Abstract

Additive manufacturing processes, especially those based on fused filament fabrication mechanism, have a low productivity. One solution to this problem is to adopt a collaborative additive manufacturing system that employs multiple printers/extruders working simultaneously to improve productivity by reducing the process makespan. However, very limited research is available to address the major challenges in the co-scheduling of printing path scanning for different extruders. Existing studies lack: (i) a consideration of the impact of sub-path partitions and simultaneous printing of multiple layers on the multi-extruder printing makespan; and (ii) efficient algorithms to deal with the multiple decision-making involved. This article develops an improved method by first breaking down printing paths on different printing layers into sub-paths and assigning these generated sub-paths to different extruders. A mathematical model is formulated for the co-scheduling problem, and a hybrid algorithm with sequential solution procedures integrating an evolutionary algorithm and a heuristic is customized to multiple decision-making in the co-scheduling for collaborative printing. The performance was compared with the most recent research, and the results demonstrated further makespan reduction when sub-path partition or the simultaneous printing of multiple layers is considered. This article discusses the impacts of process setups on makespan reduction, providing a quantitative tool for guiding process development.

摘要

增材制造工艺，尤其是那些基于熔丝制造机制的工艺，生产率低下。解决此问题的一个方法是采用协同增材制造系统，该系统采用多台打印机/挤出机同时工作，通过减少流程完工时间来提高生产率。然而，可用于解决不同挤出机打印路径扫描协同调度中的主要挑战的研究非常有限。现有研究缺乏：(i) 考虑子路径分区和多层同时打印对多挤出机打印完工时间的影响；(ii) 处理所涉及的多重决策的有效算法。本文开发了一种改进方法，首先将不同印刷层上的印刷路径分解为子路径，并将这些生成的子路径分配给不同的挤出机。针对协同调度问题建立了数学模型，并针对协同打印协同调度中的多重决策定制了具有顺序求解程序的混合算法，该算法集成了进化算法和启发式算法。将性能与最近的研究进行了比较，结果表明当考虑子路径分区或同时打印多个层时，可以进一步减少完工时间。本文讨论了工艺设置对缩短完工时间的影响，为指导工艺开发提供了量化工具。针对协同调度问题建立了数学模型，并针对协同打印协同调度中的多重决策定制了具有顺序求解程序的混合算法，该算法集成了进化算法和启发式算法。将性能与最近的研究进行了比较，结果表明当考虑子路径分区或同时打印多个层时，可以进一步减少完工时间。本文讨论了工艺设置对缩短完工时间的影响，为指导工艺开发提供了量化工具。针对协同调度问题建立了数学模型，并针对协同打印协同调度中的多重决策定制了具有顺序求解程序的混合算法，该算法集成了进化算法和启发式算法。将性能与最近的研究进行了比较，结果表明当考虑子路径分区或同时打印多个层时，可以进一步减少完工时间。本文讨论了工艺设置对缩短完工时间的影响，为指导工艺开发提供了量化工具。并且具有集成进化算法和启发式的顺序求解过程的混合算法被定制为协同打印的协同调度中的多个决策。将性能与最近的研究进行了比较，结果表明当考虑子路径分区或同时打印多个层时，可以进一步减少完工时间。本文讨论了工艺设置对缩短完工时间的影响，为指导工艺开发提供了量化工具。并且具有集成进化算法和启发式的顺序求解过程的混合算法被定制为协同打印的协同调度中的多个决策。将性能与最近的研究进行了比较，结果表明当考虑子路径分区或同时打印多个层时，可以进一步减少完工时间。本文讨论了工艺设置对缩短完工时间的影响，为指导工艺开发提供了量化工具。