Purpose

In the implementation of large-size additive manufacturing (AM), the large printing area can be established by using the tiled and fixed multiple printing heads or the single dynamic printing head moving in the x–y plane, which requires a layer decomposition after the mesh slicing to generate segmented infill areas. The data processing flow of these schemes is redundant and inefficient to some extent, especially for the processing of complex stereolithograph (STL) models. It is of great importance in improving the overall efficiency of large-size AM technics software by simplifying the redundant steps. This paper aims to address these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, a method of directly generating segmented layered infill areas is proposed for AM. Initially, a vertices–mesh hybrid representation of STL models is constructed based on a divide-and-conquer strategy. Then, a trimming–mapping procedure is performed on sliced contours acquired from partial surfaces. Finally, to link trimmed open contours and inside-signal square corners as segmented infill areas, a region-based open contour closing algorithm is carried out in virtue of the developed data structures.

Findings

In virtue of the proposed approach, the segmented layered infill areas can be directly generated from STL models. Experimental results indicate that the approach brings us the good property of efficiency, especially for complex STL models.

Practical implications

The proposed approach can generate segmented layered infill areas efficiently in some cases.

Originality/value

The region-based layered infill area generation approach discussed here will be a supplement to current data process technologies in large-size AM, which is very suitable for parallel processing and enables us to improve the efficiency of large-size AM technics software.

中文翻译：

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用于增材制造的STL模型的基于区域的分层填充区域生成

目的

在实施大型增材制造（AM）时，可以使用平铺并固定的多个打印头或在x – y平面上移动的单个动态打印头来建立较大的打印区域，这需要在打印后进行层分解。网格切片以生成分段的填充区域。这些方案的数据处理流程在某种程度上是冗余的且效率低下的，尤其是对于复杂的立体光刻（STL）模型的处理。通过简化冗余步骤，对于提高大型AM技术软件的整体效率至关重要。本文旨在解决这些问题。

设计/方法/方法

本文提出了一种直接生成分段分层填充区域的方法。最初，基于分治策略构造STL模型的顶点-网格混合表示。然后，对从局部表面获取的切片轮廓执行修整映射过程。最后，为了将修剪的开放轮廓和内部信号正方形角链接为分段的填充区域，借助已开发的数据结构，执行了基于区域的开放轮廓封闭算法。

发现

借助提出的方法，可以直接从STL模型生成分段的分层填充区域。实验结果表明，该方法为我们带来了良好的效率特性，尤其是对于复杂的STL模型。

实际影响

在某些情况下，所提出的方法可以有效地生成分段的分层填充区域。

创意/价值

此处讨论的基于区域的分层填充区域生成方法将对大型AM中的当前数据处理技术进行补充，它非常适合于并行处理，并使我们能够提高大型AM工艺软件的效率。