About Structured Components

Below is some more information about the Structured Components.

This page discusses:

Overview

A Structured Component is a Component whose design includes Tooling sub-components, for example a Structured Component can be used to represent an assembly of a Wear Plate and four associated Cap Screws.

Functionally speaking, a Structured Component is like any other Component with the same functional type, at least as far as Smart Mechanical Components and Mold Tooling Design are concerned.

After the Structured Component is inserted in the Tool, you can manipulate it as a black box. To benefit from this behavior, the Structured Component must comply with some rules that clearly identify a black box view (that is, an external view), and a white box view (that is, an internal view).

Internal View

Below is a description of the expected content of the Structured Component, and its internal organization.

Functional Type
A Structured Component can have the same functional types as a Component.
Formability, Impactability
A Structured Component has a global property of impactability/formability, like any Component.

In the case of the Structured Component, the notion refers to impacts coming from outside the Structured Component. Concretely, the notion of formability and impactability affects mostly the sub-components of the Structured Component: It refers to the ability to create or not impacts within representations of sub-components. As a consequence, the formability/Impactability of the Structured Component and of its sub-components must be consistent, even if they have distinct functional types.

Example
  • A custom Structured Component is made of a Wear Plate and of four Cap Screws.
    • The functional type Wear Plate is formable, and impactable.
    • The functional type Cap Screw is not formable, not impactable.
  • Because at least one of its sub-components is formable/impactable, you must choose a formable/impactable functional type for this Structured Component, for example User Component or Wear Plate.
  • Consider the same Structured Component as above, but this time, you want to forbid impacts on the instance of the Wear Plate it contains. The Structured Component must still be globally of a cuttable/impactable type. There is no solution in terms of preparation of the Structured Component.
Mandatory
A Structured Component is formable (resp. impactable) if, and only if, at least one of the simple sub-components of its structure is formable (resp. impactable).

Also, if a Structured Component is formable (resp. impactable), it contains at least one Interface Skeleton.

Morphability
You can morph the Skeleton of a Structured Component on an external geometry found in the Tool. The morphing of the Skeleton may induce a geometric modification of some of the sub-components, because of associativity.
Mandatory
A Structured Component is morphable if, and only if, it contains a Skeleton.
Note: Since it does not contain any Skeleton, a simple Component is not morphable.
Internal Product Structure
Mandatory
  • The root of a Structured Component must be a product.
  • This root product does not have any aggregated geometric representation.
  • A Structured Component contains exactly one Skeleton under the root.
  • If the Structured Component is allowed to receive technological impacts or Tooling cuts inside its structure, it can contain Interface Skeletons, depending on the Preferences.
  • If at least one sub-component is of an impactable functional type, the Structured Component is also of an impactable functional type.
  • If at least one sub-component is of a formable functional type, the Structured Component is also of a formable functional type.
  • Apart from the Tooling Skeleton, all the other components in a Structured Component are simple Components. They are called the sub-components of the Structured Component.
  • A Structured Component has at least one sub-component.
Optional
A Structured Component may contain a technological representation to drive the dimensions of the sub-components.
A Structured Component and its sub-components may have different functional types.
Sub-components
Components sharing a parent are called sibling components. They can be of different types.
Example
In the case of the Wear Plate and the fours Cap Screws, the four Cap Screws may be four instances of a single representation.
Mandatory
The sub-components of a Structured Component
  • Are 3D Parts.
  • May share their representation as required.
  • May receive external links (parameters, solids, or others) only from sibling components (even rep-rep links).
  • May be a member of a component family, if, and only if, their functional type is non-impactable, non-formable. For example, a Cap Screw can be a member of a component family, an Ejector cannot.

As a consequence:

  • A Structured Component cannot contain another Structured Component. Its product structure has only one level.
  • A sub-component never receives directly any information (geometry or parameters) that is external to the Structured Component.
  • A sub-component is either context free, or is in the context of the Structured Component, for example a Structured Component Insert cannot contain another Structured Component Insert.

