Efficient geometric algorithms are given for the two-dimensional versions of optimization problems arising in layered manufacturing, where a polygonal object is built by slicing its CAD model and manufacturing the slices successively. The problems considered are minimizing (i) the contact-length between the supports and the manufactured object, (ii) the area of the support structures used, and (iii) the area of the so-called trapped regions-factors that affect the cost and quality of the process.
In Layered Manufacturing, the choice of the build direction for the model influences several design criteria, including the number of layers, the volume and contact-area of the support structures, and the surface finish. These, in turn, impact the throughput and cost of the process. In this paper, efficient geometric algorithms are given to reconcile two or more of these criteria simultaneously, under three formulations of multi-criteria optimization: Finding a build direction which (i) optimizes the criteria sequentially, (ii) optimizes their weighted sum, or (iii) allows the criteria to meet designer-prescribed thresholds. While the algorithms involving "support volume" or "contact area" apply only to convex models, the solutions for "surface finish" and "number of layers" are applicable to any polyhedral model. Some of the latter algorithms have also been implemented and tested on real-world models obtained from industry. The geometric techniques used include construction and searching of certain arrangements on the unit-sphere, 3-dimensional convex hulls, Voronoi diagrams, point location, and hierarchical representations. Additionally, solutions are also provided, for the first time, for the constrained versions of two fundamental geometric problems, namely polyhedron width and largest empty disk on the unit-sphere.
In Layered Manufacturing (LM), a prototype of a virtual polyhedral object is built by slicing the object into polygonal layers, and then building the layers one after another. In StereoLithography, a specific LM-technology, a layer is built using a laser which follows paths along equally-spaced parallel lines and hatches all segments on these lines that are contained in the layer. We consider the problem of computing a direction of these lines for which the number of segments to be hatched is minimum, and present an algorithm that solves this problem exactly. The algorithm has been implemented and experimental results are reported for real-world polyhedral models obtained from industry.
We describe a robust, exact, and efficient implementation of an algorithm that computes the width of a three-dimensional point set. The algorithm is based on efficient solutions to problems that are at the heart of computational geometry: three-dimensional convex hulls, point location in planar graphs, and computing intersections between line segments. The latter two problems have to be solved for planar graphs and segments on the unit sphere, rather than in the two-dimensional plane. The implementation is based on LEDA, and the geometric objects are represented using exact rational arithmetic.
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