Influencer-defaulter mutation-based optimization algorithms for predicting electricity prices

Efficient electricity price forecasting plays a significant role in our society. In this paper, a novel influencer-defaulter mutation (IDM) mutation operator has been proposed. The IDM operator has been combined with six well-known optimization algorithms to create mutated optimization algorithms whose performance has been tested on twenty-four standard benchmark functions. Further, the artificial neural network is integrated with mutated optimization algorithms to solve the electricity price prediction problem. The policymakers can identify appropriate variables based on the predicted prices to help future market planning. The statistical results prove the efficacy of the IDM operator on the recent optimization algorithms.     

Systematic analysis and multi-objective optimization of an integrated power and freshwater production cycle

This study represents the results of the analysis and optimization of an integrated system for cogenerating electricity and freshwater. This setup consists of a Solid Oxide Fuel cell (SOFC) for producing electricity. Unburned fuel of the SOFC is burned in the afterburner to increase the temperature of the SOFC's outlet gasses and operate a Gas turbine (GT) to produce additional power and operate the air compressor. At the bottom of this cycle, a combined setup of a Multi-Effect Desalination (MED) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) is considered to produce freshwater from the unused heat capacity of the GT's exhaust gasses. Also, a Stirling engine is used in the fuel supply line to increase the fuel's temperature. Using LNG and the Stirling engine will replace the fuel compressor with a pump which increases the system performance and eliminates the need for the expansion valve. To study the system performance a mathematical model is developed in Engineering Equation Solver (EES) program. Then, the system's simulated data from the EES has been sent to MATLAB to promote the best operating condition based on the optimization criteria. An energetic, exergetic, economic, and environmental analysis has been performed and a Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) is used to achieve the goal. The two-objective optimization is performed to maximize the exergetic efficiency of the proposed system while minimizing the system's total cost of production. This cost is a weighted distribution of the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) and Levelized Cost of freshwater (LCOW). The results showed that the exergetic and energetic efficiencies of the system can reach 73.5% and 69.06% at the optimum point. The total electricity production of the system is 99 MW. The production cost is 11.71 Cents/kWh, of which 1.04 Cents/kWh is emission-related and environmental taxes. The freshwater production rate is 42.44 kg/s which costs 4.38 USD/m³.     

A mathematical model for open pit mine production scheduling with Grade Engineering® and stockpiling

This paper presents the development and implementation of an innovative mixed integer programming based mathematical model for an open pit mining operation with Grade Engineering framework. Grade Engineering comprises a range of coarse-separation based pre-processing techniques that separate the desirable (i.e. high-grade) and undesirable (i.e. low-grade or uneconomic) materials and ensure the delivery of only selected quantity of high quality (or high-grade) material to energy, water, and cost-intensive processing plant. The model maximizes the net present value under a range of operational and processing constraints. Given that the proposed model is computationally complex, the authors employ a data pre-processing procedure and then evaluate the performance of the model at several practical instances using computation time, optimality gap, and the net present value as valid measures. In addition, a comparison of the proposed and traditional (without Grade Engineering) models reflects that the proposed model outperforms the traditional formulation.     

周期性隔震基础的优化设计与试验验证

周期性隔震基础是利用周期性结构的衰减域特性,将地震动与上部结构自振频率接近的频率范围内的能量衰减,从而控制上部结构响应的新型隔震装置。周期性基础的隔震性能受到多方面因素的影响,包括局域共振子的调谐频率比、质量比、阻尼比、基体的刚度、上部结构与基础的相互作用以及地震动的频谱特性等。目前尚未有研究综合考虑上述因素的影响并提出周期性基础的设计方法。提出以一组地震动作用下上部结构峰值响应衰减率的平均值为目标函数,对周期性基础进行优化的设计方法。计算结果表明,按照该优化方法得到的周期性基础对上部结构在选取的44条地震动作用下,峰值响应的平均衰减率达30%。参数敏感性分析表明,优化设计得到的周期性基础对于自身参数的变化具有良好的鲁棒性。最后利用缩尺振动台试验验证了优化设计得到的周期性基础的隔震性能,证明了优化方法的有效性和优化结果的正确性。     

Benchmark value determination of energy efficiency indexes for coal-fired power units based on data mining methods

The operational optimisation of coal-fired power units is important for saving energy and reducing losses in the electric power industry. One of the key issues is how to determine the benchmark values of the energy efficiency indexes of the units. Therefore, a new framework for determining these benchmark values is proposed, based on data mining methods. First, the energy efficiency key performance indicators (KPIs) associated with the net coal consumption rate (NCCR) were selected based on the domain knowledge. Second, the decision-making samples with minimal NCCR were acquired with the fuzzy C-means (FCM) clustering algorithm, and the corresponding clustering centres were employed as the benchmark values. Finally, based on the support vector regression (SVR) algorithm, the target values of the NCCR were obtained with the KPIs as input, and the energy saving potential was evaluated by comparing the target values with the historical values of the NCCR. An actual on-duty 1000 MW unit was taken as study unit, and the results show that the energy saving potential is remarkable when the operators adjust the KPIs based on the calculated benchmark values.     

