Parallel robots with SCARA(selective compliance assembly robot arm) motions are utilized widely in the field of high speed pick-and-place manipulation. Error modeling for these robots generally simplifies the parall...Parallel robots with SCARA(selective compliance assembly robot arm) motions are utilized widely in the field of high speed pick-and-place manipulation. Error modeling for these robots generally simplifies the parallelogram structures included by the robots as a link. As the established error model fails to reflect the error feature of the parallelogram structures, the effect of accuracy design and kinematic calibration based on the error model come to be undermined. An error modeling methodology is proposed to establish an error model of parallel robots with parallelogram structures. The error model can embody the geometric errors of all joints, including the joints of parallelogram structures. Thus it can contain more exhaustively the factors that reduce the accuracy of the robot. Based on the error model and some sensitivity indices defined in the sense of statistics, sensitivity analysis is carried out. Accordingly, some atlases are depicted to express each geometric error’s influence on the moving platform’s pose errors. From these atlases, the geometric errors that have greater impact on the accuracy of the moving platform are identified, and some sensitive areas where the pose errors of the moving platform are extremely sensitive to the geometric errors are also figured out. By taking into account the error factors which are generally neglected in all existing modeling methods, the proposed modeling method can thoroughly disclose the process of error transmission and enhance the efficacy of accuracy design and calibration.展开更多
The growing global competition compels manufacturing organizations to engage themselves in all productivity improvement activities. In this direction, the consideration of mixed-model assembly line balancing problem a...The growing global competition compels manufacturing organizations to engage themselves in all productivity improvement activities. In this direction, the consideration of mixed-model assembly line balancing problem and implementing in industries plays a major role in improving organizational productivity. In this paper, the mixed model assembly line balancing problem with deterministic task times is considered. The authors made an attempt to develop a genetic algorithm for realistic design of the mixed-model assembly line balancing problem. The design is made using the originnal task times of the models, which is a realistic approach. Then, it is compared with the generally perceived design of the mixed-model assembly line balancing problem.展开更多
Mixed-model U-shaped assembly line balancing problems (MMUALBP) is known to be NP-hard resulting in it being nearly impossible to obtain an optimal solution for practical problems with deterministic algorithms. This p...Mixed-model U-shaped assembly line balancing problems (MMUALBP) is known to be NP-hard resulting in it being nearly impossible to obtain an optimal solution for practical problems with deterministic algorithms. This paper pre-sents a new evolutionary method called combinatorial optimisation with coincidence algorithm (COIN) being applied to Type I problems of MMUALBP in a just-in-time production system. Three objectives are simultaneously considered;minimum number workstations, minimum work relatedness, and minimum workload smoothness. The variances of COIN are also proposed, i.e. CNSGA II, and COIN-MA. COIN and its variances are tested against a well-known algo-rithm namely non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA II) and MNSGA II (a memetic version of NSGA II). Experimental results showed that COIN outperformed NSGA II. In addition, although COIN-MA uses a marginal CPU time than CNSGA II, its other performances are dominated.展开更多
It is well known that singular configurations are inherent to parallel manipulators and have serious influences on their properties. Therefore, these singular configurations should be avoided in the design and applica...It is well known that singular configurations are inherent to parallel manipulators and have serious influences on their properties. Therefore, these singular configurations should be avoided in the design and application of mechanisms. The researches on the singularity identification and distribution have revealed the relations among the six configuration parameters at singular points. Few works have dealt with the relation between the singularity and the input parameters, as wcll as the properties of the manipulator nearby the singularity. In this paper, taking the semi-regular hexagons 6-6 Gough-Stewart manipulator (SRHGSMP) as an example, the configuration bifurcation characteristics going with the input parameters, the assembly configurations at singular points, and the reasons to cause the singularity are analyzed. The research reveals that the number and the combination of the input parameters have great influences on the complexity of the singularity and the curvature radiuses of the configuration curves. Under different number of input parameters, the dimensional-utmost singularity, line vectors correlation singularity and Jacobian matrix correlation singularity can occur individually or jointly. Choosing the adjacent input parameters, the simple singularity and the large singularity-free input parameters zones can be obtained. And selecting multiple input parameters, the self-motion regions and the singularity avoidance errors can be reduced. These new discoveries are valuable and of significance for the trajectory design, the singularity avoidance, and the self-motion control of the parallel manipulator.展开更多
