Dispatching rule for non-identical parallel machines with sequence-dependent setups and quality restrictions

This paper proposes a dispatching rule that guarantees a predetermined minimum quality level for non-identical parallel machines with multiple product types. Manufacturers are focusing on improving the overall quality of their products, as the demand for top quality products is increasing. Such changes increase the possibility of neglecting another crucial factor in manufacturing schedules, namely due date. Traditionally, jobs are dispatched with the focus on meeting due dates. That is, jobs are assigned to machines without consideration of product quality. This approach opens the possibility of manufacturing poor quality products. Realizing the shortcomings of the existing dispatching rules, manufacturers are tempted to dispatch jobs with the objective of maximizing product quality. With such an attempt, jobs are likely to be assigned to high performance machines only. In turn, waiting times will increase and job delays are inevitable. This research proposes a dispatching rule that satisfies both criteria, reducing due date delays, while ensuring a predefined product quality level. A quality index is introduced to standardize various product qualities. The index is used to ensure a predetermined quality level, whilst minimizing product delays. Simulations compare various dispatch methods, evaluating them based on mean tardiness and product quality.     

Intelligent adaptive process control using dynamic deadband for semiconductor manufacturing

This paper proposes an efficient control method to minimize process error and to reduce process variance in semiconductor manufacturing. The photolithography (photo) process forms a complex semiconductor circuit and is important for quality. Obstacles to the process include the facility itself, vibration, wear and tear, product/process changes and environmental influences. Control methodologies being currently used to address these issues often amplify the variation of the process by failing to perform adequate process control. Therefore, this paper proposes an effective process control method to reduce process variance by quickly detecting and identifying process disturbances and accurately reflecting the degree of change to process control. This study proposes dynamic deadband control that uses a region (band) to detect the status of a process change. It adjusts the process control based on the changes detected. In this research, the semiconductor manufacturing company is supported to perform control that is more precise and reduces fluctuations by producing products of uniform quality. In addition, it can contribute to yield due to the quality incentive and increased process control of semiconductor manufacturing.     

Real-time approximation of molecular interaction interfaces based on hierarchical space decomposition

The interaction interface between two molecules can be represented as a bisector surface equidistant from the two sets of spheres of varying radii representing atoms. We recursively divide a box containing both sphere-sets into uniform pairs of sub-boxes. The distance from each new box to each sphere-set is conservatively approximated by an interval, and the number of sphere-box computations is greatly reduced by pre-partitioning each sphere-set using a kd-tree. The subdivision terminates at a specified resolution, creating a box partition (BP) tree. A piecewise linear approximation of the bisector surface is then obtained by traversing the leaves of the BP tree and connecting points equidistant from the sphere-sets. In 124 experiments with up to 16,728 spheres, a bisector surface with a resolution of 1/2⁴ of the original bounding box was obtained in 28.8 ms on average.     

An Exploratory Study: Supporting Collaborative Multimedia Systems Design

Multimedia systems design generally requires a collaborative effort from a group of designers with a variety of backgrounds and tasks, such as content experts, instructional designers, media specialists, users, and so forth. However, currently available design tools on the market are mainly designed for a single user. Tools intended to support a collaborative design process should coordinate independent activities of individual designers.This research investigated support for work groups engaged in designing multimedia systems. Specifically, it discussed a new collaborative design environment, called the KMS (Knowledge Management System)-based design environment, in which multimedia designers could share their design knowledge freely. Through two experimental groups, the research investigated impacts of the KMS-based design environment on their collaborative design activities (knowledge creating, knowledge securing, knowledge distributing, and knowledge retrieving activities). The research findings showed that the KMS-based design environment was a promising environment for collaborative multimedia systems design. More specifically, the research findings indicated that the KMS-based design environment supported creating, securing, and retrieving knowledge, but it did not support distributing knowledge. In addition, the research found that the social interactions between group members played important roles in the success of the collaborative multimedia systems design and that the KMS-based design environment did not support the socialization of group members. Furthermore, the research found that the inability of the KMS-based design environment to support the socialization was linked to its low performance level in supporting the knowledge distributing activity. The research explored the desired features of a collaborative support tool for multimedia systems design.     

Enhanced carrier confinement in AlInGaN-InGaN quantum wells in near ultraviolet light-emitting diodes

To increase carrier confinement, the GaN barrier layer was substituted with an AlInGaN quaternary barrier layer which was lattice-matched to GaN in the GaN-InGaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs). Photoluminescence (PL) and high-resolution X-ray diffraction measurements showed that the AlInGaN barrier layer has a higher bandgap energy than the originally used GaN barrier layer. The PL intensity of the five periods of AlInGaN-InGaN MQWs was increased by three times compared to that of InGaN-GaN MQWs. The electroluminescence (EL) emission peak of AlInGaN-InGaN MQWs ultraviolet light-emitting diode (UV LED) was blue-shifted, compared to a GaN-InGaN MQWs UV LED and the integrated EL intensity of the AlInGaN-InGaN MQWs UV LED increased linearly up to 100 mA. These results indicated that the AlInGaN-InGaN MQWs UV LED has a stronger carrier confinement than a GaN-InGaN MQWs UV LED due to the larger barrier height of the AlInGaN barrier layer compared to a GaN barrier layer.     

