Path Planning for Laser Cutting Based on Thermal Field Ant Colony Algorithm

laser cutting technology, path planning is the key to optimizing cutting quality. Traditional ant colony optimization path planning does not prevent excessive heat effects after processing. This paper addresses the problem of heat accumulation during drilling by introducing a heat factor and a heat threshold into the traditional ant colony algorithm. The heat factor and threshold are used to dynamically control heating and cooling in the path planning process, and the heat factor is updated to update the local pheromone. Then, the improved 2-opt algorithm with the introduced heat factor is combined to parallelly optimize the path, and a thermal field ant colony algorithm is proposed. The simulation experiments and actual cutting results show that the proposed algorithm is more efficient and effective than traditional ant colony algorithm and improved ant colony algorithm in terms of reducing heat accumulation while ensuring fewer empty path, and improving laser cutting processing efficiency and quality.