Finding the optimum route of ship pipes is a complicated and time-consuming process. Experience of designers is the main tool in this process. To reduce design man-hours and human errors an expert system shell and a geometric modeling kernel are integrated to automate the design process. Existing algorithms for routing problems have been analyzed -most of them are to solve 2-D circuit routing problems. Design of the ship piping system, especially within the engine room, is a complicated, large-scale 3-D routing problem. Methods of expert systems have been implemented to find the routes of ship pipes on the main deck of a bulk carrier. A framework of the intelligent CAD system for pipe auto-routing is suggested. The CADDS 5 of Computer vision is used as the overall CAD environment, the Nexpert Object of Neuron Data is used as the expert system shell, and the CADDS 5 ISSM is used to build user interface through which geometric models" of pipes are created and modified.

Keywords:
constraint, information, design result, application, Artificial Intelligence, Engineering, design process, pipe, algorithm, detail design
Subjects:
Artificial intelligence, Information Management and Systems
1999. The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers
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