Internal Engineering Connections
The sub-components, the Skeleton and the Tooling Skeleton are fixed in the Structured Component.
Internal Anchors
Example
A Structured Component is composed of a Wear Plate and four Cap Screws. The four Cap Screws are hooked to Component Specifications located in the Wear Plate. It is an internal Hook-Component Specification fit.
Mandatory
  • The Component Specifications present in the sub-components are used only internally.
  • They are not published at the Structured Component level.
Optional
  • The Structured Component may have Component Specifications that are used internally to hook a sub-components to another one, or to the Skeleton.
  • The Component Specifications present in the Skeleton but not published at the Structured Component level may be used internally.
Internal Impacts
Example
A Structured Component is composed of a Wear Plate and four Cap Screws.
  • The four Cap Screws impact the Wear Plate with their Drill Hole. It is an internal impact.
  • The Skeleton of the Structured Component contains the Wear Plate dimensions L and W. These dimensions are copied inside the Wear Plate. It is an internal impact.
Mandatory
  • Internal impacts must be created in the context of the Structured Component.
  • The internal impacts do not go through the Tooling Skeleton (if any) of the Structured Component.
  • The Skeleton of a Structured Component is never impacted by the sub-components (neither by the geometry nor the parameters).
  • There is no impact cycle between the sub-components.
Optional
  • The sub-components of a Structured Component may impact each other. This is a frequent case for technological impacts.
  • All the Skeletons may impact the sub-components.

External View

The Structured Component is inserted in a Tool and is used as an ordinary Component (We refer to it as Structured Component in Tool). This requires an external view, where you declare what is seen by the Tool context after the Structured Component is placed in black box mode. This declaration must be done before inserting the Structured Component in a Tool. Several Structured Component in Tool scenarios are given below, with their required preparation.

Hook
The Hook positions the Structured Component in a Tool.
Example
A Structured Component is composed of a Wear Plate and four Cap Screws.
  • The four Cap Screws have a Hook in the center of the Cap Screw head.
  • The Wear Plate has a Hook in its top face.
  • The Skeleton of the Structured Component has a Hook, that is the origin of the Part, used to position the Structured Component. It is important to position the Wear Plate and the four Cap Screws relatively to this Hook when creating the Structured Component.
Mandatory
  • The Hook of the Structured Component exists and is in its Skeleton.
  • It is published at the Structured Component level.
Exported Component Specifications
The exported Component Specifications attach other Components to the Structured Component.
Example
A Structured Component is composed of a Wear Plate and of four Cap Screws. When the Structured Component is in the Tool, you can position components on the Wear Plate. The Component Specifications required to do so are in the Skeleton of the Structured Component.
Mandatory
  • The exported Component Specifications are in the Skeleton of the Structured Component.
  • They are published at the Structured Component level.
  • They are used only externally.
Optional
The Structured Component may export Component Specifications that are used to hook external Components.
Logical Parameters
The logical parameters define the dimensions of the Structured Component in Tool.
Example

A Structured Component is composed of a Wear Plate and of four to six instances of a Cap Screw. The number of Cap Screws and their dimensions must depend on the length L and width W of the Wear Plate.

The Skeleton of the Structured Component contains:

  • Parameters L, W in a dedicated parameter set
  • A product table driving the activity of the Cap Screws and their dimensions
  • Rules associating L and W and the number of Cap Screw instances and their dimensions.

The Wear Plate receives its dimensions L and W and H from the Skeleton.

Note: The dimensions L and W and H are not in the Wear Plate directly to avoid update cycles betweenWear Plate and the Skeleton.

The Cap Screw (member of a component family) is replaced by another member of the same family thanks to the rules and the product table when the dimensions L and W change.

Mandatory

The logical parameters of the sub-components are located in the Skeleton, in a dedicated parameter set called DrivingParameterSet.

They are published:

  • If a sub-component is a member of a component family, the Structured Component contains all the knowledge required to replace the current member of the family by another one (knowledge capabilities such as ARM table, product table... can be used, depending on the licenses available.)
  • If a sub-component is not a member of a component family, the logical parameters of the Skeleton are copied with link in the sub-component to modify it.

Note: Product tables allow to manage a variable number of sub-components.

Optional
In the context of a Tool, you can change some dimensions of the Structured Component (and its sub-components): They are under your control and they are not hidden in the black box. These dimensions are driven by parameters called logical parameters of the Structured Component.
Assembly Features
The Assembly Features create technological impacts or Tooling cuts from the Structured Component to the Tool.
Example
A Structured Component is composed of a Wear Plate and of four Cap Screws.
  • The four Cap Screws impact the Wear Plate with their Drill Hole (internal impact).
  • In the context of the Tool, they fix the Wear Plate to the Tool: they need to publish their Tap Hole (but not their Drill Hole) at the Structured Component level.
Mandatory
  • Only the Assembly Features of the sub-components are allowed at export.
  • They are published at the Structured Component level when they are exported.
  • If an Assembly Features is published at the Structured Component level, it must also be published at the sub-component level.
Optional
An Assembly Features may be published in its sub-components, but not published at the Structured Component level.
Technological Impacts or Tooling Cuts
They prepare the reception of external assembly impacts from the Tool into the Structured Component.