The growing global competition compels organizations to use many productivity improvement techniques. In this direction, assembly line balancing helps an organization to design its assembly line such that its balancin...The growing global competition compels organizations to use many productivity improvement techniques. In this direction, assembly line balancing helps an organization to design its assembly line such that its balancing efficiency is maximized. If the organization assembles more than one model in the same line, then the objective is to maximize the average balancing efficiency of the models of the mixed model assembly line balancing problem. Maximization of average balancing efficiency of the models along with minimization of makespan of sequencing models forms a multi-objective function. This is a realistic objective function which combines the balancing efficiency and makespan. This assembly line balancing problem with multi-objective comes under combinatorial category. Hence, development of meta-heuristic is inevitable. In this paper, an attempt has been made to develop three genetic algorithms for the mixed model assembly line balancing problem such that the average balancing efficiency of the model is maximized and the makespan of sequencing the models is minimized. Finally, these three algorithms and another algorithm in literature modified to solve the mixed-model assembly line balancing problem are compared in terms of the stated multi-objective function using a randomly generated set of problems through a complete factorial experiment.展开更多
Most parallel manipulators have multiple solutions to the direct kinematic problem.The ability to perform assembly changing motions has received the attention of a few researchers.Cusp points play an important role in...Most parallel manipulators have multiple solutions to the direct kinematic problem.The ability to perform assembly changing motions has received the attention of a few researchers.Cusp points play an important role in the kinematic behavior.This study investigates the cusp points and assembly changing motions in a two degrees of freedom planar parallel manipulator.The direct kinematic problem of the manipulator yields a quartic polynomial equation.Each root in the equation determines the assembly configuration,and four solutions are obtained for a given set of actuated joint coordinates.By regarding the discriminant of the repeated roots of the quartic equation as an implicit function of two actuated joint coordinates,the direct kinematic singularity loci in the joint space are determined by the implicit function.Cusp points are then obtained by the intersection of a quadratic curve and a cubic curve.Two assembly changing motions by encircling different cusp points are highlighted,for each pair of solutions with the same sign of the determinants of the direct Jacobian matrices.展开更多
As two independent problems,scheduling for parts fabrication line and sequencing for mixed-model assembly line have been addressed respectively by many researchers.However,these two problems should be considered simul...As two independent problems,scheduling for parts fabrication line and sequencing for mixed-model assembly line have been addressed respectively by many researchers.However,these two problems should be considered simultaneously to improve the efficiency of the whole fabrication/assembly systems.By far,little research effort is devoted to sequencing problems for mixed-model fabrication/assembly systems.This paper is concerned about the sequencing problems in pull production systems which are composed of one mixed-model assembly line with limited intermediate buffers and two flexible parts fabrication flow lines with identical parallel machines and limited intermediate buffers.Two objectives are considered simultaneously:minimizing the total variation in parts consumption in the assembly line and minimizing the total makespan cost in the fabrication/assembly system.The integrated optimization framework,mathematical models and the method to construct the complete schedules for the fabrication lines according to the production sequences for the first stage in fabrication lines are presented.Since the above problems are non-deterministic polynomial-hard(NP-hard),a modified multi-objective genetic algorithm is proposed for solving the models,in which a method to generate the production sequences for the fabrication lines from the production sequences for the assembly line and a method to generate the initial population are put forward,new selection,crossover and mutation operators are designed,and Pareto ranking method and sharing function method are employed to evaluate the individuals' fitness.The feasibility and efficiency of the multi-objective genetic algorithm is shown by computational comparison with a multi-objective simulated annealing algorithm.The sequencing problems for mixed-model production systems can be solved effectively by the proposed modified multi-objective genetic algorithm.展开更多
