Product Overview

Wilcox Associates, Inc. is proud to bring you PC-DMIS™ Blade 4.0. This is a completely independent software package that, through automation, uses PC-DMIS 4.3 or higher to analyze airfoil data.

PC-DMIS Blade is an analysis package that takes collected data (2D or 3D) about a measured airfoil and three dimensionally analyzes and compares it against nominal data. Various characteristics can be displayed in reports and plots that allow a user to quickly identify problems and solutions to manufacturing and engineering issues.

There are two methods PC-DMIS Blade is used to analyze an airfoil:

• Online: Blade works in conjunction with PC-DMIS to take airfoil measurements and analyze the report file results. This automated method is typically used in a manufacturing scenario and requires very little operator input. This is the most common method for using Blade.
  

• Offline: The user interacts with Blade in order to create a custom analysis of an airfoil or reanalyze an airfoil that was previously measured. This is typically used in an engineering or reverse engineering scenario.

PC-DMIS Blade can be used for:

• Manufacturing - Process control (In-process inspection)
• Manufacturing - Final Acceptance
• Engineering - Process Engineering
• Engineering - Reverse Engineering

System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

• Blade operates under 32-bit and 64-bit Windows XP; 32-bit and 64 bit Windows Vista; and 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7. See the info below on XP support. Blade will NOT function on computers using any other operating system.
• Pentium IV or higher processor is suggested.
• 1 GHz or higher Intel processor.
• 512 MB of RAM (but significantly more may be required if working with large CAD models).
• 750 MB of free hard drive space minimum for the application.
• SVGA graphics card capable of OpenGL shading. (We cannot specify the exact Graphics card because every user has varying needs). Note that Nvidia GeForce video cards are not recommended. These are defined as "gaming" cards according to Nvidia Engineering.
• SVGA capable monitor
• Screen resolution of 1280 x 1024 or higher.
• CD-ROM drive.
• USB Port

Recommended Minimums:

• Blade operates under 32-bit and 64-bit Windows XP; 32-bit and 64 bit Windows Vista; and 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7. See the info below on XP support. Blade will NOT function on computers using any other operating system.
• 2 GHz or higher Intel processor for improved performance. Pentium 4 or higher processor recommended.
• 1 GB of RAM or higher. More RAM may be required if working with large CAD models. You should have RAM equal to 8 times the size of your largest CAD file. (For example, if you use an IGES model of 250 MB, then 2 GB RAM is recommended)
• 1.25 GB of free hard drive space plus enough for allocated Virtual Memory equal to 8 times the largest CAD file used.
• SVGA graphics card that supports OpenGL shading and that has WHQL (Microsoft Windows Hardware Quality Labs) certified drivers. These drivers can be downloaded automatically when using the Windows Update software.). On board video card memory should be based on the size of your largest CAD file. For small CAD files (less than 50 MB), 32 MB video memory. For medium CAD files (50-100 MB), 64 MB video memory. For large CAD files (> 100 MB), 128+ MB video memory.
• SVGA capable monitor
• Screen resolution of 1280 x 1024 or higher
• CD-ROM drive.
• USB Port

Features

PC-DMIS Blade 4.0 provides you with all the features from the 3.1 release as well as the following improvements:

Note: These were taken from the readme.txt file.

• Added option to use either tabbed views or regular views
  
  
• Added new method to width calculations, PERCENT_X - The new method picks up a point on the MCL by defining it's percentage of the Chord as measured from the given edge. The value 0.0 would be the position at that edge and 100.0 would be at the opposite edge. Pick something in between those two values. The OFFSET values are used to define the percentages.

• Added Template Option -
  
  
  
  To use the template output you need to do the following:
  1. Edit the flavor file to enable template Set the AutoPrint Plot option to be Template. This replaces all other automatic plotting options.
     
  2. Create a template definition file. This should in the same folder and have the same name as the nominal file, but the file extension should be TPL. So if your nominal file name is MyBlade.NOM, then the template file should be named MyBlade.TPL. This template will be used to report every section. If you have different requirements for a section, then it should have it’s own template file and the file name will be the nominal file name, an underscore (‘_’) and the section name. So if MyBlade has a section named A-A which needs its own template, then the name of that template must be MyBlade_A-A.TPL. The format of the template files is given below.
     
  A template file is a text file that contains two types of entries:

First, a set of modal commands that are used to define what extra properties should be included with each form plot. Each of these settings starts with the key word, SET. The list of SET commands currently supported is:

SET POINTTOL OFF/ON – OFF is the default, controls whether individual point tolerances are displayed.

SET STOCK OFF/ON – OFF is the default, controls whether STOCK Distribution graphics is added to the plots.

SET ZONE OFF/ON – OFF is the default, controls whether Zone Form position labels are added to the plots.

SET WHISKERS OFF/OUT/ON – OFF is the default, controls if and when the deviation whisker labels are plotted.

SET THICKNESS Index – Zero is the default (show none), controls whether any of the thickness calculations are displayed on the plots.

SET SIDEMAG #.#### - Sets the Side Magnification, 0.0 is the default.

