"Automação do processo de detalhamento de torres metálicas via tecnologia CAD"

Abstract

This work presents the design and implementation of a computer system denominated TowerCAD for automation of the detailing process of steel towers structures by integrating CAD (Computer Aided Design), CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) and CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) technologies. The TowerCAD system integrates a CAD application and a database. The system, called TowerCAD, is implemented using CAD technology, Object Oriented Programming paradigm (OOP) and Database technologies. The AutoCAD .NET technology, developed to be an AutoCAD programming interface (API), was used to customize AutoCAD and also was applied to develop interfaces for importing and exporting data, for creating commands, for data management and manipulation in the database . The database is accessed by the application through the ADO.NET classes using the standard SQL language for database and the programming language C #. AutoCAD was used as a platform for graphical representation.An important contribution of this work is the application of concepts and fundaments of the programming architectural standard called MVC (Model-View-Control) in the development of the TowerCAD System. The three layers architecture of MVC to construct users interfaces allows separation among information, visualization and control The Model component represents the data and the respective rules for access and manipulation of the database. The View component, in this case represented by the graphical platform AutoCAD, executes the graphical visualization fo the data according to the user request. The Control interprets the users actions altering or not the state of the Model and of the View. MVC standard assures independence among control, data andvisualization, which allows flexibility int the choice of the graphical platform. Therefore, the same Model (database) can be used in applications developed for different graphical platforms. The database has been design to abstract information obtained from various phases of the manufacturing process of steel towers. Other essential information for the detailing phase are also stored in the database. The data stored in the database can feed back other phases of the process or generate the graphical representation of the detailing using an appropriate graphical platform.The customized comands criated for the TowerCAD application behave in identical manner as the native AutoCAd commands and they can also be triggered by command line,tool bar or pull down menu as in AutoCAD. Besides detailing steel tower components, the system is also able to provide other sub-products such as manufacturing croquis and data files for numerical control CNC machines for fabrication.