp.461-468, 10.1007/978-3-642-54341-8_48. hal-01220857

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Submitted on 27 Oct 2015

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<figure><img src="image_1.png" /></figure>

Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Research on the knowledge based parameterized
CAD system of wheat and rice combine chassis

Xingzhen Xu¹, Shuangxi Liu², Weishi Cao¹, Peng Fa¹, Xianxi Liu², Jinxing Wang²*

¹ Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Horticultural Machineries and Equipments,

Shandong Agricultural University, Taian 271018, China;

² College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian
271018, China

**Abstract.** In this paper, through using Pro/Toolkit to do secondary development of Pro/E, it completes the parametric modeling of every key parts of rice and wheat combined harvester chassis by using the object-oriented technology, and combines with Microsoft Access database to store the relevant knowledge. Meanwhile, it collects lots of related knowledge about rice and wheat combine harvester chassis from various channels and establishes a knowledge base of key components of the chassis after sorting them which can achieve the purposes of rapid designing chassis.

**Keywords:** Knowledge base, Agricultural machinery chassis, Parametric modeling, Secondary development

# 1 Introduction

In recent years, product development gradually transformed from the data intensive to knowledge intensive which will make the CAD system develop towards digitization, integration and intelligent direction. [1] As a creative and complex activity, product design needs a lot of knowledge, a large number of historical data query, parts typical structure, process plan, evaluation results of manufacture and test, calculation parameters and performance test parameters. The knowledge is scattered storage in each designers' minds, drawer and archives which can not be merged into geometric model in traditional CAD system. So it is impossible to realize the reuse of knowledge-based resources that reduces design efficiency greatly. [2]

Knowledge-Based Engineering (KBE) technology is a new intelligent design method towards modern design requirements. [3] With the technology of parametric design based on knowledge we can greatly improve the design speed, improve product design quality reduce the research cost and shorten the development period. The knowledge base is both the foundation of applying all kinds of design knowledge and also the key technology which can realize the knowledge based CAD system. [4] The knowledge base supports rapid design, knowledge reuse and sharing in the process of product development. By using the object-oriented technology to realize the parametric modeling of every key parts of rice and wheat combined harvester chassis, using Pro/Toolkit to realize the secondary development of Pro/E and
combining with Microsoft Access database to store the relevant knowledge, this paper designs the knowledge based parameterized CAD system of wheat and rice combine chassis.

# 2 The general structure of chassis parameterized CAD system

## 2.1 The main idea of parametric design

In the process of the traditional design, geometric model of parts is fixed size, so it is complex to modify the shape of parts that even a small detail modifications need re-drawing. The product structure is determined in the process of parametric design. It designs different specifications of the products according to different structure parameters which are determinate by specific conditions and specific parameters. Its basic task is to replace the formal parameters of original graphics with the one concrete structure parameters that accord with the graphics we should design. Its concrete structure parameter is in correlation with specific products.

The basic process of the program parameters design includes that: creating original graphics, determining the graphic parameters, determining the relation between the original graphics parameters and the specific structure parameters by professional knowledge, completing the design drawings and related documents. The whole process requires a database and database management system to storage and management the various kinds of data and graphics. By using the technology of parametric design can easily modify graphics. And designers can also inherit the experience and knowledge of past design. Then designers can concentrate on creative concept and overall design to give full play to creativity and improve the efficiency of design.

## 2.2 System synthesis

The system consists of three modules, as shown in Figure 1. They are the parametric module of Pro/E, the parametric module based on knowledge, database management module of Access database. The Pro/E module includes the creation of three-dimensional model and the implementation of model parameter-driven. The parametric module based on knowledge includes the parametric design verification module, product examples and specific model, the knowledge of parameters variation and parts constraints. The database management module of Access database includes system authority management, model base management and database management.
<figure><img src="image_2.png" /><figcaption>Fig.1. Parameterized CAD system of wheat and rice combine chassis</figcaption></figure>

## 2.3 The system overall design concept

Create three-dimensional models by interactive mode and build design parameter under Pro/E. Then retrieve the design parameters of models and provide editing functions of parameters and regeneration functions of the new three-dimensional model according to the new design parameter.

By using Microsoft Access as the database, parts model library and parts parameters library which store two-dimensional models, three-dimensional models and parts related knowledge, parameter respectively are established in this system. The database connects to Visual Studio 2008(VS) by the corresponding database interface and realizes parts invoking, parts parameter matching and parts management by programming with the language of Visual C++. Through the MFC programming under VS, this system creates a user interface to facilitate the operation and management of parts. Meanwhile with the Pro / E links to VS via DLL mode, we complete the Microsoft Access database, VS and Pro / E tripartite interaction and achieve the overall design of the system.

