Parking lot design by interactive computer graphics

An Interactive Computer Graphics Parking (ICG-PARK) Program which provides an efficient way to design parking lots is described. Using ICG-PARK program, composite pictures of the system can be generated by computer graphics quickly and accurately. The modification or redesign of such pictures can be done easily through interactive display systems.

The area under study is initially drawn with fixed objects. The user can then proceed to any desired subroutine by using the interactive capabilities of the system. The length, direction of row(s) of parking spaces and the dimension of the parking stalls are given by the user each time through the interactive device when a parking stall drawing subroutine is called. Row(s) of parking stalls are drawn on a subpicture. When attached to the cross cursor, it can be moved to the desired location. The approximation of a curve can be drawn by calling the curve drawing subroutine recurrently. The design vehicle minimum turning path curve is provided, and can be used to check the adequacy of the aisle, entrance, and exit layout. The CRT screen can be erased either entirely or partially and redrawn at any time. Finally, a hardcopy of a satisfactory parking lot layout plan can be obtained through the plotter.     

Multi-purpose system for plant layout design

This paper develops a computer system for the production of plant layout design. The system includes three major components. One component builds the relationships between the production departments. The criteria considered in creating these relationships include: production volume, material flow, product design, and processing operations.Another component of the system uses the departmental relationships to produce three unique design alternatives, each of which is generated by different techniques. The approaches used by the system to arrange the layout are heuristic in nature. The arrangement routines are included in the system in order to develop initial layout arrangement. The methods used in these routines can be, either allocating the most important department in the median, or the physical middle; or using the idea of the “minimal spanning tree” technique. An exchange algorithm uses the steepest-descent pairwise interchange procedure to improve the initial layout designs.A third component evaluates each of the suggested designs with respect to manufacturing the product. Each design is analyzed, and the bottlenecks in the design are indicated. The software is formulated so that it can be used to initiate a new layout design, or to analyze an existing layout.     

Computer assisted plant layout using a graphics editor

Computer assisted plant layout has been available to industrial engineers, in one form or another, for a number of years. In this paper a semi-interactive computer graphics approach to layout planning is described. A graphics editor, CMASK, developed for designing integrated circuits was utilized to create plant-facility layout. The method based on a “layer by layer” approach to creating a layout is flexible and gives the layout designer a complete control to the layout generation process.     

Practical computer graphics for scientific users: Philosophy and implementation

The scientific computer user presents a unique challenge to the graphics system designer. If the graphics system is properly designed and implemented, computer graphics becomes a vital research tool for the scientific user. These users' desires and expectations play an important role in every phase of the design process.This paper describes the philosophy of the graphics system at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and its implementation. Details of algorithms are not presented; rather the purpose has been to describe a successful computer graphics system which may serve as a guide for other designers who desire to provide practical computer graphics. This graphics system operates under a batch-mode computer system without using interactive terminals.     

A hierarchical expert system for computer process control

This paper reports on the design and implementation of an expert system for computer process control (HESCPC). The complexity of the expertise necessary for computer process control applications requires that the expert system architecture be structured into a hierarchy of classes of specialized experts. The architecture of HESCPC integrates four classes of expert systems: operator/manager companion expert class, control system algorithm design expert class, hardware expert class, and software expert class. The paper is concerned with the design and implementation of the general system architecture, an operator adviser expert for a nuclear power plant and a control system designer expert using a state space feedback approach. Although the design and implementation aspects of all experts are discussed, the emphasis is on the latter.

At this stage of the HESCPC development, the declarative knowledge represented by 423 metarules and 1261 rules is distributed on a hierarchical structure among 20 experts on different levels of the hierarchy which are able to communicate among themselves to solve difficult control problems.

Examples of control system design sessions of linear mono and multivariable systems using feedback state space approach are given. A run time of an operator-adviser data-driven expert system for a nuclear plant is also presented.     

Computer aided control system design applied to milk drying plants

This paper reviews a computer aided control system design facility that has been used to develop a set of control systems that have been implemented on a pilot scale industrial process. The facility caters for a broad range of control situations including those with interactions, time delays and disturbances. Online interactive graphics is used as a design aid for the identification of plant dynamics and for the assessment of control system performance. Control systems may be developed systematically to be structured in a hierarchical configuration on the plant. Particular applications to the plant, an evaporator and a spray drier, are discussed in detail.     

The optimisation of block layout and aisle structure by a genetic algorithm

The design of a manufacturing layout is incomplete without consideration of aisle structure for material handling. This paper presents a method to solve the layout and aisle structure problems simultaneously by a slicing floorplan. In this representation, the slicing lines are utilised as the aisles for a material handling system. The method decomposes the problem into two stages. The first stage minimises the material handling cost with aisle distance, and the second stage optimises the aisles in the aisle structure. A representation of slicing floorplan is introduced for the optimisation by genetic algorithms (GAs). The corresponding operators of the GA are also developed. Computational tests demonstrate the goodness of the method. A comparison study of the GA and the random search (RS) for the problem was performed. It showed that the GA has a much higher efficiency than a RS, though further study is still needed to improve the efficiency of the GA.     

