Evaluation and optimisation of receiver height in a compound parabolic collector with low acceptance angle

This research presents the method of finding an optimised location of a tubular receiver for a compound parabolic collector (CPC) with 6° acceptance angle. Due to low acceptance angle, reflected rays concentrate below the focus of a parabola. Graphical ray tracing (GRT) approach is implemented to execute the optical analysis with and without manufacturing error in the collector. It is performed on collector–receiver combinations by varying receiver height below the focus and they are compared on the basis of utilised area and projection ratios. The ideal cases of collector–receiver combinations which contribute high utilisation and projection ratio are selected and verified with the camera target method (CTM) performed on the actual set-up. It is built for water heater application to validate the results obtained from GRT and CTM. The thermal performance of CPC at various receiver heights is compared by thermal efficiency and therefore the optimum receiver height is concluded.     

Integrating optimisation and simulation approaches for daily scheduling of assembly and test operations

The purpose of this paper is to show how the results of an optimisation model that can be integrated with the decisions made within a simulation model to schedule back-end operations in a semiconductor assembly and test facility. The problem is defined by a set of resources that includes machines and tooling, process plans for each product and the following four hierarchical objectives: minimise the weighted sum of key device shortages, maximise weighted throughput, minimise the number of machines used and minimise the makespan for a given set of lots in queue. A mixed integer programming model is purposed and first solved with a greedy randomised adaptive search procedure (GRASP). The results associated with the prescribed facility configuration are then fed to the simulation model written in AutoSched AP. However, due to the inadequacy of the options built into AutoSched, three new rules were created: the first two are designed to capture the machine set-up profiles provided by the GRASP and the third to prioritise the processing of hot lots containing key devices. The computational analysis showed that incorporating the set-up from the GRASP in dynamic operations of the simulation greatly improved its performance with respect to the four objectives.     

Planning of capacity,production and inventory decisions in a generic reverse supply chain under uncertain demand and returns

There is a growing interest for the design and operation of reverse supply chain systems due to the cost and the legislation issues. In this paper, we address the disassembly, refurbishing and production operations in a reverse supply chain setting for modular products such as computers and mobile phones considering the uncertainties in this system, which are the return amounts of the used products and demand for final products. We develop a large-scale mixed integer programming model in order to capture all characteristics of this system, and use two-stage stochastic optimisation and robust optimisation approaches to analyse the system behaviour. In the first stage, we focus on the strategic decisions about the capacities at disassembly and refurbishing sites considering different scenarios regarding the uncertainties in the system. In the second stage, we analyse the operational decisions such as production, inventory and disposal rates. We observe through our extensive numerical analysis that the randomness of demand and return values effect the performance of the system substantially and the uncertainty of the return amounts of used products is much more important than the uncertainty of demand in this system.     

2D simulation model of mineral particles yielded by discriminatory size reduction

One of the fundamental problems in mineral processing is to predict how ores are comminuted and how minerals are distributed in the particles. In this paper, image analysis and data processing techniques are applied to support the development, calibration and validation of 2D simulation model of particles generation by size reduction, where minerals exhibit discriminatory behaviour. Based on images of ore textures, a simulation model of fracture lines propagation was developed. A modification of Nelder and Mead optimisation method was used to find out the model’s parameter values that minimise an objective function defined as the squared deviation between observed and simulated particle areal distributions taking into account the variation of the average grade of the target mineral with particle size.     

Optimised design of energy efficient building façades via Evolutionary Neural Networks

Buildings are required to be more and more energy efficient, in order to comply with restrictive requirements of building regulations and energy certifications. Optimisation algorithms have shown to be effective in identifying good solutions for the design of efficient building services. In this article Evolutionary Neural Network Design (ENN-Design) has been adopted to drive the design of a typical façade module for an office building. This application is significant, since façades play a major role in the definition of the energy performance of buildings. Both single-objective and multi-objective optimisations have been carried out. The aim of the article is to introduce an innovative approach for improving the performance of building envelopes by means of a reasonable amount of calculation time.     

Optimum design of steel frames using a multiple-deme GA with improved reproduction operators

In this paper, the performance of the genetic algorithm is improved by introducing some new crossover and mutation operators. The new operators are incorporated into a multiple-deme genetic algorithm in which population is divided into subpopulations and communication between different demes is established through migration of individuals, enhancing diversity and resulting in better solutions. This algorithm is applied to the minimum weight design of steel frames subjected to actual strength and ductility constraints of AISC-ASD specifications as well as other serviceability and constructability constraints. The efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated through optimising two benchmark problems including a three-bay, three-storey steel frame and a five-bay, 22-storey special steel frame. Significant improvements in the optimum solutions are obtained with reduced number of finite element analyses, resulting in less computational effort.     

Set-membership filtering for systems with sensor saturation

This paper addresses the set-membership filtering problem for a class of discrete time-varying systems with sensor saturation in the presence of unknown-but-bounded process and measurement noises. A sufficient condition for the existence of set-membership filter is derived. A convex optimisation method is proposed to determine a state estimation ellipsoid that is a set of states compatible with sensor saturation and unknown-but-bounded process and measurement noises. A recursive algorithm is developed for computing the ellipsoid that guarantees to contain the true state by solving a time-varying linear matrix inequality. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Influence of adsorption cycle limitations on the system performance

The economics of heat driven heat pumps are governed by two thermodynamic quantities: the performance on the one hand and the size of the heat exchangers, which is required to obtain this performance, on the other hand. The aim of this paper is to discuss the influence of the main features of adsorption cycles in comparison to absorption cycles on these quantities. In our case, a Zeolite UCC16×40-type 13X has been taken as the adsorbent. The analysis has already been used for absorption heat pumps. In the case of adsorption and other solid sorption chillers, additional limitations appear, e.g. identical design of all adsorbers, incomplete heat recovery between adsorbers, cycling of inert mass, etc., which all contribute to a lowering of the system performance or to an increase of the exchange area required. To show the basic differences between absorption and adsorption cycle optimization, and also to show the impact of physical or technical limitations on the adsorption chiller performance, a detailed analysis has been performed. It is confirmed that it is mainly the lack of a solution heat exchanger which lowers the adsorption system COP and not physical properties of the working pair, so there is still a lot of room for improvement in the solid-sorption of heat pumps.     

Preliminary study on cost optimisation of aircraft composite structures applicable to liquid moulding technologies

This paper details the initial development of a method for determining the associated recurring labour costs for the manufacture of a aircraft component that will form the basis for a computerised methodology for determining the optimum manufacturing method for a component design. The research focuses on the flow of process steps to manufacture an aircraft component for the vacuum-assisted resin transfer moulding and resin transfer moulding manufacturing process. The methodology developed is based on applying MIT cost equations to process steps from which cost variables and constants are established to represent an estimated costing of the aircraft structure. This research will assist in providing a swifter and more accurate conceptual design/manufacturing system that includes an analysis of cost and will assist the production of trade studies that consider the manufacture of aircraft components using cost-effective technologies, such as liquid moulding.     

Improvement of Melt Mixing and Cleanness in Ladle,Tundish and Mould by Application of Advanced Simulation Techniques

Increasing the productivity and improving the product quality are permanent requirements in steelmaking. For this purpose also detailed information on flow conditions of the melt is required. Therefore, beside operational trials, mainly physical and mathematical modelling approaches play an important role to obtain relevant information. The present state of selected simulation approaches used at the BFI are described and their application is exemplarily shown for the alloying process in a ladle, inclusion separation in a tundish and the electromagnetic stirring in a billet mould. Detailed information on these processes was obtained and improved process engineering measures could be elaborated.