Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00714212008Transfer Planning of Molten Metals in Steel Worksby Decentralized Agent6070ENJunjiKikuchiMasamiKonishiJunImai10.18926/14062In steel works, molten metals discharged from blast furnace are put into a pan for transportation called torpedo and transported to steel making factory by a locomotive. In molten metals transportation, it becomes issues to prevent temperature drop of molten metals for stable production of down stream plants to shorten transportation time. Therefore it is necessary to make an appropriate plan for molten metals transfer considering the production
and the transportation simultaneously. In this paper, molten metals transfer planning method is proposed including production scheduling. That is, torpedo schedule, transfer request assignment and route plan of locomotives are optimized according to each objective.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00714212008Optimization of Inventories for Multiple Companies by Fuzzy Control Method7178ENKoichiKawaseMasamiKonishiJunImai10.18926/14063In this research, Fuzzy control theory is applied to the inventory control of the supply chain between multiple companies. The proposed control method deals with the amount
of inventories expressing supply chain between multiple companies. Referring past demand and tardiness, inventory amounts of raw materials are determined by Fuzzy inference. The method that an appropriate inventory control becomes possible optimizing fuzzy control gain by using SA method for Fuzzy control. The variation of uncertain demand is given to the proposal method. Furthermore, the method of forecasting demand and the effectiveness of fuzzy control method are confirmed by numerical experiments. As the results, the proposal method suppressed increase in an unnecessary cost when demand varies.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00714212008Temperature Distribution Control of Reactor Furnace by StateSpace Method using FEM Modeling7990ENMasamiKonishiJunImai10.18926/14064The operations of a reactor furnace such as a blast furnace still depend on the experiences and intuitions of skilled operators due to the complexity of internal furnace phenomena and high temperature. There is a great demand for stable operations under the circumstances of a decrease in the number of skilled operators and difficulty in technology inheritance.
This paper aims to construct mathematical description for control of a reactor furnace.
Further, the linear-quadratic-gaussian control system for a reactor furnace is proposed, which estimates inner furnace temperature distribution using measured data near furnace wall.
Temperature distribution of a furnace is controlled based on the estimated inner temperature distribution changing of boundary conditions of a furnace. The practicability of the proposed control method was checked through numerical experiments.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00714212008Cooperation of Production, Product Handling and TransferScheduling for Semiconductor Fabrication91103ENHamanaRyoheiMasamiKonishiJunImai10.18926/14065Various kind of productions are made in semiconductor fabrications, where it employs the production system with multiprocesses and multiple Automated Guided Vehicles(AGVs)
for transportation. It is difficult to optimize planning of production and transportation simultaneously
because of the complicated flow of semifinished products. This paper describes the formulations of production scheduling, transportation routing and sequence planning of
material handling system, and algorithm for simultaneous optimization of plannings by using solution space reduction and simulated annealing method. In this paper, all production system is decomposed to the production scheduling problem, transportation routing problem
by AGVs and sequence planning of material handling system with managing stockers and buffers. Production scheduling problem and transportation routing problem are solved
by the optimization algorithm using the decomposition routing problem. Sequence planning of material handling robot problem is solved by the algorithm using simulated annealing method.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00714112007Method for Production Planning and Inventory Control in OilRenery2030ENTakujiImamuraMasamiKonishiJunImai10.18926/14081In this paper, we propose a simultaneous optimization method for inventory control and production planning problem for a chemical batch plant. The plant consists of
blending process, intermediate storage tanks and filling process. In the proposed method, the original problem is decomposed into production planning sub-problem and inventory control sub-problem. Then the decision variables are optimized by alternately solving each sub-problem. The solution of the proposed method is compared with that of centralized optimization method. The effectiveness of the proposed method is investigated from numerical
computational results.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00714112007Simultaneous Optimization of Production and TransportationPlanning by using Logic Cut Algorithm3143ENRyoheiHamanaMasamiKonishiJunImai10.18926/14082Various kind of productions are made in semiconductor factories, where it employs the production system with
multiprocess and multiple Automated Guided Vehicles(AGVs) for transportation. It is difficult to optimize
planning of production and transportation simultaneously because of the complicated flow of semifinished products.
This paper describes the formulations of production scheduling and transportation routing, and algorithm
for simultaneous optimization of plannings by using logic cuts. The entire problem is decomposed to the master
problem and the sub problem. If it derives the infeasible solutions, new constraints are added to the master
problem to eliminate the solution area including infeasible solutions. The results of about optimality and computation
time by using CPLEX solver are shown compared with conventional decomposition method to check
up effectivity of proposed method in small size problem, and about optimality and computaion time for large
scale problem.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00714112007Decomposition of Time Petri Nets for Solving Optimal FiringSequence Problem4451ENRyotaMaenoMasamiKonishiJunImai10.18926/14083Petri net model is a frequently-used versatile tool which can represent a widely discrete event system. However, when the scale of the system becomes large, the calculation time for solving optimal problem (optimal firing sequence problem) is markedly increased. In this paper, we propose an approximation method that achieves the efficiency improvement of the solution by decomposing the Petri net for solving the optimal firing sequence problem.
