Simulated rolling method for the recognition of outer profile faces of aircraft structural parts

Outer profile faces of aircraft structural parts are important features for machining and inspection. Universal feature recognition methods are not effective in recognizing these features, a simulated rolling method which is specially used to recognize outer profile faces of aircraft structural parts is proposed accordingly. Imagine that there is a vertical, infinite and elastic revolving roller outside of a part placed horizontally. The roller moves towards the part under the gravitation of the part. When the roller touches the outer profile, pressure force and frictional force are generated. Then the roller starts to roll along the outer profile of the part under the action of the resultant force until it comes back to the position where it touches the outer profile for the first time. Outer profile faces are selected automatically on demand of the practical engineering application from the faces which contact the roller during rolling process. The testing results show that this method is effective in recognizing outer profile faces, and the recognition accuracy can be improved by adjusting the parameters of the method.