The knowledge based parameterized CAD system is shown as Fig.2.
<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>Fig.2. The knowledge based parameterized CAD system</figcaption></figure>

**3 The realization of knowledge based parameterized CAD system**

The system mainly includes two aspects: parameterization implementation and database connectivity. Interactively create parts of original three-dimensional model, and use the parameter setting function of Pro/E to establish the design parameters and dimension relations under the Pro / E. And then establish the correlative forms in the Microsoft Access relational database. Using Visual C++ to map a Crecordset class object for interactive, then retrieve the design parameters of the model by the Pro/Toolkit application, finally input parameters and regenerate the model according to the data source object. The Access database and Pro/E is connected via VS2008 platform.

**3.1 The realization of parametric system**

Using Pro/Toolkit procedure development technology to carry on secondary
development in Pro/E, this method consists of four steps:

1. Write source files (Source code and resource files)

2. Compile and link, create the executable file (DLL or EXE)

3. Register Pro/Toolkit application

4. Run the application

**3.2 Database connection**

**3.2.1 Establish the database tables and data sources**

Design a data table by Microsoft Access, as shown in Table1.
<table><caption>Table 1. The model file directory</caption><thead><tr><td>Field Name</td><td>Field Type</td><td>Notes</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Number</td><td>AutoNumber</td><td>As the primary key, documents identification</td></tr><tr><td>File Name</td><td>text</td><td>File name, including the extension operator</td></tr><tr><td>Path</td><td>text</td><td>The storage path of documents</td></tr></tbody></table>

After design data tables, create a new data source DB in Administrative Tools under the menu of Control Panel, and connect to the database created. The process is shown in Figure 3.

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /><figcaption>Fig.3. The connection process of data source</figcaption></figure>

### 3.2.2 Create MFC program and design dialog

Build a new MFC DLL program under VS, complete the basic setup and add Pro/Toolkit header files and initialization function `user_initialize()` and termination functions `user_terminate()` in the item master file.

Add dialog resources in the menu of resources under VS. And add the appropriate button controls in the dialog box, complete ID and attribute settings. After finish designing dialog interface, double-click interface to generate `CDBDlg` dialog class.

### 3.2.3 Set up the data table class

In this paper, we connect databases by setting up the data table class using ODBC. Using `CRecordset` class to bind the data table, click [Add Class] under the menu [Project] in VS, select the MFC ODBC user and then choose the added data source DB, define the name of data class and complete the work of adding class.
### 3.2.4 The key program code of connection

Through the MFC programming, database is connected to Pro/E and the dialog function is completed, the key part of the code is as follows:

```cpp
BOOL CDBDlg::OnInitDialog()
{
    CDialog::OnInitDialog();
    //connect to database
    if(!m_Set.Open())
    {
        AfxpopMessage("Database connection failed! ");
        SendMessage(WM_CLOSE,0,0);
        return FALSE;
    }
    m_List.SetExtendedStyle(LVS_EX_FULLROWSELECT|LVS_EXandr
    INES);
    //insert column
    m_List.insertColumn(0,"Number",LVCFMT_LEFT,50);
    m_List.insertColumn(1,"FileName",LVCFMT_LEFT,80);
    m_List.insertColumn(2,"Path",LVCFMT_LEFT,150);
    ShowList();
    return TRUE; // return TRUE unless you set the focus to a control
    // unusual: OCX Property page should return FALSE
```

## 3.3 Application example

### 3.3.1 The system interface

This paper designs the knowledge based parameterized CAD system of wheat and rice combine chassis and realize the Microsoft Access database, VS2008 and Pro/E tripartite interaction. A screenshot of system interface is shown in Figure 4.

<figure><img src="image_5.png" /><figcaption>Fig.4. The system interface</figcaption></figure>

### 3.3.2 The knowledge database
This paper collects lots of related knowledge about rice and wheat combine harvester chassis from various channels and establishes a knowledge base of key components of the chassis after sorting it. The knowledge database consists of case library, rule library, parameter library and material library. Part of the knowledge of wheat and rice combine chassis is shown in figure 5.

<figure><img src="image_6.png" /><figcaption>Fig.5. Combine working parameters and engine parameters</figcaption></figure>

## 4 Conclusions

Based on above studies, we develop a rice and wheat combine harvester chassis parametric knowledge base. The implementation of the system adopts four basic modules: the user interface module using VC++6.0 to develop with VS2008 as a platform, 3D model library module created by Pro/E, Pro/Toolkit program modules to achieve Pro/E system menu loading and parametric, knowledge base module in which the Microsoft Access as the database.

## Acknowledgment

Funds for this research were provided by the National Science and Technology Plan Projects, the major projects foster Agricultural machinery professional chassis digital design and complex piece of lean manufacturing (2011BAD20B01).

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