Using Simulation to Solve a Conveyor System Controller Design Problem

Paul F. Hultquist; William R. Mahoney

doi:10.1177/003754979807100103

Using Simulation to Solve a Conveyor System Controller Design Problem

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

A conveyor belt system consisting of a dozen inserters (“hoppers”) placed one item in each belt “slot” to produce batches of fixed length and order. Because there were usually more hoppers than item types, production could be speeded by loading more than one item per slot, with the constraint that at the end of the belt, the slot contents would stack in proper order. This led to a conceptually difficult design problem for the controller, which was solved by simulating an idealized machine that produced the desired results. A further improvement in throughput was obtained by using a simple random optimization scheme to find near optimum ordering of hopper contents.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	31-37
Number of pages	7
Journal	SIMULATION
Volume	71
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/003754979807100103
State	Published - Jul 1998
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Conveyor controller
random optimization
string matching

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Software
Modeling and Simulation
Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

Access to Document

10.1177/003754979807100103

Cite this

@article{09aa4d7f8d3a414d9321211ddb3d9904,

title = "Using Simulation to Solve a Conveyor System Controller Design Problem",

abstract = "A conveyor belt system consisting of a dozen inserters (“hoppers”) placed one item in each belt “slot” to produce batches of fixed length and order. Because there were usually more hoppers than item types, production could be speeded by loading more than one item per slot, with the constraint that at the end of the belt, the slot contents would stack in proper order. This led to a conceptually difficult design problem for the controller, which was solved by simulating an idealized machine that produced the desired results. A further improvement in throughput was obtained by using a simple random optimization scheme to find near optimum ordering of hopper contents.",

keywords = "Conveyor controller, random optimization, string matching",

author = "Hultquist, {Paul F.} and Mahoney, {William R.}",

year = "1998",

month = jul,

doi = "10.1177/003754979807100103",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "71",

pages = "31--37",

journal = "Simulation",

issn = "0037-5497",

publisher = "SAGE Publications Ltd",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Using Simulation to Solve a Conveyor System Controller Design Problem

AU - Hultquist, Paul F.

AU - Mahoney, William R.

PY - 1998/7

Y1 - 1998/7

N2 - A conveyor belt system consisting of a dozen inserters (“hoppers”) placed one item in each belt “slot” to produce batches of fixed length and order. Because there were usually more hoppers than item types, production could be speeded by loading more than one item per slot, with the constraint that at the end of the belt, the slot contents would stack in proper order. This led to a conceptually difficult design problem for the controller, which was solved by simulating an idealized machine that produced the desired results. A further improvement in throughput was obtained by using a simple random optimization scheme to find near optimum ordering of hopper contents.

AB - A conveyor belt system consisting of a dozen inserters (“hoppers”) placed one item in each belt “slot” to produce batches of fixed length and order. Because there were usually more hoppers than item types, production could be speeded by loading more than one item per slot, with the constraint that at the end of the belt, the slot contents would stack in proper order. This led to a conceptually difficult design problem for the controller, which was solved by simulating an idealized machine that produced the desired results. A further improvement in throughput was obtained by using a simple random optimization scheme to find near optimum ordering of hopper contents.

KW - Conveyor controller

KW - random optimization

KW - string matching

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0542450079&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0542450079&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/003754979807100103

DO - 10.1177/003754979807100103

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:0542450079

VL - 71

SP - 31

EP - 37

JO - Simulation

JF - Simulation

SN - 0037-5497

IS - 1

ER -

Using Simulation to Solve a Conveyor System Controller Design Problem

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this