Configuration design is an essential, creative and decision-making step in parallel manipulator design process, in which modeling and assembly are iterative and trivial. Combined approach with automatic parametric mod...Configuration design is an essential, creative and decision-making step in parallel manipulator design process, in which modeling and assembly are iterative and trivial. Combined approach with automatic parametric modeling and automatic assembly is proposed for parallel manipulator configuration design. The design process and key techniques, such as configuration design, configuration verification, poses calculation of all parts in parallel manipulator, virtual assembly and etc., are discussed and demonstrated by an example. A software package is developed for parallel manipulator configuration design based on the proposed method with Visual C+ + and UG/OPEN on Unigraphics.展开更多
Mixed-Model assembly lines are often used in manufacturing based on just-in-time techniques. The effective utilization of these lines requires a schedule for assembling the different models be determined. The objectiv...Mixed-Model assembly lines are often used in manufacturing based on just-in-time techniques. The effective utilization of these lines requires a schedule for assembling the different models be determined. The objective is to minimize the total deviation of actual production rates from the desired production rates. Mathematical method with the optimization algorithm is proposed here to solve this problem. To prove the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, a number of test problems are solved. The results show that the proposed algorithm is an efficient and effective algorithm which gives better results with the large problem sizes. This paper presents a practical procedure to minimize total product variation rates, and easy to use by practitioner.展开更多
This study proposed a force and shape collaborative control method that combined method of influence coefficients(MIC)and the elitist nondominated sorting genetic algorithm(NSGA-II)to reduce the shape deviation caused...This study proposed a force and shape collaborative control method that combined method of influence coefficients(MIC)and the elitist nondominated sorting genetic algorithm(NSGA-II)to reduce the shape deviation caused by manufacturing errors,gravity deformation,and fixturing errors and improve the shape accuracy of the assembled large composite fuselage panel.This study used a multi-point flexible assembly system driven by hexapod parallel robots.The proposed method simultaneously considers the shape deviation and assembly load of the panel.First,a multi-point flexible assembly system driven by hexapod parallel robots was introduced,with the relevant variables defined in the control process.In addition,the corresponding mathematical model was constructed.Subsequently,MIC was used to establish the prediction models between the displacements of actuators and displacements of panel shape control points,deformation loads applied by the actuators.Following the modeling,the shape deviation of the panel and the assembly load were used as the optimization objectives,and the displacements of actuators were optimized using NSGA-II.Finally,a typical composite fuselage panel case study was considered to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.展开更多
This paper presents an error modeling methodology that enables the tolerance design, assembly and kinematic calibration of a class of 3-DOF parallel kinematic machines with parallelogram struts to be integrated into a...This paper presents an error modeling methodology that enables the tolerance design, assembly and kinematic calibration of a class of 3-DOF parallel kinematic machines with parallelogram struts to be integrated into a unified framework. The error mapping function is formulated to identify the source errors affecting the uncompensable pose error. The sensitivity analysis in the sense of statistics is also carried out to investigate the influences of source errors on the pose accuracy. An assembly process that can effectively minimize the uncompensable pose error is proposed as one of the results of this investigation.展开更多
基金Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.51305222)National Key Scientific and Technological Program of China(Grant No.2013ZX04001-021)
文摘Parallel robots with SCARA(selective compliance assembly robot arm) motions are utilized widely in the field of high speed pick-and-place manipulation. Error modeling for these robots generally simplifies the parallelogram structures included by the robots as a link. As the established error model fails to reflect the error feature of the parallelogram structures, the effect of accuracy design and kinematic calibration based on the error model come to be undermined. An error modeling methodology is proposed to establish an error model of parallel robots with parallelogram structures. The error model can embody the geometric errors of all joints, including the joints of parallelogram structures. Thus it can contain more exhaustively the factors that reduce the accuracy of the robot. Based on the error model and some sensitivity indices defined in the sense of statistics, sensitivity analysis is carried out. Accordingly, some atlases are depicted to express each geometric error’s influence on the moving platform’s pose errors. From these atlases, the geometric errors that have greater impact on the accuracy of the moving platform are identified, and some sensitive areas where the pose errors of the moving platform are extremely sensitive to the geometric errors are also figured out. By taking into account the error factors which are generally neglected in all existing modeling methods, the proposed modeling method can thoroughly disclose the process of error transmission and enhance the efficacy of accuracy design and calibration.
