Four-bar linkage path generation through self-adaptive population size teaching-learning based optimization

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This paper proposes a new variant of teaching-learning based optimization (TLBO) for optimal path synthesis of a four-bar linkage. The new TLBO algorithm is called self-adaptive population size teaching-learning based optimization (SAP-TLBO) which is altered from the original version by integrating a self-adaptive strategy for population sizing. A new concept of path generation is designed for problems without prescribed timing, which is proposed to avoid the timing constraint. In the first stage, two traditional path generation test problems are used to test the proposed technique and the new optimizer. Then, the new optimizer is used to solve five mechanical design problems. The results show that the new design concept for path synthesis gives significantly better results than the classical exterior penalty function technique, whereas the computational time is increased. SAP-TLBO is significantly superior to its original version and other meta-heuristics.