A timed Petri Net is decomposed into several subnets in which the optimal firing sequence for each subnet is solved by Dijkstra’s algorithm in polynomial computational complexity.
The effectivity of the proposed method is verified by numerical experiments for the flowshop schedule problem.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00714012006Statistical Estimation Model for Product Quality of Petroleum915ENTakashiNukinaMasamiKonishiTatsushiNishiJunImai10.18926/14097Controls of the temperature, pressure and flowing quantity are important for the stable operation of the product quality in the distillation tower. The usual measuring way of product quality estimation is made by the off-line analysis. In this paper, online estimation method of product quality is studied for improving the product quality. The estimation method based on stochastic analysis was developed for online estimation. In this paper, the
data of temperature, pressure and flow volum in the distillation tower are treated.
As the estimation models, RNN (Recurrent Neural Net Work) and PLS (Partial Least Square Regression Method) were adopted. The actual plant data were used in the analysis.
Both PLS and RNN models could compensate each other to improve the accuracy in estimation.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00714012006RNN Based Auto-tuning of PID Control Gains in Hot StripLooper Controller1622ENYoshihiroAbeMasamiKonishiTatsushiNishiJunImai10.18926/14098In this study, auto tuning of PID control gains in hot strip looper controller is made based on RNN model. Neuro emulator is employed to model the characteristics of looper
dynamics. Combining neuro emulator and RNN model, auto tuning system of PID control gains is constructed. As the inputs to RNN, plural evaluation functions which reflect individual preference of human experts. Further, Self learning mechamism is embeded to RNN model which enables adaptation to the change in rolling chracteristics. Through numerical experiments, the effect of the proposed method is ascertained.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00714012006Transfer Routing of Ore Yard by Decentralized Agent Method2330ENJunjiKikuchiMasamiKonishiTatsushiNishiJunImai10.18926/14099In steel works, iron ores are stored in ore yard and sent to various plants of down stream accoding to transfer requests. To attain stable operation, it is neccesary to keep a certain allowable stock level in ore tanks of all plants. To this purpose, ore transfer routing method has been developed based on decentralized agent method. In case of disaster such as a big earthquake or a big fire, damages in the facilities of industrial complex may be unavoidable. In this paper, decentralized optimization method is tested to cope with such emergencies. Decentralized agents corresponding to kind of ore make their own transfer
route plan exchanging information with others. As the application of the proposed method, transfer scheduling in ore yard in steel works are made in case of destruction of transfer facilities.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00713912005Application of Neural Network to Fault Diagnosis ofElectro-Mechanical System2127ENTakashiTorigoeMasamiKonishiJunImaiTatsushiNishi10.18926/14146In this paper, neuro based intelligent diagnosis methods for electro-mechanical control
system are proposed. A self organizing map neural network (SOM) is used to classify
measured data of the target system as a qualitative diagnostic method. Besides of the above
procedure, it is expected to attain more efficient maintenance by a quantitative estimation
of failure. For the purpose, new method is proposed using a hierarchical neural network
(HNN). In the method, classified results by SOM are processed for the quantitative diagnosis.
Hierarchical neural network can identify inner structure of the relations between failure
causes and its results that enables a quantitative diagnosis.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00713912005Application of Sequential Quadratic Programming Method toTemperature Distribution Control in Reactor Furnace2839ENKazuhitoIshimaruMasamiKonishiJunImaiTatsushiNishi10.18926/14148In reactor furnace, due to high temperature and high pressure, data can be measured only near the furnace wall. In this paper, the way to estimate temperature distribution in a reactor furnace using measured data near the furnace walls and to control temperature distribution to the desired temperature distribution was studied. In the estimation, SQP method is employed using measured data near the furnace walls. As the result, the whole temperature distribution in a furnace could be obtained from such limited data. Furthermore, to control the temperature distribution in a reactor furnace, gas flow from multiple tuyeres and supplying material for controlling temperature distribution in a reactor furnace were determined by the SQP method. It was shown that temperature distribution in a furnace was regulated to achieve various desired distribution. Thus, it was verified that complicated temperature distribution in a reactor furnace could be controlled by combining furnace simulation and SQP method.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-0071351-22001Diagnostic method for induction motor using simplified motor simulator4751ENYukihiroDoumaeMasamiKonishiJunImaiHidekiAsadaAkiraKitamura10.18926/15269In this paper, an identification method of motor parameters for the diagnosis of rotor bar defects in the squirrel cage induction motor is proposed. It is difficult to distinguish the degree of deterioration by a conventional diagnostic method such as Fourier analysis. To overcome the difficulty, a motor simulator is used to identify the degree of deterioration of rotors in the squirrel cage induction motor. Using this method, the deterioration of rotor bars in the motor can be estimated quantitatively.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama1349-6115432009Tracking Control of Combination Vehicles with PreviewFeedforward Compensation3238ENShujiMabuchiMasamiKonishiJunImai10.18926/17835A tractor-trailer vehicle in the factory might move on the route determined beforehand. However, automation of a tractor-trailer vehicle is difficult so that it is necessary to consider the nonlinearity of a vehicle and a trailer. In this research, the effective tracking control
