COMPUTATION OF OPTIMAL POCKETING TOOL PATH USING GENETIC ALGORITHM

Abstract

The calculation of the optimal path of the tool during the machining process is one of the most important steps in the entire production process. The length of the tool path affects the machining time, which affects the cost of the manufacturing process. This is why an algorithm was created to calculate the optimal path for pocketing using genetic algorithms. This algorithm consists of four main modules.

The first module is to extract the engineering data stored in a file of the programs to increase the efficiency of the proposed algorithm. The neutral data files were selected to transfer the data from the CAD softwares and select the files (STEP and DXF). The STEP file was selected specifically as it is one of the most recent files where the DXF file is the most common of the files used in CAD softwares.

The second module is to recognize all pockets types like circular pockets, rectangular pockets and irregular shapes pockets and also to recognize all holes types.