Abstract
The five-axis constrained and optimal orientation planning is formulated as a design optimization problem that incorporates the process machine’s kinematic constraints with the workpiece and tool geometry, to obtain a constrained setup orientation which exploits the maximum capabilities of existing machines. This work will introduce this problem, and will obtain the setup orientation for two different types of rotation structures, i.e., tool rotation and table rotation in O(N) time. Further, the obtained constrained setup orientation, will be augmented to incorporate the workpiece surface magnitude, along with different machine rotation structures, to obtain an optimal setup orientation for different machine rotation structures. The drilling process is also introduced and formulated as additional constraints to the optimization problem.
The primary application of the introduced algorithms, is the machining process, where, they can efficiently reduce the number of tool motions and surface finishing processes. However, the solution is very suitable for many manufacturing applications, such as inspection, assembly, robotics, painting, welding, aerospace, electronic surface mount technology, and etc.