Graph Approach for Optimal Design of Unit-Head Machines with a Rotary Table
Résumé
The logical layout design for unit-head machines with a rotary table is considered. For such machines: a part is sequentially machined on m working positions and is moved from one position to the next using a rotary table; the operations are grouped into blocks; the operations of the same block are simultaneously performed by one spindle head; finally, all spindle heads are simultaneously activated. This type of machine is used in the mass production. The design of these machines involves three stages: logical layout, physical layout, and spindle heads and working positions planning. The input data for logical layout design are: constraints related to spindle heads and working positions; precedence constraints with regard to machining operations, etc. This problem consists in a partitioning the set of all operations in sub-sets in order to minimize the number of working positions and the total number of spindle heads while satisfying all the constraints. The method proposed in this paper is based on transforming the initial problem into a constrained shortest path problem. An algorithm for simultaneous generating a graph and finding a constrained shortest path is developed. Some dominance rules for reducing the graph size are provided. An industrial example is presented and testing results reported.