SET ENDMAG #.#### - Sets the End Magnification, 0.0 is the default.

These are all modal, so when a setting is made, it applies to all plots that follow it until the setting is changed.

Second you need a cell definition entry in the file. Cell definitions contain the cell type as the key word, followed by 4 numbers which define the position and size of the cell on the output. This is defined by 4 numbers, all of which are interpreted as percentages of the output page.

The X values range from 0.0 to 100.0, measuring from left to right where 0.0 is the left margin and 100.0 is the right margin.

The Y values range f rom 0.0 to 100.0, measuring from top to bottom where 0.0 is the top margin and 100.0 is the bottom margin.

These four numbers are always defined in the order XStart XEnd YStart and YEnd (Left, Right, Top Bottom). If more information is required to define the cell, it follows the first five fields. The list of cell definition commands currently supported is:

HEADER XStart XEnd YStart YEnd – This entry will draw the standard Blade Section Header in the defined box.

PLOT XStart XEnd YStart YEnd CALCULATION [Optional Side List] – This entry will draw a form plot. CALCULATION is the name of the blade calculation from which the plot is derived (for example CVMAX). The optional Side list will define which sides to draw in the plot. The choices are CVX, CCV, LE and TE. If no side list is defined, then all sides will be drawn.

ZONEFORM XStart XEnd YStart YEnd – This entry will draw the Zone Form table for the current section (if Zone Form is computed) in the defined box.

CMM XStart XEnd YStart YEnd – This entry will draw the CMM style output for the current section in the defined box.

BESTFIT XStart XEnd YStart YEnd BestFitNumber [Optional Side List] – This entry will output the best fit statistics. You can control which sides are included in the output by supplying the optional side list. If no side list is supplied all sides will be reported.

HEADER XStart XEnd YStart YEnd – This entry will draw the standard Blade Section Header in the defined box.

TEXT XStart XEnd YStart YEnd JUSTIFICATION NumberLines – This entry will output one or more lines of text in the defined box. JUSTIFICATION, which should be LEFT, CENTER or RIGHT is used to define how the text is aligned within the box. NumberLines defines the number of lines of text that are to be output. The lines of text should immediately follow this entry. Note that TEXT boxes do not draw a border, they can be used to add descriptive text to another cell by defining them to overlap other cells. In general cells can overlap, the last defined cell will be displayed as they are drawn in the order that they are defined in the file.

There is one more entry that is possible in the template files. Use the key word NEWPAGE to define a page split for multiple page template reports. This word has no modifiers.

• Made Reading of Variable Tolerance Files (VTL) More Flexible - VTRL reading is more flexible. They can now be space or comma delimited.
  
  
• SECTION Added to Beginning of a Section - Changed the beginning line of each section to start with the word SECTION to follow convention of NOM and RPT files. So line that defines the beginning of a section now looks like:

  SECTION SECTNAME N1 N2 (N1 and N2 are the number of points used to define the two tolerance curves)
  

• Include Form Plates on Same Page As Matrix Report - To do this, use the "Embedded" Autoprint Plot option and the plots will be included on the one page matrix report.
  
  
• Included Ability to Analyze Sections with Both Ends Being Partial
  
  
• Added waviness calculations for LE, TE and complete section
  
  
  
• Added ability to bypass Amyuni Methods for Concatenating PDF Files - A minor change was made to initialization of the PDF creation. In addition, Blade can use a batch file to complete the joining of the PDF files if the bat file exists.
  
  This bat file must be named JoinPDF.BAT and must reside in the same folder where Blade.EXE was installed. It takes takes two command line arguments:
  
  1. This first is the folder that contains all the pdf files that are to be joined.
     
  2. The second is the common base name of the pdf files that will be joined.
     
  This was tested, using freeware, pdftk.exe, which was called by JoinPDF.BAT. To use this, download pdftk.exe, and contact Hexagon Metrology for a copy of JoinPDF.BAT.
  
  
• Added ability from plot menu to create a best fit form plot and Manually Manipulate Fit
  
  
• Copied the Compensation tab of the "Edit Preferences" dialog to the "Edit Flavor File" dialog - In particular, this allows using different filter spacing for different blade programs. When you edit a flavor file for the first time, the dialog will be populated with the preferences values. When you save the flavor file, these values will be saved and then associated forever with that flavor file.
  
  
  
  
• Made changes when creating an AS output - If all the sections measured have exactly 112 point both in NOM and RPT files then a MA file is created instead. Note that you should turn off "remove hooks and spikes" processing, otherwise a point may be removed and an AS file will be created instead.
  
  
• Added "Radial" option to LEPOS and TEPOS calculations - This is the 2D distance from the origin to the Nose/Tail point. No best fit is applied.
  
  
• Enabled CHDANG to process STACK + MCL
  
  
• STACKU and STACKV - This is stack reported parallel and perpendicular to the stack line.
  
  
• Changed STACKV to have nominal value of 0
  
  
• Made Matrix report draw with larger text
  
  
• Made Probe Compensation improvements