Introduction to Top Down Design

March 22, 2006

ME 380
Advanced Computer Aided Engineering
Chris Morgan
Precision Systems Laboratory
University of Kentucky
Top-Down Design Overview
 “Top-down design is a design that first specifies top-level criteria and
model structure, then passes that information down to all pertinent
subsystems. The overall, or top-level, design intent is built into the model
from the start, ensuring that top-level modifications correctly propagate
through and update entire system”
 Advantages of top-down design:
ƒ Design workload distribution is facilitated because each component or
subassembly contains required information from higher levels of the design.
Individual designers can be assigned tasks without fear of imcompatible
components.
ƒ References and parent/child relationships can be accurately controlled.
(External references – which occur when a reference for a feature or
component does not belong to that part or assembly – can also be controlled.)
ƒ Designers can retrieve only the skeleton structure of an assembly, rather than
the entire assembly. This facilitates parallel design work and maximizes
computer resources.

–Mechanical Engineering Design with Pro/E, Archibald

Steps for Top-down design
1) Define the design intent
ƒ Define a Product Design Specification (PDS)
ƒ Draw a rough 2-D sketch in a Layout file (not precision scaled)
2) Define the model structure
ƒ The model structure is defined by breaking a large assembly down
into sub-assemblies and parts, which builds a Bill Of Material
(BOM) before the parts are designed. Parts and sub-assemblies can
be added after this step if necessary
3) Introduce skeleton models
ƒ Skeleton models are the primary means of capturing design intent
and passing it to lower-level components
ƒ Each assembly or sub-assembly can have one, and only one, skeleton
model.
ƒ Skeleton models are 3D parametric layouts capturing important
design criteria for the assembly
ƒ Typical skeleton models contain datum planes, point, curves,
coordinate systems, surfaces, and sometimes, volumes
Steps for Top-down design (cont.)
4) Communicate design intent throughout the assembly
structure
ƒ Information such as mounting locations, space claim requirements
and motion requirements should be included in the top-level skeleton
model and propagated down to sub-assembly skeletons as required
5) Populate the assembly
ƒ Once top-level and subsidiary assembly structure and skeleton
models are complete, the assemblies can be populated with
individual parts
ƒ Existing parts can be assembled to the model, or parts can be created
within an assembly
6) Manage part interdependencies
ƒ Correctly establishing relationships between parts or part features
can be difficult, particularly with bottom-up design
ƒ Managing parent/child relationships and references is crucial for any
design, but particularly important when designing in assembly mode
Layouts
 2D sketches that represent the overall layout of assemblies
 Layouts are used for:
ƒ Defining global parameters and relations
ƒ Developing basic part geometry envelopes
ƒ Defining how components are mounted with respect to each other
ƒ Defining fits between parts or determining part size
ƒ Documenting the overall assembly
ƒ Automatic component assembly
 Geometry shown in layouts is not associative
 Advantages
ƒ Document design information in one central location
ƒ Document design information before creating solid models
ƒ Investigate design options without involving the entire assembly
ƒ Easily make design changes because all of the design information is
contained in one location
Steps to use layouts
 Create the layout with desired parameters, global
relations, datum planes and axes.
 Declare the layout to an skeleton (In a file click File-
Declare-Declare Lay)
 Declare all parts (that need to reference the layout) to
the layout
 Explicitly declare datum planes and axes for parts
that require it
 Write part relations to access global parameters
 Note- Pro/E recognizes datum planes and axes on
different parts that have been declared to the same
layout datums as being the same entities
Layout assembly for Engine
User Parameters
 Parameters contain important information about a part or assembly. This
information could be:
ƒ Dimensions
ƒ Tolerances
ƒ Surface Finish
ƒ Thread notes
ƒ Cost
ƒ Etc…
 There are five types of user parameters
1. Integer-
ƒ Number of teeth on a gear, number of holes
2. Real-
ƒ Cost, Model Size, dimensions
3. String
ƒ Vendor, designer name, part number
4. Yes No
ƒ Family Table values, logical expressions
5. Note
ƒ Contains the ID of a model note
Relations
 Relations are used to define relationships between model parameters and
other model parameters or dimensions.
 Relations are defined using mathematical and logical expressions and model
parameters.
 Relations can be created on any level of the model structure – assembly,
part, skeleton, layout, or sketcher mode.
Skeleton Models

