The optimisation of spot-weld positions for vehicle design by using hybrid meta-heuristics
by Hiroshi Hasegawa, Hiroto Sasaki, Hiroyasu Uehara, Keishi Kawamo
International Journal of Vehicle Design (IJVD), Vol. 43, No. 1/2/3/4, 2007

Abstract: Digital engineering is considered to be a powerful technology for improving the competitive power of products. Optimal design is an especially important technology. Products that have a competitive power usually have core technologies in design and manufacturing fields. Spot-weld technology, such as the positions and number of spot-welds on the white-body, indicates the technological level of an automotive company. This technology is a typical core technology. In this paper, a meta-heuristic method is proposed, an integer optimisation method on the discrete type, by using hybrid meta-heuristics for vehicle design. The proposed method is applied to some benchmark functions to check its performance, and it is shown that it improves the computational cost and convergence up to the optimal solution. Furthermore, the paper deals with the optimisation of spot-weld positions by the proposed method for aiding the core technology of the vehicle design. The effectiveness of the proposed method is discussed through optimisation of benchmark functions and spot-weld positions.

Online publication date: Sun, 04-Feb-2007

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Vehicle Design (IJVD):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com