An efficient optimisation method based on weighted AND-OR trees for concurrent reconfigurable product design and reconfiguration process planning

ABSTRACT

A reconfigurable product can be used to replace multiple products through change of its configurations. Since multiple design candidates are usually considered based on design requirements, and multiple reconfiguration process candidates are usually considered to change between two product configurations, a method was developed in our previous research to identify both the optimal reconfigurable product design and its optimal reconfiguration process plan. This method was not effective when the numbers of design candidates and reconfiguration process candidates are large. To solve this problem, an efficient optimisation method is developed in this research based on weighted AND-OR trees for concurrent reconfigurable product design and reconfiguration process planning. First, the nodes in the product design and reconfiguration process AND-OR trees for modelling design and process candidates are associated with weights representing evaluation heuristics. Then a modified beam search method is developed to improve optimisation efficiency by pruning of the nodes in the AND-OR trees that are unlikely to achieve the optimal results. The created solutions modelled by design and reconfiguration process candidates are further ranked by heuristics. The top-ranked solutions are finally evaluated by numerical engineering functions to identify the optimal solution.

KEYWORDS:

• Reconfigurable product design
• reconfiguration process planning
• optimisation
• AND-OR tree
• beam search

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through its Discovery Grant, and Egyptian Armament Authority (EAA) through its Ph.D. Study Scholarship.

Notes on contributors

Moustafa Gadalla

Moustafa Gadalla obtained his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Calgary, Canada in 2018. Moustafa Gadalla obtained his M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees from the Military Technical College, Cairo, Egypt in 2012 and 2003 respectively. His research is in the area of design and manufacturing of reconfigurable products and systems.

Deyi Xue

Deyi Xue is a professor at the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Calgary, Canada. Deyi Xue received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees from the Department of Precision Machinery Engineering, University of Tokyo in 1992 and 1989 respectively, and his B.Sc. degree from the Department of Precision Instrumentation Engineering, Tianjin University in 1985. Deyi Xue’s research is primarily in the areas of computer-based design and manufacturing. He has published over 200 research papers, including over 90 papers in refereed journals. He is editorial board member of two international journals: Advanced Engineering Informatics, and Research in Engineering Design.