Flexible job-shop scheduling problem with resource recovery constraints

In this work, we introduce a Flexible Job-shop Scheduling Problem with Resource Recovery Constraints (FRRC). In the FRRC, besides the constraints of the classical Flexible Job-shop Scheduling Problem (FJSP), operations may require resources to be processed. The resources are available in batches and a recovery time is required between each batch. This problem is inspired by a real situation faced by a brewing company where different yeasts are available in a limited quantity and are recovered only once they have been completely used. The objective is to schedule the operations such that the makespan is minimised. A mathematical model and a metaheuristic based on a General Variable Neighborhood Search is proposed for the solution of the FRRC. Computational results over a large set of instances, adapted from the FJSP literature, are presented.     

改进遗传算法解决柔性作业车间调度问题

柔性作业车间调度问题是经典作业车间调度问题的扩展,它允许工序在多台机器中的任意一台上加工.针对柔性作业车间调度问题的特点,提出一种扩展的基于工序的编码及其主动调度的解码机制,并设计一种初始解产生机制和两种有效的交叉和变异操作.为了克服传统遗传算法早熟和收敛慢的缺点,设计了精英解保留策略和子代产生模式结合的改进遗传算法应用于该调度问题.最后运用提出的算法求解基准测试问题验证算法的有效性.     

Decoding methods for the flow shop scheduling with peak power consumption constraints

The permutation flow shop scheduling problem (PFSP) is of wide application backgrounds and plays an important role in the manufacturing systems. With the serious energy concerns in manufacturing enterprises, peak power consumption is considered one of the significant issues. For the PFSP with peak power consumption constraints (PFSPP), the real-time power consumption cannot exceed a given peak power at any time. Since the classical first-come first-serve scheduling method is not suitable for the PFSPP, this paper addresses the decoding methods to obtain feasible schedules based on the permutation encoding scheme. First, an earliest processing rule (EPR) is designed to determine the starting time of each operation, satisfying the power consumption constraints. Then, five decoding methods based on EPR are proposed to determine the suitable priority between the operations to yield feasible schedules with high quality. After analysing the complexity of the proposed decoding methods and comparing the performances via extensive numerical tests, some suggestions are provided for solving the PFSPP with different scales and power constraints.     

A novel hybrid meta-heuristic algorithm for a no-wait flexible flow shop scheduling problem with sequence dependent setup times

In this paper, we contemplate the problem of scheduling a set of n jobs in a no-wait flexible flow shop manufacturing system with sequence dependent setup times to minimising the maximum completion time. With respect to NP-hardness of the considered problem, there seems to be no avoiding application of metaheuristic approaches to achieve near-optimal solutions for this problem. For this reason, three novel metaheuristic algorithms, namely population based simulated annealing (PBSA), adapted imperialist competitive algorithm (AICA) and hybridisation of adapted imperialist competitive algorithm and population based simulated annealing (AICA?+?PBSA), are developed to solve the addressed problem. Because of the sensitivity of our proposed algorithm to parameter's values, we employed the Taguchi method as an optimisation technique to extensively tune different parameters of our algorithm to enhance solutions accuracy. These proposed algorithms were coded and tested on randomly generated instances, then to validate the effectiveness of them computational results are examined in terms of relative percentage deviation. Moreover, some sensitive analyses are carried out for appraising the behaviour of algorithms versus different conditions. The computational evaluations manifestly support the high performance of our proposed novel hybrid algorithm against other algorithms which were applied in literature for related production scheduling problems.     

An adaptive multi-population genetic algorithm for job-shop scheduling problem

Job-shop scheduling problem (JSP) is a typical NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem and has a broad background for engineering application. Nowadays, the effective approach for JSP is a hot topic in related research area of manufacturing system. However, some JSPs, even for moderate size instances, are very difficult to find an optimal solution within a reasonable time because of the process constraints and the complex large solution space. In this paper, an adaptive multi-population genetic algorithm (AMGA) has been proposed to solve this problem. Firstly, using multi-populations and adaptive crossover probability can enlarge search scope and improve search performance. Secondly, using adaptive mutation probability and elite replacing mechanism can accelerate convergence speed. The approach is tested for some classical benchmark JSPs taken from the literature and compared with some other approaches. The computational results show that the proposed AMGA can produce optimal or near-optimal values on almost all tested benchmark instances. Therefore, we can believe that AMGA can be considered as an effective method for solving JSP.     

