A Simulation Based Optimization Approach for Setting-Up CNC Machines

The “Intelligent work preparation based on virtual tooling machines” research project presents an idea for pursuing an automatically optimized machine setup to obtain minimized tool paths and production time for CNC tooling machines. A simulation based optimization method was developed and will be combination with a virtual tooling machine to validate the setup parameters and configuration scenarios. The features of the machine simulation such as material removal and collisoon detection are associated with a sharp increase in the simulation complexity level which leads to a high effort for a simple simulation based optimization approach where a high number of iterations are typically necessary to evaluate the optimization results. This contribution focuses on the implementation of a machine setup optimization in a way that is practical as pre-processing estimation for workpiece positions. Therefore a simulation using a rastered workspace model, combined with an asynchronous PSO implementation will be introduced to avoid needless simulation runs.