Advances in Manufacturing ›› 2025, Vol. 13 ›› Issue (2): 444-461.doi: 10.1007/s40436-024-00515-y

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Prototype pipeline modelling using interval scanning point clouds

Toa Pečur1, Frédéric Bosché1, Gabrielis Cerniauskas1, Frank Mill1, Andrew Sherlock2, Nan Yu1   

  1. 1. School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FB, Scotland, UK;
    2. National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, Paisley PA3 2EF, Scotland, UK
  • Received:2024-01-08 Revised:2024-03-21 Published:2025-05-16
  • Contact: Nan Yu,E-mail:nan.yu@ed.ac.uk E-mail:nan.yu@ed.ac.uk
  • Supported by:
    This research was founded by Scottish Research Partnership in Engineering (SRPe), the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS), ShapeSpace Ltd (Grant No. SFC-NMIS-IDP/020), and State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System (Grant No. SKLRS/2022/KF/01).

Abstract: With the aid of computer aided design (CAD) and building information modelling (BIM), as-built to as-designed comparison has seen many developments in improving the workflow of manufacturing and construction tasks. Recently, evolution has been centred around automation of scene interpretation from three-dimensional (3D) scan data. The scope of this paper is to assess assemblies as the installation process progresses and inferring if arising deviations are problematic (complex task). The adequacy of utilising unorganised point clouds to compliance check are trialled with a real life down-scaled prototype model in conjunction with a synthetic dataset. This work aims to highlight areas where large rework could be avoided, in part by the detection of potential clashes of components early in the pipeline installation process. With the help of an extracted model in the form of a point cloud generated from a scanned physical model and a 3D CAD model representing the nominal geometry, an operator can be made visually aware of potential deviations and component clashes during a pipeline assembly process.

The full text can be downloaded at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40436-024-00515-y

Key words: Point clouds, Modelling, Computer aided design (CAD), Digital manufacturing, Interval scanning