Essay: A reverse engineering approach for product development

ABSTRACT: Recent technological developments have made easier the application of reverse engineering. In this paper, a reverse engineering approach for the development of the products has been presented, This approach has been based on the scanning of the initial product, followed by the redesign of the initial product, the manufacturing of the redesigned product through a 3D printer and the inspection of the redesigned product’s quality. A system for the using of a such approach has been depicted and a case study illustrates the application of the reverse engineering approach.
KEY WORDS: reverse engineering, 3D scanning, 3D printing, quality inspection
1. INTRODUCTION
Reverse engineering is a modern process that allows the reconstruction of a product and the preservation of its original form [4, p.2]. Reverse engineering is also used for the development of a model for analysis, based on data, information and knowledge previously obtained [4, p.2].
Through the reverse engineering a product can be conversed in a digital prototype, which can be re-designed and manufactured by existing technologies. Recent technological developments in different fields [1,2, 3] have made easier the application of reverse engineering, shortening the time required to manufacture a product [4].
2. A REVERSE ENGINEERING APPROACH FOR PRODUCTS DEVELOPMENT
A reverse engineering approach can start with the scanning of the initial product using the Shining3D??Scaner based on the Blue Light Scanning Technology [6]. The scanned 3D data are collected as points cloud of the geometry of the initial product. Next, the data are transferred in the ShiningForm XOR software, where the redesign of the initial product is performed.
Then, the redesigned product is manufactured through the 3D printer Inspire?? S200 [7]. Finally, the inspection of the redesigned product’s quality is accomplished by scanning the manufactured product and comparing its scanned data with the model developed through the ShiningForm XOV software [6]. This reverse engineering approach for the development of products is shown in figure 1.