Assembly sequence planning considering the effect of assembly resources with a discrete fireworks algorithm

Abstract

Assembly sequence planning plays the great role in the assembly process of products, because the quality of the assembly sequence directly influences the feasibility, cost, and the time of the assembly process. Current assembly sequence planning approach mainly focused on the product consists of rigid parts, where the deformation of parts usually cannot occur or can be ignored in the assembly process; however, for the complex products such as the aircraft fuselage which include large and flexible parts, the parts are easily deformed in the assembly process, and the assembly resources such as assembly fixtures are usually needed to position, clamp, and support the parts to control the deformation in the assembly process. So, in the assembly process, the unreasonable assembly sequence may cause the inappropriate use of the assembly resources, which can further influence the subsequent assembly process. This paper proposes an assembly sequence planning approach considering the effect of assembly resources with a discrete fireworks algorithm. Firstly, the effect of assembly resources on the assembly sequence is investigated, a hybrid assembly interference matrix considering the effect of assembly resources is built, the method to conclude the precedence feasibility and the number of assembly interference of the assembly sequence is investigated, based on which, the optimization objectives in assembly sequence planning are concluded and the fitness function is built; secondly, a discrete fireworks algorithm is proposed for assembly sequence planning, the key technologies of the algorithm are discussed, the effect of different factors including the number of initial fireworks, the parameter controlling the total number of sparks generated by the fireworks, and the number of randomly generated specific sparks on the evolution performance of the algorithm is investigated, and the performance of the algorithm in assembly sequence planning is verified through the comparison with the discrete particle swarm optimization algorithm; finally, with the case study of an assembly of the aircraft wing, the proposed assembly sequence planning approach considering the effect of assembly resources with the discrete fireworks algorithm is verified.