A novel approach to optimize numerical control codes using a systematic block management method
College
Gokongwei College of Engineering
Department/Unit
Manufacturing Engineering and Management
Document Type
Article
Source Title
International Journal of Automation and Smart Technology
Volume
9
Issue
1
First Page
23
Last Page
32
Publication Date
1-1-2019
Abstract
The numerical control (NC) codes generated from Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) software follow the sequence of adding elements to the design. As an alternative, it would be quite beneficial in cost-reduction to optimize the manufacturing sequence to minimize the run time. Accordingly, this paper introduces a novel approach to optimize the numerical control codes generated from a CAM software package using a systematic block management method. To improve the drilling sequence, contours are also considered as block entities in a traveling salesman problem (TSP) with modifications to systematically manage the blocks of code that define the contours. A MATLAB program was created to automatically optimize the numerical codes from a CAM software translator. Because of easier usage and good performance, a partitioned approach for the λ-opt algorithm was implemented instead of the Lin-Kernighan Heuristic (LKH) that has been extensively proven to be effective in optimizing the traveling salesman problem. The new approach was simulated on sample designs and has been shown to achieve at least 15.52% reduction in airtime and 11.32% reduction in tool travel distance. Experimental data showed a 13.45% decrease in total milling time. © The Authors.
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Digitial Object Identifier (DOI)
10.5875/ausmt.v9i1.1728
Recommended Citation
Leapheng, U., Ng, C., Ng, F., Paduman, S., & Chua, A. (2019). A novel approach to optimize numerical control codes using a systematic block management method. International Journal of Automation and Smart Technology, 9 (1), 23-32. https://doi.org/10.5875/ausmt.v9i1.1728
Disciplines
Mechanical Engineering
Keywords
CAD/CAM systems; Machine-tools—Numerical control; Traveling salesman problem
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