High-performance 94-GHz single balanced mixer using 70-nm MHEMTs and surface micromachined technology

We reported 94-GHz, low conversion loss, and high isolation single balanced active gate mixer based on 70-nm gate length InGaAs/InAlAs metamorphic high-electron mobility transistors (MHEMTs). This mixer showed that the conversion loss and isolation characteristics were 2.5/spl sim/3.5 dB and under -29 dB in the range of 92.95/spl sim/94.5 GHz, respectively. The low conversion loss of the mixer is mainly attributed to the high-performance of the MHEMTs exhibiting a maximum drain current density of 607 mA/mm, an extrinsic transconductance of 1015 mS/mm, a current gain cutoff frequency (f/sub t/) of 330 GHz, and a maximum oscillation frequency (f/sub max/) of 425 GHz. High isolation characteristics are due to hybrid ring coupler which adopted dielectric-supported air-gapped microstrip line structure using surface micromachined technology. To our knowledge, these results are the best performance demonstrated from 94 GHz single balanced mixer utilizing GaAs-based HEMTs in terms of conversion loss as well as isolation characteristics.     

Flooding limited CHF in a vertical 3 × 3 rod bundle with non-uniform axial heat flux

KAERI has performed an experimental study on the critical heat flux (CHF) under zero flow conditions with a non-uniformly heated 3 × 3 rod bundle. Experimental conditions are in the range of a system pressure from 0.50 to 14.96 MPa and inlet water subcooling enthalpies from 68 to 352 kJ/kg. The test section used in the present experiments consisted of a vertical flow channel, upper and lower plenums, and a non-uniformly heated 3 × 3 rod bundle. The experimental results show that the CHFs in low-pressure conditions are somewhat scattered within a narrow range. As the system pressure increases, however, the CHFs show a good parametric trend. The CHFs occur in the upper region of the heated section, but the locations of the detected CHFs move gradually in a downward direction with the increase of the system pressure. Even though the effects of the inlet water subcooling enthalpies and system pressure of the flooding CHF are relatively smaller than those of the flow boiling CHF, the CHF increases by increasing the inlet water subcooling enthalpies. Several existing correlations for the countercurrent flooding CHF based on Wallis's flooding correlation and Kutateladze's criterion for the onset of flooding are compared with the CHF data obtained in the present experiments to examine the applicability of the correlations.     

Hybrid accident simulation methodology using artificial neural networks for nuclear power plants

A hybrid accident simulation methodology for nuclear power plants is proposed to enhance the capabilities of compact simulator by introducing artificial neural networks. Two neural networks are trained with the target values obtained from the analyses of detailed computer codes and trained results are combined with the compact simulator to perform the following roles: (i) compensation for inaccuracies of a compact simulator occurring from simplified governing equation and reduced number of physical control volumes, and (ii) prediction of the critical parameter usually calculated from the sophisticated computer code: the autoassociative neural network improves the computational results of the compact simulator up to the accuracy level of detailed best estimate computer code, while the backpropagation neural network predicts the minimum departure from nucleate boiling ratio (DNBR). Simulations are carried out to verify the applicability of the proposed methodology for the loss of flow accidents and the results show that the neural networks can be used as a complementary tool to improve the results of a compact simulator.     

Disturbance attenuation for constrained discrete-time systems via receding horizon controls

In this note, we propose new receding horizon H/sub /spl infin// control (RHHC) schemes for linear input-constrained discrete time-invariant systems with disturbances. The proposed control schemes are based on the dynamic game problem of a finite-horizon cost function with a fixed finite terminal weighting matrix and a one-horizon cost function with time-varying finite terminal weighting matrices, respectively. We show that the resulting RHHCs guarantee closed-loop stability in the absence of disturbances and H/sub /spl infin// norm bound for 2-norm bounded disturbances. We also show that the proposed schemes can easily be implemented via linear matrix inequality optimization. We illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed schemes through simulations.     

Design of receding horizon controls for constrained time-varying systems

In this note, we propose a generalized stabilizing receding horizon control scheme for input/state constrained linear discrete time-varying systems that improves feasibility and on-line computation on the constrained finite-horizon optimization problem, compared with existing schemes. The control scheme is based on a time-varying horizon cost function with time-varying terminal weighting matrices, which can easily be implemented via linear matrix inequality technique. We discuss modifications of the proposed scheme that improve feasibility or on-line computation time. Through simulation examples, we illustrate the results of these schemes.