Flat-Bed Cutting Nesting Around Support Bars and Packing Density
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current nesting methods for flatbed machine tools, such as laser cutting machines, face challenges in minimizing material usage and reducing downtime due to service or repair, while also addressing issues like wear on support bars and quality concerns related to the position of workpieces relative to support bars, which can lead to increased costs and reduced process reliability.
Innovation Solution
A method for generating a nesting plan that includes an overlap-free arrangement of sub-spaces in a two-dimensional planning space, considering supported surface areas and using a workpiece minimum distance to ensure efficient cutting, along with an insertion sequence and arrangement rule that evaluates and optimizes the packing density and position of sub-spaces to minimize waste and reduce wear on support bars.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If workpieces are nested to minimize raw material usage, then material cost is reduced, but cutting process time may increase and support bar wear increases
Solution Approach 1:
The nesting plan is generated in advance with optimization of multiple criteria including material usage, cutting time, and support bar wear. The arrangement of workpieces is pre-calculated to minimize total cutting path length while maintaining reasonable material utilization, thereby reducing actual cutting process time
Solution Approach 2:
The optimization process adjusts multiple parameters including workpiece positions, orientations, and nesting patterns to find the optimal balance between material usage and cutting time. The system evaluates different nesting configurations and selects parameters that minimize both material waste and cutting duration
2Loss of substance
If workpieces are nested closely to minimize material usage, then material cost is reduced, but support bar wear increases due to improper positioning
Solution Approach 1:
The nesting plan ensures that workpieces are positioned with adequate clearance from support bars based on local requirements. Each workpiece position is evaluated individually to maintain proper distance from support structures, preventing excessive wear while still achieving overall material optimization
Solution Approach 2:
The nesting software acts as an intermediary that mediates between material optimization goals and support bar protection requirements. It calculates optimal workpiece positions that satisfy both criteria by evaluating geometric constraints and support bar locations
3Loss of substance
If complex nesting optimization is performed to minimize material usage, then material cost is reduced, but computational complexity and planning time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The nesting problem is segmented into manageable components including workpiece grouping, position evaluation, and constraint checking. The software processes workpieces in sequences and uses modular algorithms to evaluate different arrangement options, making the complex optimization task computationally tractable
Data Source
AI summary
A method generates a nesting plan for controlling a cutting process of a flatbed machine tool for cutting workpieces from a material sheet. The nesting plan includes an overlap-free arrangement of sub-spaces corresponding to the workpieces in a two-dimensional planning space as well as a spatial arrangement of predetermined supported spaces. After each new insertion of a sub-space during nesting, a packing density evaluation and at least one evaluation incorporating the position data of the respective initial position of the newly inserted sub-space in a local search space are performed.