Robotic U-shaped assembly line balancing using particle swarm optimization

Automation in an assembly line can be achieved using robots. In robotic U-shaped assembly line balancing (RUALB), robots are assigned to workstations to perform the assembly tasks on a U-shaped assembly line. The robots are expected to perform multiple tasks, because of their capabilities. U-shaped assembly line problems are derived from traditional assembly line problems and are relatively new. Tasks are assigned to the workstations when either all of their predecessors or all of their successors have already been assigned to workstations. The objective function considered in this article is to maximize the cycle time of the assembly line, which in turn helps to maximize the production rate of the assembly line. RUALB aims at the optimal assignment of tasks to the workstations and selection of the best fit robot to the workstations in a manner such that the cycle time is minimized. To solve this problem, a particle swarm optimization algorithm embedded with a heuristic allocation (consecutive) procedure is proposed. The consecutive heuristic is used to allocate the tasks to the workstation and to assign a best fit robot to that workstation. The proposed algorithm is evaluated using a wide variety of data sets. The results indicate that robotic U-shaped assembly lines perform better than robotic straight assembly lines in terms of cycle time.     

Irregular Time‐Varying Stress Degradation Path Modeling: a Case Study on Lithium‐ion Cell Degradation

The aim of this paper is to investigate the issue of degradation modeling and reliability assessment for products under irregular time‐varying stresses. Conventional degradation models have been extensively used in the relevant literature to characterize degradation processes under deterministic stresses. However, the time‐varying stress, which may affect degradation processes, widely exists in field conditions. This paper extends the general degradation‐path model by considering the effects of time‐varying stresses. The new degradation‐path model captures influences of varying stresses on performance characteristics. A nonlinear least square method is used to estimate the unknown parameters of the proposed model. A bootstrap algorithm is adopted for computing the confidence intervals of the mean time to failure and percentiles of the failure‐time distribution. Finally, a case study of lithium‐ion cells is presented to validate the proposed method. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Clustering Empirical Failure Rate Curves for Reliability Prediction Purposes in the Case of Consumer Electronic Products

In this paper, a methodology based on the combination of time series modeling and soft computational methods is presented to model and forecast bathtub‐shaped failure rate data of newly marketed consumer electronics. The time‐dependent functions of historical failure rates are typified by parameters of an analytic model that grabs the most important characteristics of these curves. The proposed approach is also verified by the presentation of an industrial application brought along at an electrical repair service provider company. The prediction capability of the introduced methodology is compared with moving average‐based and exponential smoothing‐based forecasting methods. According to the results of comparison, the presented method can be considered as a viable alternative reliability prediction technique. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Overview of Control Charts for High‐quality Processes

Major difficulties in the study of high‐quality processes with traditional process monitoring techniques are a high false alarm rate and a negative lower control limit. The purpose of time‐between‐events control charts is to overcome existing problems in the high‐quality process monitoring setup. Time‐between‐events charts detect an out‐of‐control situation without great loss of sensitivity as compared with existing charts. High‐quality control charts gained much attention over the last decade because of the technological revolution. This article is dedicated to providing an overview of recent research and presenting it in a unifying framework. To summarize results and draw a precise conclusion from the statistical point of view, cross‐tabulations are also given in this article. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

User‐perceived Availability of a Software Rejuvenation Model with Recovery Time Omission

In this paper, the idea of omitting the recovery time when it is too short that it can be considered as negligible is incorporated in a software rejuvenation model. Two new models are introduced, in which the instantaneous availability is defined when firstly the rejuvenation time and secondly both rejuvenation and repair times can be omitted. The main purpose consists in regarding system software as operational when the time spent in a non‐operational state, like the rejuvenation and the failure states, does not exceed a predefined time threshold. By modeling the evolution of such a software rejuvenation model using continuous‐time Markov chains, we define its availability depending on whether the rejuvenation and the repair critical times are constant or random variables. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Excited State Modulation for Organic Afterglow: Materials and Applications

Organic afterglow materials, developed recently by breaking through the difficulties in modulating ultrafast‐decayed excited states, exhibit ultralong‐lived emission for persistent luminescence with lifetimes of several orders of magnitude longer than traditional fluorescent and phosphorescent emissions at room temperature. Their exceptional properties, namely ultralong luminescent lifetime, large Stokes shifts, facile excited state transformation, and environmentally sensitive emission, have led to a diverse range of advanced optoelectronic applications. Here, the organic afterglow is reviewed from the perspective of fundamental concepts on both phenomenon and mechanism, examining the technical challenges in relation to excited state tuning and lifetime elongation. In particular, the advances in material design strategies that afford a large variety of organic afterglow materials for a broad utility in optoelectronics including lighting and displays, anti‐counterfeiting, optical recording, chemical sensors and bio‐imaging are highlighted.     

基于RadFET的宽范围电离总剂量效应监测系统及试验研究

设计了一种基于辐射剂量传感器(RadFET)的辐射总剂量监测系统,并利用60Co-γ射线和电子加速器对金属氧化物半导体(MOS)结构的RadFET进行了电离总剂量效应模拟试验,得到了器件阈值电压随辐照剂量的变化情况.结果表明,该器件具有良好的抗辐射能力,累积剂量可达到1.0 ×105 Gy,同时,在空间应用时需重点考虑阈值电压、环境温度以及击穿电压等敏感参数.     

负梯度声速下特征声线与传播时间快速求解方法

求解特征声线最直接的方法是采用"扫描-插值-迭代"的声线跟踪法,过程较复杂,计算速度较慢。将负梯度声速环境下特征声线的起始掠射角表示为声速、海水深度、声源与接收点相对位置的方程,通过采用量子粒子群算法求解方程直接获得掠射角,进而确定特征声线和传播时间。与声线跟踪法相比,所提出的方法由于不存在数值累计误差和角度插值误差,因此精度更高,另外速度也更快,适合浅海负梯度环境下特征声线与传播时间的快速求解。     

提升交互过程时间体验的实验研究

目的通过设计手段来提升交互过程中的用户时间体验。方法以时间心理学为理论基础分析和总结影响人们时间体验的主要因素;以设计和心理学实验挖掘实验载体和进行效果测试。结果提出了设计提升时间体验的策略和原则并以交通灯红灯信号为对象建立假设和实验。基于时距估计的策略和人的时间信号读取习惯对红灯的2个变量——形状和速度进行考察,发现各样本2个变量的不同水平能够引起的时距估计和情绪状况变化。结论验证了时间信号的传达形式可以影响人的时距认知过程从而对提升时间体验具备实际的效果。