Application of artificial neural network for design: a case of paper helicopter

Abstract

The design engineering is one of essential work in modern manufacturing environment. The optimization is principal technique to be used widely for searching the solution. However, primary process of optimization is to know the relation between design input parameters and target output. In this work, an artificial neural network (ANN) approach as an intelligent algorithm is proposed to construct the relation and also provides it in form of mathematic modeling. Even though the ANN modeling is so call a backblock due to difficulty to understand complicated equations, it is simply constructed by automate iteration process. A case of paper helicopter is used as an example of the application. The classical 2k Factorial design is used to provide an experiment plan to create training and testing data. 93 experiments are carried out. The architecture of ANN is set according to lowest Mean square error (MSE) of training and testing procedure. The result of 5-10-1 architecture has shown ability to accurately predict output, landing time, with MSE of 0.012. With such a highly quantitative accuracy of results, the developed model using the neural network approach can be used for finding the suitable input parameters to achieve a desired target output. In this case, the design of dimension (A) Depth of cut wing is 1.3 cm., (B) Length of wing is 12.9 cm., (C) Length of body is 9.0, (D) Width of body is 2.0 cm., and (E) Depth of cut body is 0 cm. yield the lowest area of a paper helicopter that can meet the target landing time, 2.85 + 5% second.