Algorithms for Working with Orthogonal Polyhedrons in Solving Cutting and Packing Problems

Abstract

In this paper problems of cutting and packing objects of complex geometric shapes are considered. To solve these NP-hard problems, it is proposed to use an approach based on geometric transformation of polygonal objects to composite objects (orthogonal polyhedrons) made up of rectangles or parallelepipeds of a given dimension. To describe the free space inside a voxelized container, a model of potential containers is used as the basic model that provides the ability of packing orthogonal polyhedrons. A number of specialized algorithms are developed to work with orthogonal polyhedrons including: algorithms for placing and removing composite objects, an algorithm for forming a packing with a given distance between objects to be placed. Two algorithms for the placement of orthogonal polyhedrons are developed and their efficiency is investigated. An algorithm for obtaining a container of complex shape presented as an orthogonal polyhedron based on a polygonal model is given. The article contains examples of placement schemes obtained by the developed algorithms for solving problems of packing two-dimensional and three-dimensional non-rectangular composite objects.