Optimization of correlated multi-response quality engineering by the upside-down normal loss function

Most of the published literature on robust design is basically concerned with a single response. However, the reality is that common industrial problems usually involve several quality characteristics, which are often correlated. Traditional approaches to multidimensional quality do not offer much information on how much better or worse a process is when finding optimal settings. Köksoy and Fan [Engineering Optimization 44 (8): 935–945] pointed out that the upside-down normal loss function provides a more reasonable risk assessment to the losses of being off-target in product engineering research. However, they only consider the single-response case. This article generalizes their idea to more than one response under possible correlations and co-movement effects of responses on the process loss. The response surface methodology has been adapted, estimating the expected multivariate upside-down normal loss function of a multidimensional system to find the optimal control factor settings of a given problem. The procedure and its merits are illustrated through an example.     

液氦温区大型低温制冷系统的可靠性评估

针对改进Claude循环的大型氦低温制冷系统,以制冷量不足为顶事件建立了故障树模型。利用结构法对故障树模型进行定性分析,分析得到系统的最小割集为18个。利用来自不同数据库的部件失效率对故障树模型进行定量计算,得到了不同的结果,并分析其原因。对各部件的关键重要度进行了计算,以衡量各个部件对系统发生故障的贡献程度。并通过增加系统冗余部件和提高关键部件可靠度等措施,为提高系统可靠性找到了有效的解决途径。     

Reconstructing design parameters of a rectangular resonator via peak signal-to-noise ratio and global optimization algorithms

This article proposes an approach for reconstructing physical parameters of a sample in a rectangular resonator during microwave radiation, knowing a priori, its electric field distribution. The inverse problem was solved using two global optimization algorithms and the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) criterion. First, the Self-regulated Fretwidth Harmony Search algorithm (SFHS) identified suitable resonant frequencies for a given configuration. Next, the unified Particle Swarm Optimization (UPSO) optimized said configuration. Together, they became a maximization strategy of the PSNR through a dual optimization process. Results showed the ability of the approach for estimating the height of each sample block and the resonating frequency of the cavity. This process takes longer to finish as a higher PSNR is demanded (mainly due to the aforementioned dual optimization). Even so, it allows for more similar electric field distributions between both, the direct and inverse problems.     

数控机床操控器人机界面优化设计研究

目的控制器和显示器共同组成数控机床控制面板的整体界面,是机床接受与执行命令的交互平台。从人机交互角度,聚焦于控制器的界面布局进行优化设计。方法基于人机工程学理论的优化流程,采用现场访谈、现场观察等方法,将人机工程学的理论转化为具体考核指标。结论从人机工程学的研究角度出发,结合工业设计、用户体验设计学等内容,从功能区域分区、操纵器色彩设计等方面优化数控机床控制器的界面,提高系统整体效能及使用者满意度,为数控机床系统开发设计提供参考。     

Optimization of A-TIG process parameters using response surface methodology

In the present work, the influence of process parameters such as welding current (I), welding speed (S), and flux coating density (F) on different aspects of weld bead geometry for example depth of penetration (DOP), bead width (BW), depth to width ratio (D/W), and weld fusion zone area (WA) were investigated by using the central composite design (CCD). 9–12% Cr ferritic stainless steel (FSS) plates were welded using A-TIG welding. It was observed that all input variables have a direct influence on the DOP, BW, and D/W. However, flux coating density has no significant effect on WA. Mathematical models were generated from the obtained responses to predict the weld bead geometry. An optimized DOP, BW, D/W, and WA of 6.95?mm, 8.76?mm, 0.80, and 41.99?mm², respectively, were predicted at the welding current of 213.78 A, the welding speed of 96.22?mm/min, and the flux coating density of 1.99?mg/cm². Conformity test was done to check the practicability of the developed models. The conformity test results were in good agreement with the predicted values. Arc constriction and reversal in Marangoni convection were considered as major mechanisms for the deep and narrow weld bead during A-TIG welding.     

ADAPTIVE RANKS CLONE AND k‐NEAREST NEIGHBOR LIST–BASED IMMUNE MULTI‐OBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION

Artificial immune systems (AIS) are computational systems inspired by the principles and processes of the vertebrate immune system. The AIS‐based algorithms typically exploit the immune system's characteristics of learning and adaptability to solve some complicated problems. Although, several AIS‐based algorithms have proposed to solve multi‐objective optimization problems (MOPs), little focus have been placed on the issues that adaptively use the online discovered solutions. Here, we proposed an adaptive selection scheme and an adaptive ranks clone scheme by the online discovered solutions in different ranks. Accordingly, the dynamic information of the online antibody population is efficiently exploited, which is beneficial to the search process. Furthermore, it has been widely approved that one‐off deletion could not obtain excellent diversity in the final population; therefore, a k‐nearest neighbor list (where k is the number of objectives) is established and maintained to eliminate the solutions in the archive population. The k‐nearest neighbors of each antibody are founded and stored in a list memory. Once an antibody with minimal product of k‐nearest neighbors is deleted, the neighborhood relations of the remaining antibodies in the list memory are updated. Finally, the proposed algorithm is tested on 10 well‐known and frequently used multi‐objective problems and two many‐objective problems with 4, 6, and 8 objectives. Compared with five other state‐of‐the‐art multi‐objective algorithms, namely NSGA‐II, SPEA2, IBEA, HYPE, and NNIA, our method achieves comparable results in terms of convergence, diversity metrics, and computational time.     

