A metaheuristic for fast machining error compensation

Abstract

In case of complex parts machining or multi-directional machining in multi-part fixtures the error compensation in multi-dimensional decision space poses a difficult problem. The article focuses on the limitation of defective products by means of systematic increase of the remaining error budget due to correction of the setup data. A vectorial equation for machine tool space description is presented. The development of geometric dimensioning and tolerancing scheme to the levels connected with the setup data is proposed. The optimization algorithm used here is based on the paradigm particle swarm optimization (PSO), but it includes a few significant modifications inspired by the growth of the coral reef thus the name of the method—coral reefs inspired particle swarm optimization (CRIPSO). CRIPSO has been compared with three other popular metaheuristics: classic PSO, genetic algorithm, and cuckoo optimization algorithm. There is a practical example in this article.