Sterilizing tissue-materials using pulsed power plasma

This paper investigates the potential of pulsed power to sterilize hard and soft tissues and its impact on their physico-mechanical properties. It hypothesizes that pulsed plasma can sterilize both vascular and avascular tissues and the transitive layers in between without deleterious effects on their functional characteristics. Cartilage/bone laminate was chosen as a model to demonstrate the concept, treated at low temperature, at atmospheric pressure, in short durations and in buffered environment using a purposed-built pulsed power unit. Input voltage and time of exposure were assigned as controlling parameters in a full factorial design of experiment to determine physical and mechanical alteration pre- and post-treatment. The results demonstrated that, discharges of 11 kV sterilized samples in 45 s, reducing intrinsic elastic modules from 1.4 ± 0.9 to 0.9 ± 0.6 MPa. There was a decrease of 14.1 % in stiffness and 27.8 % in elastic-strain energy for the top quartile. Mechanical impairment was directly proportional to input voltage (P value < 0.05). Bacterial inactivation was proportional to treatment time for input voltages above 32 V (P < 0.001; R _Sq  = 0.98). Thermal analysis revealed that helix-coil transition decelerated with exposure time and collagen fibrils were destabilized as denaturation enthalpy reduced by 200 μV. We concluded by presenting a safe operating threshold for pulsed power plasma as a feasible protocol for effective sterilization of connective tissues with varying level of loss in mechanical robustness which we argue to be acceptable in certain medical and tissue engineering application.     

The quest for carbon-neutral industrial operations: renewable power purchase versus distributed generation

Integrating renewable energy into the manufacturing facility is the ultimate key to realising carbon-neutral operations. Although many firms have taken various initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint of their facilities, there are few quantitative studies focused on cost analysis and supply reliability of integrating intermittent wind and solar power. This paper aims to fill this gap by addressing the following question: shall we adopt power purchase agreement (PPA) or onsite renewable generation to realise the eco-economic benefits? We tackle this complex decision-making problem by considering two regulatory options: government carbon incentives and utility pricing policy. A stochastic programming model is formulated to search for the optimal mix of onsite and offsite renewable power supply. The model is tested extensively in different regions under various climatic conditions. Three findings are obtained. First, in a long term onsite generation and PPA can avoid the price volatility in the spot or wholesale electricity market. Second, at locations where the wind speed is below 6 m/s, PPA at $70/MWh is preferred over onsite wind generation. Third, compared to PPA and wind generation, solar generation is not economically competitive unless the capacity cost is down below $1.5 M/MW.     

Balancing Multi-Manned Assembly Lines With Walking Workers: Problem Definition,Mathematical Formulation,and an Electromagnetic Field Optimisation Algorithm

Assembly lines are widely used in industrial environments that produce standardised products in high volumes. Multi-manned assembly line is a special version of them that allows simultaneous operation of more than one worker at the same workstation. These lines are widely used in large-sized product manufacturing since they have many advantages over the simple one. This article has dealt with multi-manned assembly line balancing problem with walking workers for minimising the number of workers and workstations as the first and second objectives, respectively. A linear mixed-integer programming formulation of the problem has been firstly addressed after the problem definition is given. Besides that, a metaheuristic based on electromagnetic field optimisation algorithm has been improved. In addition to the classical electromagnetic field optimisation algorithm, a regeneration strategy has been applied to enhance diversification. A particle swarm optimisation algorithm from assembly line balancing literature has been modified to compare with the proposed algorithm. A group of test instances from many precedence diagrams were generated for evaluating the performances of all solution methods. Deviations from lower bound values of the number of workers/workstations and the number of optimal solutions obtained by these methods are concerned as performance criteria. The results obtained by the proposed programming formulations have been also compared with the solutions obtained by the traditional mathematical model of the multi-manned assembly line. Through the experimental results, the performance of the metaheuristic has been found very satisfactory according to the number of obtained optimal solutions and deviations from lower bound values.     

