Study on 3D CAD System of Extruder

The extruder is the key device to produce extrusion feed and food. Since different raw materialsi require different structural and technological parameters, the parametric design method must be used when an extruder is designed. The 3D (3-dimensional) software now available is just universal design platform, so the further development must be done based on universal software to realize the automatic design of machines for special purpose. In this paper the further development is carried out and the CAD (Computer Aided Design) system for the 3D parametric design of extruder is developed based on Solidworks. The system is developed with Visual C++, and it can be compatibly added in Solidworks as dynamic linkage library, which makes the modification of extruder more rapid and more correct. The paper introduces every function part in detail, including parameter input, design and calculation, 3D modeling of part, 3D modeling of assembly, engineering drawing. The realization of the automatic 3D modeling adopts the new idea of driven by dimension primarily and driven by program secondarily. The whole system is encapsulated in a menu of Solidworks. After some parameters, such as power and rotational speed, are imported through UI (User Interface), the system will automatically complete the design of extruder. Then 3D models and engineering drawings of parts or assembly can be exported according to the choice of user.