GeomCaliper For CATIA V5GeomCaliper for CATIA V5 is an innovative tool that facilitates measurement and checking of thickness on CATIA V5 CAD models. GeomCaliper enables acceleration of the design review process for manufacturability. Unlike traditional measurement tools, GeomCaliper is fast, accurate and easy to use. Once you start using GeomCaliper for CATIA V5, you'll realize that checking thickness can be made really easy as well as accurate.
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System Requirements:Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional and Windows® 2000. For a free 15 day trial version of GeomCaliper contact CONCENTRIC FAQ's:Which versions of CATIA V5® are supported by GeomCaliper?GeomCaliper currently supports CATIA V5 R12, R13 and R14. Which operating systems can run GeomCaliper?GeomCaliper works on Microsoft® Windows® 2000, Windows® XP Professional. What is minimum / recommended System configuration?GeomCaliper requires 512 MB of ram with 500 MB or more of free temp space. 1 GB of ram with higher temp space is recommended for analysis of large parts. Is GeomCaliper for CATIA V5 an FEA tool?This is not an FEA based tool. It's a thickness measurement tool and the color-coded results are displayed for easy understanding. What is the difference between GeomCaliper and the Thickness measure item tool provided in CATIA V5?Thickness measure item provided in CATIA V5 is a simple measurement tool. For advanced thickness measurement and checking, GeomCaliper is preferred. The differences between the two is given below.
What is Ray Method / Sphere method? Is this a standard terminology for thickness definition?The Ray method uses a straight ray, to calculate the wall thickness of a solid body. In this method, when you click on any point of the model, it triggers a ray, which travels straight before hitting the other side of the surface. The ray stops the moment it reaches another surface. Ray method is a standard terminology for thickness.
Sphere method is a non-standard definition which may be applicable for certain application. The Sphere method uses a rolling sphere to calculate the wall thickness of a solid body. In this method, when you click on any point of the model, it generates a rolling sphere. This sphere keep rolling till it reaches two surfaces on its two sides.The locus of the center of all such spheres constitutes the mid-surface (referred as the medial axis in 2D).
Which method to chose for thickness analysis?Ray method is useful for inspecting wall thickness in product design, sheet thickness and checking thickness gradients. Sphere method is useful for deciding coolant channels, ribbing, weight reduction / coring, runner and raiser location. Why does spherical model show variation in thickness values when using Sphere Method?The thickness value on sphere shows variation in thickness value because of tessellating the model from CATIA. Normal Ray method is recommended for finding thickness on a spherical model. What is Step and Sag? How do they affect the thickness results?By changing the "Sag" value, the distance of the triangle from the surface changes.If the Sag value is low, triangles are generated closer to the surface and are smaller in size. Hence the tessellation error reduces. But the number of triangles increases. This can result in higher accuracy of thickness values but the computation time shall be higher. By changing the "Step" value, the length of triangle changes. A lower step value will result in triangles with smaller edge length. This can result in increase in accuracy of results. Please refer to the image below for Sag and Step definition.
If, e.g., a flat surface is present, then increasing the sag will have no effect on the size of the triangles. However, changing the step value will result in change in the triangle size, hence the accuracy and computation time shall change. What is "Ignore Thickness at Edges"?When using sphere method for thickness computation, the edges and corners show low thickness values. These low thickness values are not of concern and it is desired that they are filtered out of the analysis results. ignore Thickness At Edges?Eoption in Sphere Method allows the user to specify the maximum thickness value, which should be ignored at the edges. Figure below shows the effect of the option of ignore Thickness at Edges.
Changing the maximum thickness value to be ignored in the ignore Thickness at edges shows no change in the results. Why?When the limiting thickness value is specified in the ignore thickness at edges, then following conditions must be satisfied for the thickness to be ignored:
Hence if thickness value input is beyond the maximum edge condition then any further increase in the input value will not have any further effect on the display at edges. The figure below explains the above scenario.
What is the accuracy of the computed values?The accuracy of the results depends on the model resolution selected while launching GeomCaliper from within CATIA. Setting higher resolution would result in higher accuracy, but the analysis time would increase. What is difference between 2D thickness at Section and 3D Thickness at Section? Which one to use when?2D thickness at section provides the thickness of the model at the section boundary. The user can either select the "Ray Method" or the "Sphere Method". For 3D thickness at section, thickness is computed at a point within the section plane. Spherical waves originates from the point ( source) and propogates in 3D till it hits the body. The radius of such a sphere is the 3D thickness of the model at the given section. Figure below shows how the 3D thickness at section is computed.
2D thickness at Section is used to find thickness on the surface of the model along a particular section. 3D thickness at section is used to find thickness at any point within the solid model on the given section. Why results are asymetric for symetric body?Please use finer "Model Tessellation" while launching GeomCaliper from CATIA. Does GeomCaliper support batch processing?Yes, from release 1.2 onwards, GeomCaliper supports batch processing. How can I customize the report?GeomCaliper provides template xsl file in the GeomCaliper install directory. By customizing the template xsl file, the report can be customized. |
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