Modeling of the Transient Particle Velocity Distribution in the Fluidized Bed Combustor (FBC) Riser

ABSTRACT

The geometrical distributions of transient particle velocity in a fluidized bed combustor (FBC) riser are critical to FBC design and manufacturing. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) instrumentation was applied to visualize the particle transient movement in the area of interest (AOI) of an experimental cold model (152 mm ID × 610 mm height) of an FBC. Sixteen (16) PIV particle velocity profiles were generated for the AOI in a 1.6-second time period. A ten (columns) × five (rows) grid was set for each profile. Three levels of fluidizing air velocity were set for the experiments at 2.477 m/s, 2.677 m/s, and 2.823 m/s respectively. A knowledge-based regression method was applied to generate the empirical model of the two-dimensional particle transient velocity with the consideration of four independent variables, x (x coordinate), y (y coordinate), V_g (fluidizing air velocity), and t (time). This model had a data fitting accuracy of 88%. In addition, this model had a very good validation performance with the data obtained from other tests at different experimental setups.

The modeling method is applied for the first time to the particle movement in FBC risers. The research work proved that the design of the experiment and regression analysis are very effective and practical for evaluating experimental conditions and analyzing experimental results in FBC systems.     

A vulcanising decision planning as a particular one-dimensional cutting stock problem with limited part-related tooling in make-to-order industrial environments

A specialised case of the classical one-dimensional cutting stock problem (1D-CSP) with six main additional features is adapted in this paper to model and solve planning unit operations with limited resources in the make-to-order industrial environment, generating a new decision-making problem. The objective is to satisfy demand using the minimum number of manufacturing cycles. Although there is a large number of applications, this paper proposes a decision model directed at the vulcanising operation during the manufacturing of rubber curved hoses in the automotive industry. Because each vulcanising cycle (VC) uses a considerable amount of resources, the need to minimise the total number of VCs is of importance due to its direct relationship with lead time and productivity. An integer-programming model based on a network optimisation formulation is proposed to solve the problem to optimality and allows for construction of the mathematical model. In addition, due to the limited capacity of computers to solve large instances, a heuristic is developed to obtain near-optimal solutions. Scheduling issues are found in the optimal solution of the integer-programming model, but the heuristic overcomes such obstacles. Numerical experiments demonstrate the efficiency of the heuristic.     

Preparation and In Vitro Release of Dual-Drug Resinates Containing Equivalent Content Dextromethorphan and Diphenhydramine

ABSTRACT

The dual-drug resinate containing equivalent content of dextromethorphan hydrobromide (DTM) and diphenhydramine hydrochloride (DPH) was developed and characterized. To achieve this specific resinate, a procedure of simultaneous dual-drug loading using loading solutions composed of different proportions of DTM and DPH was performed and a dual-drug loading diagram was constructed to determine the equivalent drug loading solution (ELS) and also the estimated equivalent drug content (EQC). The effects of resin crosslinkage, overall drug concentration of the loading solution, and temperature during drug loading on the values of ELS and EQC were assessed. The increased overall drug concentration from 0.25 to 1.0% w/v elevated the EQC values from 18 to 35% w/w for low crosslinked resins (Dowex 50W × 2 and × 4), and from 18 to 27% w/w for high crosslinked resin (Dowex 50W × 8). It also changed the values of ELS from 0.50 to 0.48 for the low crosslinked resins, and 0.50 to 0.55 for the high crosslinked resin. For the high crosslinked resin, the applied heat from 35 to 65°C further increased the values of EQC from 27 to 32% w/w, and changed the values of ELS in the reverse direction from 0.55 to 0.48. However, the heat did not exert significant effects on the values of EQC and ELS for the low crosslinked resins. Different batches of dual-drug resinates prepared from the determined ELS provided the resultant resinates with equivalent contents of DTM and DPH which were very close to the estimated EQC. The drug release from the resinates was performed in 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4 N of KCl solutions. The increased ionic strength generally accelerated the release of both drugs except for 0.4 N KCl solution in which the drug release from the resinates of high crosslinkage was decreased. The congestion on the outward movement of drugs through the high crosslinked matrix might cause the delay of drug release. In conclusion, the release study demonstrated that the dual-drug resinate using a suitable crosslinked resin could be used for extended delivery of two combined drugs with the equivalent therapeutic dose.     

