Method for planning 3D printing path based on Fermat's spiral

• US 10,639,850 B2
• Filed: 07/24/2018
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Shandong University
• Original Assignee: Shandong University
• Inventors: Chen, Baoquan, Cohen-Or, Daniel, Zhang, Hao, Zhao, Haisen
• Primary Examiner(s): Shechtman, Sean
• Application Number:
  US16/044,343
• Publication Number:
  US 20180326669A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/12 by photopolymerisation, e.g. stereolithography [SLA] or digital light processing [DLP]
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/18 by mixing binder with metal in filament form, e.g. fused filament fabrication [FFF]
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/28 Powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM]
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/30 Process control
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/386 Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/393 for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 67/00 Shaping techniques not covered by groups B29C39/00 - B29C65/00, B29C70/00 or B29C73/00
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/00 Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/02 for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4099 Surface or curve machining, making 3D objects, e.g. desktop manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/49023 3-D printing, layer of powder, add drops of binder in layer, new powder
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 10/25 Process efficiency

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method of planning a 3D printing path based on Fermat'"'"'s spiral. The method comprises generating a plurality of iso-contours for a given topological connected region, wherein adjacent iso-contours of the plurality of iso-contours have a set spacing therebetween. The method also comprises constructing a spiral connected graph according to the plurality of iso-contours and generating a spiral connected tree according to the spiral connected graph. The method further comprises connecting a subset of the plurality of iso-contours according to the spiral connected tree to form a connected Fermat spiral. The method additionally comprises smoothing the connected Fermat spiral through a global optimization method based on a width of the printing path being consistent.

Claims

1. A method of planning a 3D printing path for controlling a 3D printer to print an object, the method comprising:

generating a plurality of iso-contours for a given topological connected region, wherein adjacent iso-contours of the plurality of iso-contours have a set spacing therebetween;

constructing a spiral connected graph according to the plurality of iso-contours;

generating a spiral connected tree according to the spiral connected graph;

generating the 3D printing path based on connecting a subset of the plurality of iso-contours according to the spiral connected tree to form a connected Fermat spiral; and

smoothing the 3D printing path through a global optimization method based on a width of the printing path being consistent; and

controlling a path of a print head of the 3D printer according to the 3D printing path to print the object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each generated iso-contour of the plurality of iso-contours is expressed by a combination of (1) a distance from the respective iso-contour to a boundary of the given topological connected region and (2) an index among the plurality of iso-contours with the distance.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein constructing a spiral connected graph according to the plurality of iso-contours and generating a spiral connected tree according to the spiral connected graph comprises:

constructing a weighted spiral connected graph according to the plurality of iso-contours; and

selecting a minimum spanning tree (MST) generated from the weighted spiral connected graph as the spiral connected tree.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein in constructing a weighted spiral connected graph according to the plurality of iso-contours, each iso-contour of the plurality of iso-contours corresponds to one node in the spiral connected graph, and, if a connected edge of an iso-contour of the plurality of iso-contours relative to an adjacent iso-contour of the plurality of iso-contours is non-empty, the spiral connected graph has an edge connecting the nodes of the iso-contour and the adjacent iso-contour, wherein a weight value of the edge is the length of the connected edge.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein connecting a subset of the plurality of iso-contours according to the spiral connected tree to form a connected Fermat spiral comprises:

decomposing the spiral connected tree into multiple independent Fermat spiral subtrees and trunk nodes;

connecting iso-contours that correspond to the Fermat spiral subtrees to generate a sub Fermat spiral;

connecting the sub Fermat spiral with iso-contours that correspond to the trunk nodes associated with the sub Fermat spiral; and

connecting the iso-contours corresponding to the trunk nodes.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein in decomposing the spiral connected tree into multiple independent Fermat spiral subtrees and trunk nodes, in the spiral connected tree, first nodes of which degrees are less than or equal to two degrees are defined as type I nodes, second nodes of which degrees are greater than two degrees are defined as type II nodes, and connected type I nodes are connected into different Fermat spiral subtrees.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein connecting iso-contours that correspond to the Fermat spiral subtrees to generate a sub Fermat spiral comprises:

connecting the iso-contours that correspond to the Fermat spiral subtrees to generate a sub spiral; and

generating a corresponding sub Fermat spiral from the sub spiral.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein connecting the iso-contours that correspond to the Fermat spiral subtrees to generate a sub spiral comprises:

selecting an enter-point on an outermost iso-contour corresponding to the Fermat spiral subtrees;

starting from the enter-point, connecting two adjacent iso-contours into a continuous line, and connecting all the iso-contours that correspond to the Fermat spiral subtrees into the sub spiral.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein smoothing the connected Fermat spiral through a global optimization method based on a width of the printing path being consistent comprises:

dynamically selecting sample points based on a curvature of each position of the connected Fermat spiral;

constructing a global optimization function;

setting penalties for penalty terms of a magnitude of perturbations on the sample points, a degree of smoothness, and a degree of spacing maintenance; and

calculating an optimal solution of the global optimization function through an iterative Gaussian-Newton optimization method.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein in dynamically selecting sample points based on the curvature of each position of the connected Fermat spiral, more sample points are selected at a first position having a larger curvature than at a second position having a smaller curvature than the first position.