Optimization of Line Configuration and Balancing for Flexible Machining Lines

Line configuration and balancing is to select the type of line and allot a given set of operations as well as machines to a sequence of workstations to realize high-efficiency production. Most of the current researches for machining line configuration and balancing problems are related to dedicated transfer lines with dedicated machine workstations. With growing trends towards great product variety and fluctuations in market demand, dedicated transfer lines are being replaced with flexible machining line composed of identical CNC machines. This paper deals with the line configuration and balancing problem for flexible machining lines. The objective is to assign operations to workstations and find the sequence of execution, specify the number of machines in each workstation while minimizing the line cycle time and total number of machines. This problem is subject to precedence, clustering, accessibility and capacity constraints among the features, operations, setups and workstations. The mathematical model and heuristic algorithm based on feature group strategy and polychromatic sets theory are presented to find an optimal solution. The feature group strategy and polychromatic sets theory are used to establish constraint model. A heuristic operations sequencing and assignment algorithm is given. An industrial case study is carried out, and multiple optimal solutions in different line configurations are obtained. The case studying results show that the solutions with shorter cycle time and higher line balancing rate demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. This research proposes a heuristic line configuration and balancing algorithm based on feature group strategy and polychromatic sets theory which is able to provide better solutions while achieving an improvement in computing time.

Regulation Flexibility Assessment and Optimal Aggregation Strategy of Greenhouse Loads in Modern Agricultural Parks

With advances in modern agricultural parks,the rural energy structure has undergone profound change,leading to the emergence of an agricultural energy internet.This integrated system combines agricultural energy utilization,the information internet,and agricultural production.Accordingly,this study proposes a regulation flexibility assessment approach and optimal aggregation strategy of greenhouse loads(GHLs)for modern agricultural parks.First,taking into account the operational characteristics of typical GHLs,refined load demand models for lighting,humidification,and temperature-controlled loads are established.Secondly,the recursive least squares method-based parameter identification method is designed to accurately determine key GHL model parameters.Finally,based on the regulation flexibility of quantitatively evaluated GHLs,GHLs are optimally aggregated into multiple flexible aggregators considering minimal operational cost and greenhouse environmental constraints.The results indicate that the proposed regulation flexibility assessment approach and optimal aggregation strategy of GHLs can alleviate the peak regulation pressure on power grids by flexibly shifting the load demands of GHLs.

Topology optimization of support structure of telescope skin based on bit-matrix representation NSGA-II

Non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II（NSGA-II）with multiple constraints handling is employed for multi-objective optimization of the topological structure of telescope skin,in which a bit-matrix is used as the representation of a chromosome,and genetic algorithm（GA）operators are introduced based on the matrix.Objectives including mass,in-plane performance,and out-of-plane load-bearing ability of the individuals are obtained by fnite element analysis（FEA）using ANSYS,and the matrix-based optimization algorithm is realized in MATLAB by handling multiple constraints such as structural connectivity and in-plane strain requirements.Feasible confgurations of the support structure are achieved.The results confrm that the matrix-based NSGA-II with multiple constraints handling provides an effective method for two-dimensional multi-objective topology optimization.

H_∞ Inverse Optimal Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Attitude Control for Flexible Spacecraft with Input Saturation

An adaptive inverse optimal attitude controller for flexible spacecraft with fault-free actuator is designed based on adaptive control Lyapunov function and inverse optimal methodology subjected to unknown parameter uncertainties,external disturbances and input saturation.The partial loss of actuator effectiveness and the additive faults are considered simultaneously to deal with actuator faults,and the prior knowledge of bounds on the effectiveness factors of the actuators is assumed to be unknown.A fault-tolerant control version is designed to handle the system with actuator fault by introducing a parameter update law to estimate the lower bound of the partial loss of actuator effectiveness faults.The proposed fault-tolerant attitude controller ensures robustness and stabilization,and it achieves H_∞ optimality with respect to a family of cost functionals.The usefulness of the proposed algorithms is assessed and compared with the conventional approaches through numerical simulations.