文摘The growing global competition compels manufacturing organizations to engage themselves in all productivity improvement activities. In this direction, the consideration of mixed-model assembly line balancing problem and implementing in industries plays a major role in improving organizational productivity. In this paper, the mixed model assembly line balancing problem with deterministic task times is considered. The authors made an attempt to develop a genetic algorithm for realistic design of the mixed-model assembly line balancing problem. The design is made using the originnal task times of the models, which is a realistic approach. Then, it is compared with the generally perceived design of the mixed-model assembly line balancing problem.
文摘Mixed-model U-shaped assembly line balancing problems (MMUALBP) is known to be NP-hard resulting in it being nearly impossible to obtain an optimal solution for practical problems with deterministic algorithms. This paper pre-sents a new evolutionary method called combinatorial optimisation with coincidence algorithm (COIN) being applied to Type I problems of MMUALBP in a just-in-time production system. Three objectives are simultaneously considered;minimum number workstations, minimum work relatedness, and minimum workload smoothness. The variances of COIN are also proposed, i.e. CNSGA II, and COIN-MA. COIN and its variances are tested against a well-known algo-rithm namely non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA II) and MNSGA II (a memetic version of NSGA II). Experimental results showed that COIN outperformed NSGA II. In addition, although COIN-MA uses a marginal CPU time than CNSGA II, its other performances are dominated.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50375111/50675188)
文摘It is well known that singular configurations are inherent to parallel manipulators and have serious influences on their properties. Therefore, these singular configurations should be avoided in the design and application of mechanisms. The researches on the singularity identification and distribution have revealed the relations among the six configuration parameters at singular points. Few works have dealt with the relation between the singularity and the input parameters, as wcll as the properties of the manipulator nearby the singularity. In this paper, taking the semi-regular hexagons 6-6 Gough-Stewart manipulator (SRHGSMP) as an example, the configuration bifurcation characteristics going with the input parameters, the assembly configurations at singular points, and the reasons to cause the singularity are analyzed. The research reveals that the number and the combination of the input parameters have great influences on the complexity of the singularity and the curvature radiuses of the configuration curves. Under different number of input parameters, the dimensional-utmost singularity, line vectors correlation singularity and Jacobian matrix correlation singularity can occur individually or jointly. Choosing the adjacent input parameters, the simple singularity and the large singularity-free input parameters zones can be obtained. And selecting multiple input parameters, the self-motion regions and the singularity avoidance errors can be reduced. These new discoveries are valuable and of significance for the trajectory design, the singularity avoidance, and the self-motion control of the parallel manipulator.
文摘The growing global competition compels organizations to use many productivity improvement techniques. In this direction, assembly line balancing helps an organization to design its assembly line such that its balancing efficiency is maximized. If the organization assembles more than one model in the same line, then the objective is to maximize the average balancing efficiency of the models of the mixed model assembly line balancing problem. Maximization of average balancing efficiency of the models along with minimization of makespan of sequencing models forms a multi-objective function. This is a realistic objective function which combines the balancing efficiency and makespan. This assembly line balancing problem with multi-objective comes under combinatorial category. Hence, development of meta-heuristic is inevitable. In this paper, an attempt has been made to develop three genetic algorithms for the mixed model assembly line balancing problem such that the average balancing efficiency of the model is maximized and the makespan of sequencing the models is minimized. Finally, these three algorithms and another algorithm in literature modified to solve the mixed-model assembly line balancing problem are compared in terms of the stated multi-objective function using a randomly generated set of problems through a complete factorial experiment.
基金partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.U1813221 and 52075015).
