The amount of supporting structure usage has been a major research topic in layer-based additive manufacturing (AM) over the past years as it leads to increased fabrication time and decreased surface quality. Previous studies focused on deformation and topology optimization to eliminate the number of support structures. However, during the actual fabrication process, the properties of shape and topology are essential. Therefore, they should not be modified casually. In this study, we present an optimizer that reduces the number of supporting structures by identifying the prime printing direction. Without rotation, models are projected in each direction in space, and the basis units involved in the generation of support structures are separated. Furthermore, the area of the supporting structures is calculated. Eventually, the prime printing direction with minimal supporting area is obtained through pattern-searching method. The results of the experiment demonstrated that the printing area was reduced by up to 60% for some cases, and the surface quality was also improved correspondingly. Furthermore, both the material consumption and fabrication time were decreased in most cases. In future work, additional factors will be considered, such as the height of the supporting structures and the adhesion locations to improve the efficiency of this optimizer.

中文翻译：

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在增材制造中最小化支撑结构的自动优化方法

过去几年中，支撑结构的使用量一直是基于层的增材制造（AM）的主要研究主题，因为它导致制造时间增加和表面质量下降。先前的研究集中于变形和拓扑优化，以消除支撑结构的数量。但是，在实际的制造过程中，形状和拓扑的属性至关重要。因此，不应随意修改它们。在这项研究中，我们提出了一种优化器，可以通过识别主要印刷方向来减少支撑结构的数量。在不旋转的情况下，模型会在空间的每个方向上投影，并且支撑结构生成中涉及的基本单元是分离的。此外，计算支撑结构的面积。最终，通过图案搜索法得到支撑面积最小的主印刷方向。实验结果表明，在某些情况下，印刷面积减少了多达60％，表面质量也相应提高。此外，在大多数情况下，材料消耗和制造时间都减少了。在将来的工作中，将考虑其他因素，例如支撑结构的高度和粘附位置，以提高此优化程序的效率。在大多数情况下，材料消耗和制造时间都减少了。在将来的工作中，将考虑其他因素，例如支撑结构的高度和附着位置，以提高此优化程序的效率。在大多数情况下，材料消耗和制造时间都减少了。在将来的工作中，将考虑其他因素，例如支撑结构的高度和附着位置，以提高此优化程序的效率。