WorkingwithParametersandRelationsinProEngineer

writtenby:Suvoeditedby:LamarStonecypherupdated:12/14/2009

IfyoutaketheexampleofanICengine,theparametersarelikepiston,crankshaftandrelationisliketheconnectingrod.Proengineerparametersandrelationshelp
tokeepthedesignintentintact.Inthisarticlewewillseehowtocreateanduseparametersandrelationsinproengineer.

Relations

Proengineerishighlyparametricsoftware,meansifyoueditanydimensiontoseethechangeinthemodel.Duetotheparametricnatureofproengineer,relations
couldbeaddedbetweendifferentdimensionsandparameters.Relationsarebasicallysomeuserwrittenequations.Relationshelpmodificationofdifferent
dimensionsandparametersinapredeterminedproportion.

Therelationsequationsmaybesomesortofsimpleequationormaybesomecomparisonstatement.

Youcanevenusesimultaneousequationsandlogicalstatementaspartofrelations.

Operatorsusedinrelations:Theoperators(andtheirpurposeshownbetweenparenthesis)youcanuseinproengineerrelationsareasbelow:

Arithmeticoperators:

+(addition),(subtraction),*(multiplication),^(exponentiation),/(division),()(parenthesis).

Assignmentoperators:

=(equalto)

Comparisonoperator:

WhenaTRUE/FALSEkindofvalueisexpectedfromastatement,thencomparisonoperatorisused.Forexample,ifyouwanttoknowwhetherd32islessthand33or
not,youcanusethestatementlikebelow:

Ifd32<=d33

Functionsusedinrelations:Apartfromalmostallmathematicalandtrigonometricfunctions,youcanusegraphevaluationfunctionforcontrollingdimensionthrough
agraph.

Howtoaddrelationinproengineermodel:Foraddingrelations,pleasefollowtools>relationsandyouwillgetrelationdialoguebox.Youhavetotypetherelationin
thebox.Forwritingrelationsbetweendifferentdimensions,youneedtofindthedimensionsnamesinsteadofdimensionstext.Soyouwillclickinfo>switch
dimensionstotogglethedimensionstexttodimensionsnames.

Example:Supposeinacylinderthediameterisrepresentedbyd32andheightbyd33,thenthesimplestforofrelationmaybed32=d33,bydoingsowheneveryou
willchangediameterheightalsowillbechangedtobecomeequalwithdiameter.Inthiscaseofrelationd33iscalleddrivingdimensionandd32iscalleddriven
dimension.Youcannotchangedrivendimensionmanually(likenormalediting).

Afteraddingarelationinrelationdialogboxyoucancheckthecorrectnessoftherelationbyclickingutilities>verifyofrelationdialogbox.

Parameters

Parametersareusefultoprovideinformationabouttheproengineermodel/assembly.Someoftheparametersaresystemgeneratedparametersandsomeareuser
definedparameters.Wewilldiscusshereaboutuserdefinedparameters.

Userdefinedparametersareusefulforproviding/taggingadditionalinformationwiththeproengineergeometry.Theseparameterscanbeusedinfamilytable,
relations,ProEBOMcreationetc.

Letstakeanexample,Supposeyouaremodelingaplasticglassusingproengineer,youcanaddanadditionaluserdefinedparameterlikecolor,nowafteradding
theparametercolor,youcanacreatefamilytablefordifferentcoloredglasses.Goingfurtherbyusingrelationyoucanvarythesizeoftheglassesfordifferentcolors.

Clickontools>parameterstoopenparameterdialogboxandthengotoparameters>addparameterstoadduserdefinedparameters.Itwilladdonemorerowto
theparameterdialogbox,youhavetorenametheparameter,definethetype,valueandaccessoftheparameter.

Howtouseparametersinfamilytable?

Gototools>familytableandthenaddanewcolumn(item),itwillopentheitemselectiondialogbox,thereclickonparameteranditwilldirectyoutotheparameter
dialogboxthereyouneedtoselecttherequiredparameter.Nowthevalueoftheparametercouldbesetfromfamilytable.

Howtouseparametersinrelations?

Asyoualreadyknowhowtocreateparameterandrelation,soletsanswerthisquestionwinanexample.Supposeyouhaveacylinder,whosediameteris
representedbyd45andheightbyd46.Nowifyouwantthatthedimensiond46shouldbecontrolledbyauserdefinedparametersay,DIA,thenyouhavetofollowthe
belowmentionedsteps:

1.CreateaparameterDIA.
2.Putsomevalueoftheparameter(DIA),say,15.
3.Addarelation,d46=DIA
4.Remembertoregeneratetoseethechange.