An Extreme Learning Machine Algorithm to Predict the In-flight Particle Characteristics of an Atmospheric Plasma Spray Process

Abstract

A robust single hidden layer feed forward neural network (SLFN) is used in this study to model the in-flight particle characteristics of the atmospheric plasma spray (APS) process with regard to the input processing parameters. The in-flight particle characteristics influence the structure and properties of the APS coating and, thus, are considered important parameters to comprehend the manufacturing process. The training times of traditional back propagation algorithms, mostly used to model such processes, are far slower than desired for implementation of an on-line control system. Use of slow gradient based learning methods and iterative tuning of all network parameters during the learning process are the two major causes for such slower learning speed. An extreme learning machine (ELM) algorithm, which randomly selects the input weights and biases and analytically determines the output weights, is used in this work to train the SLFNs. Performance comparisons of the networks trained with ELM algorithm and standard error back propagation algorithms are presented. It is found that networks trained with ELM have good generalization performance, much shorter training times and stable performance with regard to the changes in number of hidden layer neurons. The trends represent robustness of the trained networks and enhance reliability of the application of the artificial neural network in modelling APS processes.