文摘Most parallel manipulators have multiple solutions to the direct kinematic problem.The ability to perform assembly changing motions has received the attention of a few researchers.Cusp points play an important role in the kinematic behavior.This study investigates the cusp points and assembly changing motions in a two degrees of freedom planar parallel manipulator.The direct kinematic problem of the manipulator yields a quartic polynomial equation.Each root in the equation determines the assembly configuration,and four solutions are obtained for a given set of actuated joint coordinates.By regarding the discriminant of the repeated roots of the quartic equation as an implicit function of two actuated joint coordinates,the direct kinematic singularity loci in the joint space are determined by the implicit function.Cusp points are then obtained by the intersection of a quadratic curve and a cubic curve.Two assembly changing motions by encircling different cusp points are highlighted,for each pair of solutions with the same sign of the determinants of the direct Jacobian matrices.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.50875101)National Hi-tech Research and Development Program of China (863 Program,Grant No.2007AA04Z186)
文摘As two independent problems,scheduling for parts fabrication line and sequencing for mixed-model assembly line have been addressed respectively by many researchers.However,these two problems should be considered simultaneously to improve the efficiency of the whole fabrication/assembly systems.By far,little research effort is devoted to sequencing problems for mixed-model fabrication/assembly systems.This paper is concerned about the sequencing problems in pull production systems which are composed of one mixed-model assembly line with limited intermediate buffers and two flexible parts fabrication flow lines with identical parallel machines and limited intermediate buffers.Two objectives are considered simultaneously:minimizing the total variation in parts consumption in the assembly line and minimizing the total makespan cost in the fabrication/assembly system.The integrated optimization framework,mathematical models and the method to construct the complete schedules for the fabrication lines according to the production sequences for the first stage in fabrication lines are presented.Since the above problems are non-deterministic polynomial-hard(NP-hard),a modified multi-objective genetic algorithm is proposed for solving the models,in which a method to generate the production sequences for the fabrication lines from the production sequences for the assembly line and a method to generate the initial population are put forward,new selection,crossover and mutation operators are designed,and Pareto ranking method and sharing function method are employed to evaluate the individuals' fitness.The feasibility and efficiency of the multi-objective genetic algorithm is shown by computational comparison with a multi-objective simulated annealing algorithm.The sequencing problems for mixed-model production systems can be solved effectively by the proposed modified multi-objective genetic algorithm.
文摘Configuration design is an essential, creative and decision-making step in parallel manipulator design process, in which modeling and assembly are iterative and trivial. Combined approach with automatic parametric modeling and automatic assembly is proposed for parallel manipulator configuration design. The design process and key techniques, such as configuration design, configuration verification, poses calculation of all parts in parallel manipulator, virtual assembly and etc., are discussed and demonstrated by an example. A software package is developed for parallel manipulator configuration design based on the proposed method with Visual C+ + and UG/OPEN on Unigraphics.
文摘Mixed-Model assembly lines are often used in manufacturing based on just-in-time techniques. The effective utilization of these lines requires a schedule for assembling the different models be determined. The objective is to minimize the total deviation of actual production rates from the desired production rates. Mathematical method with the optimization algorithm is proposed here to solve this problem. To prove the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, a number of test problems are solved. The results show that the proposed algorithm is an efficient and effective algorithm which gives better results with the large problem sizes. This paper presents a practical procedure to minimize total product variation rates, and easy to use by practitioner.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.52105502)Fund of National Engineering and Research Center for Commercial Aircraft Manufacturing(Nos.COMAC-SFGS-2019-263 and COMAC-SFGS-2019-3731)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.3042021601).
文摘This study proposed a force and shape collaborative control method that combined method of influence coefficients(MIC)and the elitist nondominated sorting genetic algorithm(NSGA-II)to reduce the shape deviation caused by manufacturing errors,gravity deformation,and fixturing errors and improve the shape accuracy of the assembled large composite fuselage panel.This study used a multi-point flexible assembly system driven by hexapod parallel robots.The proposed method simultaneously considers the shape deviation and assembly load of the panel.First,a multi-point flexible assembly system driven by hexapod parallel robots was introduced,with the relevant variables defined in the control process.In addition,the corresponding mathematical model was constructed.Subsequently,MIC was used to establish the prediction models between the displacements of actuators and displacements of panel shape control points,deformation loads applied by the actuators.Following the modeling,the shape deviation of the panel and the assembly load were used as the optimization objectives,and the displacements of actuators were optimized using NSGA-II.Finally,a typical composite fuselage panel case study was considered to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
基金This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.50075006) the Royal Society UK-China Joint Research Grant and Tianjin Scientce and Technology Commission(Grant No.003802111).
文摘This paper presents an error modeling methodology that enables the tolerance design, assembly and kinematic calibration of a class of 3-DOF parallel kinematic machines with parallelogram struts to be integrated into a unified framework. The error mapping function is formulated to identify the source errors affecting the uncompensable pose error. The sensitivity analysis in the sense of statistics is also carried out to investigate the influences of source errors on the pose accuracy. An assembly process that can effectively minimize the uncompensable pose error is proposed as one of the results of this investigation.