AN OPTIMIZATION APPROACH FOR PRODUCTION TIME MINIMIZATION IN LONGITUDINAL TURNING

One of the ways for increasing turning efficiency and economics is formulation and solving optimization problems through the use of mathematical models and optimization methods and algorithms. Ability to deal with complex and multi-dimensional optimization problems resulted in the use of a number of different optimization methods and algorithms for solving turning optimization problems, formulated either as single or multi-objective optimization problems with or without constraints. This study promotes the use of conceptually simple and parameter free optimization approach based on the use of exhaustive iterative search. To this aim optimization problem of single-pass turning process was considered. The proposed optimization approach was employed for determining optimal turning conditions, in terms of cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut, so as to minimize total production time while considering four non-linear constraints. The obtained optimization solutions were compared with those obtained by the previous researchers using different meta-heuristic algorithms including genetic algorithms, simulated annealing, particle swarm optimization, differential evolution etc.