7×××系空心铝型材挤压横向焊缝的研究

目前高速列车的承载结构主要采用7×××系铝合金挤压型材。在铝型材连续挤压生产过程中,2根相邻挤压坯料间的界面会在型材内部形成横向焊缝,而横向焊缝将导致型材性能下降,需要对包含横向焊缝区域的型材进行切除,显著降低了产品的成品率。由于7×××系铝合金硬度较高,材料流动性能较差,所以型材中横向焊缝的延伸长度会大大增加,特别是空心型材中横向焊缝延伸长度增加更为明显,严重影响了产品成品率,因此,开展对7×××系空心铝型材挤压横向焊缝的相关研究具有非常重要的工程意义。回顾了国内外挤压横向焊缝的研究现状,指出了目前该方面研究尚存在的问题,并提出了今后的发展方向。针对7×××系空心铝型材挤压横向焊缝研究中存在的问题,系统研究了空心铝型材横向焊缝的宏观形貌、微观组织等,揭示了挤压工艺参数和模具结构参数对横向焊缝延伸长度的影响规律。结果表明,适当减小挤压比以及增大挤压速度可以有效减小横向焊缝延伸长度,但挤压温度对横向焊缝长度的影响并不明显。     

Multiple colony ant algorithm for job-shop scheduling problem

Ant colony optimization (ACO) is a metaheuristic that takes inspiration from the foraging behaviour of a real ant colony to solve the optimization problem. This paper presents a multiple colony ant algorithm to solve the Job-shop Scheduling Problem with the objective that minimizes the makespan. In a multiple colony ant algorithm, ants cooperate to find good solutions by exchanging information among colonies which are stored in a master pheromone matrix that serves the role of global memory. The exploration of the search space in each colony is guided by different heuristic information. Several specific features are introduced in the algorithm in order to improve the efficiency of the search. Among others is the local search method by which the ant can fine-tune their neighbourhood solutions. The proposed algorithm is tested over set of benchmark problems and the computational results demonstrate that the multiple colony ant algorithm performs well on the benchmark problems.     

Bimorph piezoelectric vibration energy harvester with flexible 3D meshed-core structure for low frequency vibration

This paper proposes a bimorph piezoelectric vibration energy harvester (PVEH) with a flexible 3D meshed-core elastic layer for improving the output power while lowering the resonance frequency. Owing to the high void ratio of the 3D meshed-core structure, the bending stiffness of the cantilever can be lowered. Thus, the deflection of the harvester and the strain in the piezoelectric layer increase. According to vibration tests, the resonance frequency is 15.8% lower and the output power is 68% higher than in the conventional solid-core PVEH. Compared to the solid-core PVEH, the proposed meshed-core PVEH (10 mm × 20 mm × 280 μm) has 1.3 times larger tip deflection and the maximum output power is 24.6 μW under resonance condition at 18.7 Hz and 0.2G acceleration. Hence it can be used as a power supply for low-power-consumption sensor nodes in wireless sensor networks.     

Fast response and low power consumption 1×2 thermo-optic switch based on dielectric-loaded surface plasmon polariton waveguides

Abstract

In this paper, we present a 1 × 2 thermo-optic (TO) switch based on the integration of the dielectric-loaded surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waveguides with the silicon nanowires. Liquid-curable fluorinated resin (LFR) made of perfluorinated polymer was adopted as the ridge, which has a TO coefficient twice more than that of polymethyl methacrylate, leading to a significant decrease in the power consumption. It was shown that the response time of the dielectric-loaded SPP waveguide could be improved through optimizing the dimensions of the LFR polymer ridge without loss of relative high figure of merit and large confinement factor. Performance characteristics of such a 1 × 2 TO switch operating at a telecom wavelength of 1550 nm was investigated theoretically from the analysis of both heat and optical fields. The results reveal that a switching power as low as 7 mW and an extremely short switching time (with rise time of 3 μs and fall time of 6.7 μs) could be achieved with the proposed dielectric-loaded SPP-based 1 × 2 TO switch. In addition, the crosstalk could be enhanced to at least 40 dB with the applied power of 7 mW at the wavelength of 1550 nm, and it could be retained to be above 20 dB in the wavelength spectrum of 1500–1600 nm during the on/off state.     