Smart control of the assembly process with a fuzzy control system in the context of Industry 4.0

Assembly line balancing is important for the efficiency of the assembly process, however, a wide range of disruptions can break the current workload balance. Some researchers explored the task assignment plan for the assembly line balancing problem with the assumption that the assembly process is smooth with no disruption. Other researchers considered the impacts of disruptions, but they only explored the task re-assignment solutions for the assembly line re-balancing problem with the assumption that the re-balancing decision has been made already. There is limited literature exploring on-line adjustment solutions (layout adjustment and production rate adjustment) for an assembly line in a dynamic environment. This is because real-time monitoring of an assembly process was impossible in the past, and it is difficult to incorporate uncertainty factors into the balancing process because of the randomness and non-linearity of these factors. However, Industry 4.0 breaks the information barriers between different parts of an assembly line, since smart, connected products, which are enabled by advanced information and communication technology, can intelligently interact and communicate with each other and collect, process and produce information. Smart control of an assembly line becomes possible with the large amounts of real-time production data in the era of Industry 4.0, but there is little literature considering this new context. In this study, a fuzzy control system is developed to analyze the real-time information of an assembly line, with two types of fuzzy controllers in the fuzzy system. Type 1 fuzzy controller is used to determine whether the assembly line should be re-balanced to satisfy the demand, and type 2 fuzzy controller is used to adjust the production rate of each workstation in time to eliminate blockage and starvation, and increase the utilization of machines. Compared with three assembly lines without the proposed fuzzy control system, the assembly line with the fuzzy control system performs better, in terms of blockage ratio, starvation ratio and buffer level. Additionally, with the improvement of information transparency, the performance of an assembly line will be better. The research findings shed light on the smart control of the assembly process, and provide insights into the impacts of Industry 4.0 on assembly line balancing.     

Jaya Learning-Based Optimization for Optimal Sizing of Stand-Alone Photovoltaic,Wind Turbine,and Battery Systems

Renewable energy sources (RESs) are considered to be reliable and green electric power generation sources. Photovoltaics (PVs) and wind turbines (WTs) are used to provide electricity in remote areas. Optimal sizing of hybrid RESs is a vital challenge in a stand-alone environment. The meta-heuristic algorithms proposed in the past are dependent on algorithm-specific parameters for achieving an optimal solution. This paper proposes a hybrid algorithm of Jaya and a teaching–learning-based optimization (TLBO) named the JLBO algorithm for the optimal unit sizing of a PV–WT–battery hybrid system to satisfy the consumer’s load at minimal total annual cost (TAC). The reliability of the system is considered by a maximum allowable loss of power supply probability (LPSP_max) concept. The results obtained from the JLBO algorithm are compared with the original Jaya, TLBO, and genetic algorithms. The JLBO results show superior performance in terms of TAC, and the PV–WT–battery hybrid system is found to be the most economical scenario. This system provides a cost-effective solution for all proposed LPSP_max values as compared with PV–battery and WT–battery systems.     

山东栖霞—大柳行地区金矿找矿靶区地质评价及优选

栖霞—大柳行地区位于胶东中部栖霞—蓬莱金矿成矿带内，是胶东重要的金成矿区，成矿条件优越。为了对圈定靶区进行优选分类，通过对该区地质背景、找矿靶区评价、找矿靶区优选方面展开综合研究，并结合勘查工作程度和矿业权设置情况，划分出3类预测区，选定了5个靶区为今后优先部署勘查工作的方向。     

Selection of risk response actions with consideration of secondary risks

Secondary risk in project risk management refers to the risk that arises as a direct result of implementing a risk response action (RRA). It is important for project managers (PMs) to consider the effects caused by the secondary risks in the process of RRA selection. The purpose of this paper is to propose an optimization method to address the problem of selecting risk response actions (RRAs) with consideration of secondary risk which is seldom considered in the existing studies. The optimization model aims to minimize the total risk costs with time constraint being placed on the project makespan. By solving the model, an optimal set of RRAs along with the earliest start time for each activity can both be obtained. The results show that secondary risk plays an important role in the process of RRA selection. Project managers should allocate more budget for responding the project risk when the secondary risk is considered, and consider all factors relating to both time and cost so as to select appropriate RRAs to mitigate primary risk and secondary risk.     

Design optimization of semiconductor piezoresistors with Schottky diode contacts

A modeling theory is developed to predict the performance of piezoresistors which incorporate Schottky diode electrical contacts. This new theory allows the design of high performance gauges which can be fabricated using Non-Lithographically-Based Microfabrication (NLBM) techniques. These semiconductor piezoresistors can be designed in customizable sizes and fabricated in parallel in order to integrate position sensing into MEMS flexural positioners. Customizable sensing for nanopositioning platforms will enable advances in a range of nano-scale fabrication and metrology applications. A semiconductor piezoresistor with Schottky diode contacts was fabricated and attached to a titanium flexure. This device is shown to match predicted electrical performance within about 8% and to show a gauge factor of 116, within 2% of the predicted value. Optimized performance limits for Schottky diode semiconductor piezoresistors are identified to be about 127 dB full noise dynamic range for a quarter bridge over a 10 kHz sensor bandwidth on a 600 μm width titanium flexure, making them ideal for sensing on meso-/micro-scale flexural positioners. Methods are suggested for achieving the performance limits indicated above and the impact of these methods on the sensor dynamic range are studied.