A Structured Component in Tool may receive assembly impacts from the rest of the Tool, specified in Impacts, Impacted by Components or Cut Tooling Components.

If the Structured Component needs to receive impacts from several contexts, the number of Skeletons needs to be increased. The maximum number of possible contexts depends on the depth of the Structured Component in Tool. If the Structured Component is just under the Root, only one impacting context exists.

Mandatory

All the impacts received by a sub-component of the Structured Component go through an Tooling Skeleton.

An Tooling Skeleton has at most one context.

Received Geometry
Received geometry prepares the morphing of the Structured Component on some external geometry.
The geometry candidate to replacement is called dummy geometry.
Mandatory

All the dummy geometry is located in a Skeleton,

All the dummy geometry must be published at the Skeleton level.

Optional

Geometry located in a Skeleton of the Structured Component may be replaced by some equivalent geometry found in the Tool (after the Structured Component has been inserted in the Tool). This replacement may give a context to the Skeleton.

It is your responsibility to manage this context.

Recommended
Context management is automatic if all the replacing geometry has the same origin in the product structure.

Lifecycle

After you have created and garnished a Structured Component, you can use it as any Component, most of the time as a black box. The Structured Component is now an instance of a given assembly. You work in lifecycle mode.

To maximize the benefits of design reuse, you are not allowed to modify the internal structure of the Structured Component directly. It is mandatory to use the edition methods defined by the author of the Structured Component.

Duplication
No specificity.
Insertion in a Tool
Mandatory
  • A Structured Component cannot be inserted into another Structured Component.
  • If a Structured Component is cuttable, all the instances are created from a duplication, and refer to their own representation.
  • If a Structured Component is not cuttable, one duplication is proposed by default.
Optional
If a Structured Component is not cuttable, it may be inserted with or without duplication, and with or without sharing the representations for the various instances.

The cases below refer to a Structured Component already inserted in a Tool.

Insertion of a Component in a Structured Component in Tool
Mandatory
  • Component Specifications located in a sub-component of a Structured Component cannot be used.
  • Component Specifications located in a Skeleton of a Structured Component can be used, provided they are published at the Structured Component level.
Special Selection
If you pick one of its sub-components in the work area or in the tree, the resulting selection is the Structured Component itself.

This applies in particular to Move Tooling Product that prevents individual moves of sub-components.

Cut Tooling Components
Cut Tooling Components lets you select the sub-components individually in the work area or in the tree.

If you select a Structured Component in the tree, all its cuttable sub-components are candidates.

The assembly cut goes through the Tooling Skeleton of the Structured Component.

Impacts in a Structured Component in Tool
Impacted by Components is not available for a Structured Component.

For Impacts:

  • The clash computation detects the sub-components individually.
  • You can add or remove other simple components as candidates for Impacts, even if they are in a Structured Component.
  • The technological impact goes through the Tooling Skeleton (if any) of the Structured Component.

Assembly Impacts from a Structured Component in Tool
Only the Assembly Features of the Structured Component are candidates. Assembly Features of sub-components cannot be selected individually.
Dimensions of a Structured Component in Tool (Variants or Driving Parameters)
The dimensions of the sub-components are driven by the logical parameters of the Structured Component. In particular, if a sub-component belongs to a component family, its variants must be defined in the Structured Component itself.
Edition of the Skeleton (Morphing)
You can replace the published geometry inside the Skeleton with any equivalent geometry from the Tool, using a replace command inPart Design, Core & Cavity Separation or Generative Shape Design.
Replacing geometry coming from different parts may require that you manage the context.
Replace from Assembly Design
Replacement of individual sub-components is not allowed, with the only exception of the members of a component family. In this case, the current member can be replaced by another one, but this replacement is driven by the logical parameters of the Structured Component.
Remove
The special selection applies, the Structured Component and its footprint on the Tool are globally deleted.
Reset Impacts
The special selection applies, the external impacts of the Structured Component are deleted.