A Nozzle Path Planner for 3D Printing Applications

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

8 Scopus Citations
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Author(s)

  • Kai-Yin Fok
  • Nuwan Ganganath
  • Chi-Tsun Cheng
  • Herbert Ho-Ching Iu
  • Chi K. Tse

Related Research Unit(s)

Detail(s)

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6313-6323
Journal / PublicationIEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics
Volume16
Issue number10
Online published25 Dec 2019
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2020

Abstract

Additive manufacturing technologies have been widely applied in both household and industrial applications. The fabrication time of a 3D printed object can be shortened by optimizing its segments printing order. The computational times required by existing nozzle path planning algorithms can increase rapidly with the number of printing segments. In this work, the nozzle path planning problem is formulated as an undirected rural postman problem (URPP) and a computationally efficient heuristic search algorithm is proposed to find fast routes and mitigate overheads in printing processes. Both simulation and experimental results concur that the proposed algorithm can significantly speed up printing processes and outperform its counterparts in 3D printing applications.

Research Area(s)

  • 3D printing, additive manufacturing, undirected rural postman problem (URPP), heuristic search, path planning

Citation Format(s)

A Nozzle Path Planner for 3D Printing Applications. / Fok, Kai-Yin; Ganganath, Nuwan; Cheng, Chi-Tsun et al.
In: IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, Vol. 16, No. 10, 10.2020, p. 6313-6323.

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review