Each assembly model may contain one

skeleton model.
Skeletons are part models, but they do not
appear in the assembly BOM.
The geometry in skeleton models can be
referenced by part files.
Use the Shared Data menu to publish and copy
geometry from one model to another.
To access parameters from a layout the layout
must be declared to that skeleton
Exercise: Create the layout
 The sketch used for the layout has been already drawn in Corel Draw and is
available for download on the website
 Download the Stirling_sketch.dxf file by clicking on the link next to the
Top Down Modeling slides, and place the dxf in your ENGINE directory.
 Set the working directory to the Engine directory and start Pro/E.
 Start a new layout named ENGINE_LAYOUT.lay
 Set the orientation to portrait and the paper size to A
Import DXF
 Insert the downloaded dxf file by selecting Insert-Shared Data-From file
 Accept the default values in the Import DXF dialogue box and click OK.
 When asked, “Drawing is smaller than format. Scale to fit format?” select
No.
 When asked, “Move bottom left corner of drawing to screen origin?” select
Yes.
Move the sketch
 Drag a box around all of the lines
to select the sketch.
 Use your mouse to move the
entire sketch to the bottom center
of the page as shown.
Change the line style
 Hold down CTRL and select the lines shown in red below. Hold down the right
mouse button and select Line Style.
 Chang the style to centerline and select Apply, then Close.
Change the line style
 Hold down CTRL and select the lines shown in red below. Hold down the right
mouse button and select Line Style.
 Chang the style to phantom and select Apply, then Close.
Create Dimensions
 Click the create
dimension icon
 Create the following
dimensions. Place the
dimensions by middle
clicking.
 Make sure you select the
proper orientation of the
dimension (horizontal or
vertical)
 When asked for the
symbol, type the name as
shown (don’t forget the
underscore) when asked
for the value just hit
Enter.
Create Dimensions
 Select File-Properties
 Select the drawing_text_height option and change the value
at the bottom to 0.1.
 Select Add/Change
and click OK.
Create Dimensions
 Rearrange your
dimensions so
they fit on the
page.
Edit parameters
 Click Tools-Parameters, notice
the parameters from the layout
have been inserted
 Notice all of the dimensions
have been set to parameters that
you can edit
 Highlight the
PTC_COMMON_NAME
parameter and click the delete
button
 Click OK to exit.
Insert the table
 Click on the add table button
on the toolbar
 Under the Table Create menu
click Descending-Leftward-
By Num Chars and pick a
point near the top right corner
of the paper outline
 For the first column width
select 6
 For the second column width
select 30
 Middle click
 Pick just below 1, repeat 7
times
 Middle click to finish
Fill in the table
 Double click the cells in the first
column and enter the Names of
the Parameters which represent
the design intent (For example
CHAMBER_DIA) select OK.
 In the second column enter the
same names, but place & in front
of each name (For example
&CHAMBER_DIA)
Fill in the table

 Continue to fill out the table

as shown to the right.
 When a new row is needed
select Table-Insert-Row and
select the last horizontal
line of the table.
 Go back and double click
the values in the second
column and change the
values as shown in the table.
 Save the
ENGINE_LAYOUT.lay
Fill in the table

 Continue to fill out the table

as shown to the right.
 When a new row is needed
select Table-Insert-Row and
select the last horizontal
line of the table.
 Go back and double click
the values in the second
column and change the
values as shown in the table.
 Save the
ENGINE_LAYOUT.lay
Create the ENGINE assembly

 Create a new assembly

named
ENGINE_ASSY.asm
 Accept Use default
template
Add skeleton model to assembly
 Click on the Component Create icon at the right
 Select Skeleton Model and accept the default name of
ENGINE_ASSY_SKEL, select OK.
 Select Copy From Existing and select Browse.
 Find your template.prt file and select OK.
Add CHAMBER_BODY Component
 Click Component Create and create a part called
CHAMBER_BODY, click OK.
 Select Copy From Existing-Browse and find the template.prt
 Select Leave Component Unplaced, click OK.
Add all components
 Repeat the steps on the
previous slide and add the
following components
ƒ BOTTOM_COVER
ƒ TOP_COVER
ƒ STAND
ƒ DISP_GLAND
ƒ POWER_CYLINDER
ƒ BEARING_MOUNT
 The model tree should look
like the one shown at the
right.
Add a Bulk Item

 You can add components to the assembly that will

not be modeled (such as glue, oil, small nails, etc.)
 Add a component for the oil
 Notice that Skeleton model is grayed out because an
assembly can only have one skeleton model
Save all files

Save and close the assembly file

Save and close the layout file
Exit Pro/E
At the command prompt type:
purge
(type this command at the end of each day to purge the
previously saved versions of all files)