工程布局CAD系统设计与实现

针对工程布局设计的复杂性,提出了开放式的工程布局设计CAD系统的结构框架,讨论了实现该系统的关键方法,包括自动化设计进程建模、基于功能特征的待布物和布局空间几何近似建模、布局知识和布局约束的表达、布局方法应用.基于该系统框架,实现了计算机辅助工程布局设计原型系统,并以车辆动力舱布局设计为背景,对原型系统的有效性进行了验证.     

Human factors approach for evaluation and redesign of human–system interfaces of a nuclear power plant simulator

Nuclear power production is a safety-critical process where ultimate execution of process change decisions lie with the operators. Thus it is important to provide the best possible decision support through effective supervisory control operator interfaces. This requires a human factors/ergonomics approach in the modernization of analog instrumentation and control systems of the existing nuclear power plants. In this article, we describe how this approach is being used for modernization of the ANGRA I power plant. Using a cognitive task analysis (CTA) approach, we observed operators working on an advanced control room of a nuclear power plant digital simulator and noted several opportunities for improvement in the human/system interfaces related to the graphics design, alarm systems and procedure integration. A redesigned prototype was constructed as an alternative to the current simulator and hardcopy procedure manuals. The design improves upon the graphical layout of system information and provides better integration of procedures, automation and alarm systems. The design was validated by expert opinion and a scenario-based comparison.

Relevance to industry

Human factors/ergonomics are not playing the role they deserve in the design of process control systems making them less controllable than they could be if human factors were adequately incorporated. The use of human factors approach in the design of process control systems throughout the industry presents many opportunities for improvements with regard to system effectiveness, efficiency, reliability and safety.     

Computer-aided design system for site layout

A computer-aided design system is presented which allows a site layout to be developed, containing three-dimensional design features. The most important features of this class are roads and buildings. Interaction with a three-dimensional model is achieved by means of a two-dimensional graphics system and its associated devices. The analyses which may be carried out on the computer model of the site are outlined.     

Graphic design for computer graphics

Because computer graphics systems are capable of sophisticated displays of typography, symbols, color, spatial organization, and temporal sequencing, it is appropriate to seek principles for designing effective communication from the discipline of graphic design whose expertise lies in programming visible language. Examples of the author's work are cited to demonstrate how graphic design can improve three different types of computer graphics.     

基于功能面的产品布局与人机工程协同设计的研究

在产品概念设计中,布局设计和人机工程设计是两个相互影响和制约的设计过程,。为了将这种布局设计和人机工程设计协同起来,将功能面作为概念设计发解的依据,并在此基础上提出了基于功能面的协同概念设计过程和方法,以及布局设施 人机工程协同设计模型和形式化描述方法,最后结合摩托车的概念设计实例给出了一个计算机支持的布局和人机工程协同设计系统的实现方案。     

CATC — A Computer Aided Tolerance Control system

Computer utilization in manufacturing systems is increasing at a rapid rate. Developments thus far have been disjointed. Much work needs to be done in the area of integrating computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM). Tolerance control is an important component in the integration of CAD and CAM. Selection of design tolerances affects the build-ability of a product. The selection of manufacturing processes and sequence of processes affects process tolerance stacking. Unexamined process tolerance stacking leads to scrap and rework. A computer aided tolerance control (CATC) system is presented in this paper. This system is based on the tolerance chart technique. The CATC system is interactive and uses computer graphics for information display. The system can be used for computer aided process planning (CAPP) and for CAD/CAM integration.     

Interactive analysis and design of steel frames using the AISC specification

A number of computer programs are available for the analysis of frames and for the design, according to certain codes, of the individual members of such frames. This paper describes the integration of a plane frame analysis program and the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) column design program with interactive computer graphics to provide a complete system for the interactive analysis and design of steel building frames.The user of the program has the option of allowing computer controlled interation between analysis and design to produce a fully stressed design or he may select complete man-machine interaction for control of the analysis-design process. The use of interactive computer graphics displays aids the engineer in interpreting the large bulk of data needed for input and produced by the analysis and design algorithms.     

流程工厂设计软件的关键技术研究及展望

首先分析了流程工厂所涉及的专业领域以及设计过程的特点,从而推导出 目前流程工厂设计软件需要的主要关键技术和功能要求。从流程工厂设计软件的图形平台的 相关技术、协同设计技术及要求、以及如何支持流程工厂全生命周期的管理3 个方面探讨了 流程工厂软件需要的主要技术和功能。然后分析了国内外主流流程工厂设计软件的发展水平 和采用的技术,并提出了国产流程工厂设计软件和国外流程工厂设计软件的差距。最后对国 产流程工厂设计软件的发展做了展望和具体的期望。     

计算机辅助室内设计系统的设计与实现

本文介绍了在微机上开发的室内装饰设计系统的总体设计方案，并对系统中关键技术的具体实现作了较为详细的阐述，本文提出的室内内装饰设计方法，有机地将表面与空间布局设计结合起来，使整个设计更为简洁而有效，同时对图形学中某些算法加以改进，使其能在微机上实现。