The tool transporter movements problem in flexible manufacturing systems

We consider a job sequencing and tool transporter movements problem on a single flexible machine with limited tool magazine capacity. A tool transporter having limited capacity is used in transporting the tools between the machine and tool crib area. Our aim is to minimize the number of the tool transporter movements. We present several lower and upper bounds, propose a Branch-and-Bound algorithm and a Beam Search procedure, and report results from a computational experiment. We find that optimal solutions can be quickly obtained for medium-sized instances with 25 jobs and 25 tools. For large-sized problem instances, Beam Search provides high quality solutions very quickly. Finally, we address the problem of minimizing the total flow time.     

Scheduling flexible manufacturing cells using Tabu Search

Scheduling is an important aspect in the overall control of a flexible manufacturing system. The research presented focuses on production scheduling of jobs within a flexible manufacturing cell (FMC)–one type of flexible manufacturing system. Due to the complexity of the FMC scheduling problem, a 0–1 mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model is formulated for M machines and N jobs with alternative routings. Although small instances of the problem can be solved optimally with MILP models, a two-stage Tabu Search (TS² ) algorithm that minimises the manufacturing makespan (MS) is proposed to solve medium-to-large-scale problems more efficiently. During Stage I (construction phase), two heuristics are utilised to generate an initial feasible sequence and an initial MS solution. In Stage II (improvement phase), the acquired initial solutions from Stage I are combined with a Tabu Search meta-heuristic procedure that provides improved MS solutions. The TS² algorithm provides tremendous savings in computational time for medium/large-sized multi-machine FMC problems.     

Production scheduling in a market-driven foundry: a mathematical programming approach versus a project scheduling metaheuristic algorithm

This paper describes a real problem in a market-driven medium sized foundry delivering a wide range of castings to different markets. The problem consists of finding an efficient production plan to schedule the different processes (moulding, furnacing, cutting, tooling, etc.) needed to the manufacture of the pieces. Different objectives and resources and technical constraints must be taken into account. To solve this problem we have first developed a more classical integer linear programming approach based on a rolling horizon strategy. The most innovative contribution of the paper is that it models the problem as a project scheduling problem. Based on this model we present a metaheuristic algorithm that adapts techniques from the area. Computational experiments comparing both approaches are provided on instances created by a generator simulating real instances.     

Co-production of power and urea from coal with CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> capture: performance assessment

Coal-based power plants are largest emitter of CO₂ as a single sector. To use fossil fuels (including coal), CO₂ capture and storage is a visible option. But large energy requirement for this process and risk associated with storage of CO₂ demand alternative solutions including recycling of captured CO₂. In this paper, a co-production of power and urea is proposed using coal with captured CO₂. Detailed ASPEN Plus^® model is developed for this plant. As shift reaction for producing H₂ has significant effect on output parameters, analysis is done for two different values of shift reaction, i.e., 90 and 95 % conversion. Plant consumes substantial auxiliary power (~19 % for the base case). Auxiliary power becomes a minimum for about 25 % captured CO₂ utilization for 95 % shift conversion. An economy factor is also defined to estimate the economic advantage of utilizing captured CO₂. Results show that economic advantage is obtained for CO₂ utilization beyond ~5 % for 95 % water gas shift reaction and it is beyond ~10 % for a 90 % shift reaction.     

Characterization of aluminum-doped zinc oxide thin films by RF magnetron sputtering at different substrate temperature and sputtering power

In this study, transparent conductive Al doped zinc oxide (ZnO: Al, AZO) thin films with a thickness of 40 nm were prepared on the Corning glass substrate by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The properties of the AZO thin films are investigated at different substrate temperatures (from 27 to 150 °C) and sputtering power (from 150 to 250 W). The structural, optical and electrical properties of the AZO thin films were investigated. The optical transmittance of about 78 % (at 415 nm)–92.5 % (at 630 nm) in the visible range and the electrical resistivity of 7 × 10^?4 Ω-cm (175.2 Ω/sq) were obtained at sputtering power of 250 W and substrate temperature of 70 °C. The observed property of the AZO thin films is suitable for transparent conductive electrode applications.