Using SOLIDWORKS Sensors to Monitor Surface Area

When it comes to home projects, I never really know how much paint, stain, or primer to get. I usually end up buying a gallon, using what I need, and then just storing the rest. After a few years in storage, it becomes too old and ends up at the recycling center. This is how I came up with the idea of using sensors in SOLIDWORKS to calculate the amount of paint/stain I would need for any new home project.  For this blog, I’m going to use a section of railing, but I imagine this would also work great on an entire deck, a room in my house, the entire house itself, or even a part that I am manufacturing.

SOLIDWORKS Sensors

When creating a design in SOLIDWORKS, the SOLIDWORKS Sensor tool allows you to monitor specific parameters within a part or assembly.  These sensors can also alert you if the values deviate from specified limits.

There are actually many types of sensors that are available in SOLIDWORKS, including:

• Simulation Data Sensors – Sensors that define the locations for measuring result quantities in SOLIDWORKS Simulation.
• Mass Properties Sensors – Sensors that monitor properties such as Mass, Volume, and Surface Area.
• Dimension Sensors – Sensors that monitor the dimensions in your design. For some, this is a popular sensor that can help alert an individual when the sizes of components/designs get too large or too small.
• Interference Detection Sensors – For assemblies only, this sensor monitors the assembly for interferences between its components.
• Measurement Sensors – Sensors that monitor measurements that you specify with the Measure tool.
• Proximity Sensors – Also for assemblies only, this sensor monitors the assembly for interferences between a line you define and components you select.
• Costing Data Sensors – Sensors that monitor costing data like Total Cost, Material Cost, and Manufacturing Cost as defined in Data Quantity.
• Sheet Metal Bounding Box Properties Sensors – Sensors that monitor the smallest rectangle in which a flat pattern can fit.
• Motion Data Sensors – For SOLIDWORKS Motion only, this one allows you to define a sensor from a motion study result.

Other than the Motion Data sensor, these sensors can be found in the pull-down menu of the Sensors PropertyManager. To access the Sensor PropertyManager, right-click on the Sensors folder within the FeatureManager Design Tree and select Add Sensor.

If you do not see the Sensor folder, you may have to set the folder to Show. This can be accomplished through the SOLIDWORKS System Options (shown below).

Mass Properties Sensor

Now, there are actually two sensor types that I can use for monitoring Surface Area. I could probably use either one for calculating the surface area of my rail assembly, but one of them is going to be a little more accurate for determining how much stain I would need.

In the following image, I initially chose Mass Properties as my Sensor Type and the Surface Area option from within the Properties pull-down menu. Right away, you can see the value of about 65.7 ft^2. However, this is the surface area of all surfaces of every component, not just the exposed surfaces that I want to stain. This might be close enough for my rail assembly, but it wouldn’t work if I were trying to capture the surface area of a room within an entire house, for example. For that, it would be better to use the Measurement Sensor.

Measurement Sensor

The next sensor type I could use is the Measurement Sensor. This sensor allows me to measure (select) the exact surfaces that are actually exposed, and obviously, only the ones I want to include with the surface area calculation. With the help of the Split Line feature, Select Tangency, and Selection Sets, I can select only the exposed faces of the rail assembly. Then, after I make my measurement selections, I will click the Create Sensor button within the Measure window.

With a click of the green checkmark, I can see that the total exposed area is now about 60.3 ft^2; a bit smaller than what was found with the Mass Properties sensor.

Furthermore, when there is a design change in the size of the rail assembly, I get immediate feedback on its exposed surface area. As you can see below, as I increase the lengths of the spindles, my surface area jumps to about 70 ft^2.

Conclusion

So, how much stain will I need for my original rail assembly design? Well, if according to the information on the side of the can, one gallon covers approximately 600 ft^2, one quart covers approximately 150 ft^2, and one pint covers approximately 75 ft^2. I will need 60 x 2 (two coats) or about 120 ft^2. So, it looks like I can purchase a single quart instead of the typical gallon that I normally would buy. So, SOLIDWORKS and Sensors have saved me some money.

If you would like to learn more about other types of Sensors for other applications, feel free to set up an Application Mentoring Session with one of our Certified SOLIDWORK Experts.

Want to learn more? Check out more tutorials below. Additionally, check out the GoEngineer Community, where you can create forum posts, enter design contests, and answer questions from other SOLIDWORKS users. 

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