Constraint-based spatial representation technique for the container packing problem

摘要

The spatial representation technique is an efficient method for packing boxes into a container;however it has a limitation in dealing with constraints. For practical applications, there are howeverlimitations when dealing with constraints. These constraints provide flexibility for the user to decidewhich boxes should be placed first. After imposing the initial conditions, the optimisation packingalgorithm based on the spatial representation technique ensures that the boxes remaining in the itemlist are packed as efficiently as possible into the container. The packing plan is then generated duringthe run time to provide visualisation of the result of actual packing sequences. It also simultaneouslyoutputs a graphical file to the Autocad software for printing and detailed study The program can beimplemented under either the DOS platform or the Windows platform on an IBM PC. Theperformance is evaluated using data from another algorithm. The results confirm that the enhancedalgorithm can manage the user-specified constraints with good volume utilisation.