Optimization of quality and operational costs through improved scheduling of harvest operations

The agriculture sector still lacks the tools and models to enhance the utilization of different resources. This paper addresses the vineyard harvesting problem in developing countries, with the objective of optimizing the wine quality and minimizing the operational costs. Heuristics were introduced to better assign the harvesting days to the different grape blocks that exist in the vineyard's field. The quality of the grapes was a key target as it can transform production from a pinnacle wine to a bulk one. We solved several numerical examples for verification and demonstrative purposes and found that our proposed approach finds solutions that significantly reduce the harvesting costs in the vineyard and considerably outperform Branch and Bound algorithm especially for large problems.     

Discussions of worker ants’ rule-based CHC dealing with changing environments

Contrary to popular belief, biologists discovered that worker ants are really not all hardworking. It has been found that in three separate 30-strong colonies of black Japanese ants (Myrmecina nipponica), about 20% of worker ants are diligent, 60% are ordinary, and 20% are lazy. That is called 20:60:20 rule. Though they are lazy, biologists suggested that lazy worker ants could be contributing something to the colony that is yet to be determined. In our last research, we used CHC (cross generational elitist selection, heterogeneous recombination, and cataclysmic mutation) with the worker ants’ rule (WACHC) aiming at solving optimization problems in changing environments. CHC is a nontraditional genetic algorithm (GA) which combines a conservative selection strategy that always preserves the best individuals found so far with a radical (highly disruptive) recombination operator. In our last research, we verified that WACHC performs better than CHC in only one case of fully changing environment. In this paper, we further discuss our proposed WACHC dealing with changing environment problems with varying degree of difficulty, compare our proposal with hypermutation GA which is also proposed for dealing with changing environment problems, and discuss the difference between our proposal and ant colony optimization algorithms.     

Parameter sensitivity study of the Nelder-Mead Simplex Method

This paper presents a parameter sensitivity study of the Nelder-Mead Simplex Method for unconstrained optimization. Nelder-Mead Simplex Method is very easy to implement in practice, because it does not require gradient computation; however, it is very sensitive to the choice of initial points selected. Fan-Zahara conducted a sensitivity study using a select set of test cases and suggested the best values for the parameters based on the highest percentage rate of successful minimization. Begambre-Laier used a strategy to control the Particle Swarm Optimization parameters based on the Nelder Mead Simplex Method in identifying structural damage. The main purpose of the paper is to extend their parameter sensitivity study to better understand the parameter’s behavior. The comprehensive parameter sensitivity study was conducted on seven test functions: B2, Beale, Booth, Wood, Rastrigin, Rosenbrock and Sphere Functions to search for common patterns and relationships each parameter has in producing the optimum solution. The results show important relations of the Nelder-Mead Simplex parameters: reflection, expansion, contraction, and Simplex size and how they impact the optimum solutions. This study is crucial, because better understanding of the parameters behavior can motivate current and future research using Nelder-Mead Simplex in creating an intelligent algorithm, which can be more effective, efficient, and save computational time.     

Discrete particle swarm optimization based on estimation of distribution for terminal assignment problems

Terminal assignment problem (TEAP) is to determine minimum cost links to form a network by connecting a given set of terminals to a given collection of concentrators. This paper presents a novel discrete particle swarm optimization (PSO) based on estimation of distribution (EDA), named DPSO-EDA, for TEAP. EDAs sample new solutions from a probability model which characterizes the distribution of promising solutions in the search space at each generation. The DPSO-EDA incorporates the global statistical information collected from personal best solutions of all particles into the PSO, and therefore each particle has comprehensive learning and search ability. In the DPSO-EDA, a modified constraint handling method based on Hopfield neural network (HNN) is also introduced to fit nicely into the framework of the PSO and thus utilize the merit of the PSO. The DPSO-EDA adopts the asynchronous updating scheme. Further, the DPSO-EDA is applied to a problem directly related to TEAP, the task assignment problem (TAAP), in order to show that the DPSO-EDA can be generalized to other related combinatorial optimization problems. Simulation results on several problem instances show that the DPSO-EDA is better than previous methods.