method of a tractor-trailer vehicle is proposed. The control method using time-state control form for a preview control is presented, and be applied a tractor-trailer vehicle with nonholonomic characteristics. Results of numerical experiments are presented to check effectiveness
of the proposed control method.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama1349-6115432009Positioning Control of One Link Arm with ParametricUncertainty using Quantitative Feedback Theory3948ENTakayukiKuwashimaJunImaiMasamiKonishi10.18926/17837This paper presents method of the controller design for one link arm with parametric uncertainty. Recently, many manufacturing robots are operated in manufacturing facilities, with the aim of labor and cost saving or improvement of the productivity. Such robots need to have positioning performance of high precision. In condition that there is an uncertainty in plant dynamics, desired control performance may not be attained because the
controller is designed according to the mathematical model of a plant. So it is important that the designed control system have a robust control performance. In this paper, the robust controller is designed using Quantitative Feedback Theory (QFT) for one link arm with parametric uncertainty. Simulation experiments are run for control system designed by using QFT and conventional method. The results are compared with each other and it is found that the control system designed by QFT shows a robust performance and can suppress the unevenness of output against parametric uncertainty.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama1349-6115432009Position Control of 2-Link SCARA Robot by using InternalModel Control4954ENShinyaAkamatsuMasamiKonishiJunImai10.18926/17839In this paper, the controlled target is the SCARA robot with two links, and the object is fine control of the arm head position of the robot. To attain the object, Internal Model Control (IMC) is introduced. A nonlinear equations are for robot dynamics formulated by solving Lagrange equation, and is linearized to design control system by IMC. The controller of IMC is designed or synthesisted as the inverse system of the linearized model, and IMC filter model is selected. Also, reference filter is introduced to make the improvement of performance. The result of control performance by IMC is compared with that of PID numerically, accuracy and incoherency are confirmed.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama1349-6115432009Surface Defect Inspection of a Cutting Tool by Image Processing with Neural Networks5560ENShinichiroInoueMasamiKonishiJunImai10.18926/17841In this research, an image processing method and a system for inspection support of a rod figured cutting tool are developed. As is well known, the visual inspection of a cutting tool by image processing is not easy, because cutting blade have a helical blade structure. To cope with the problem, an experimental facility with rotation and longitudinal tool shift functions to enable acquisition of blade surface pictures along a cutting rod is developed. The type of the defect treated in this paper is the spot of coating on blade surface. To judge the quality of the processed image of blade surface, neural network with autonomous learning is used. The processed image of cutting tool is divided into 64 × 64 blocks used for the
input to the neural networks. Before input, each block data is preprocessed applying a edge detection filter and a transformation by the discrete fourier transform (DFT). Using these technologies, the experimental inspection system is built and tested to check the capabilities of the inspection algorithms. The diagnostic performance of the surface defect of a cutting tool was confirmed. There remained a problem to mis judge the normal tools as the defect.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama1349-6115432009Human Support Agent for Design and Diagnosis using Classifier System7592ENKeitaOheMasamiKonishiJunImai10.18926/17844As is well known, an advanced knowledge and know-how are needed in the design and the diagnosis work. Further, human experts can cope with the recent trend of customers
needs. Therefore, the design and the diagnosis work have been privately performed in the past, and its information cannot be shared. In addition, the number of experts is decreasing. It is a very important problem to maintain and to extend experts technologies having been built up. For the purpose, methods and systems for technical inheritance of the advanced techniques of the skilled engineers are needed to train the unskilled operators and also can assist skilled operators. In this research, attention is focused on the design of analog filter circuit. To attain the target, the circuit structural classifier system to support design work is developed. Furthermore, simulation technology for hot strip rolling mills based on distributed agents is presented aimed to develop tools for the diagnosis of hot strip rolling mills operation.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.IEEE SMC Hiroshima ChapterActa Medica Okayama1883-3977200912009Route Tracking Control of Tractor-Trailer Vehicles based on Fuzzy Controller105110ENHirokiTakenagaMasamiKonishiJunImaiRecently, Factory Automation is actively been carried out in industry. Usually, a single AGV is used to transport products for factory automation. While, a Tractor-Trailer Vehicle can load much more products compared with a single AGV. Addition to this, transportation time can be shortened by separating containers. But, it is not so easy to drive the trailer according to the orbit during running of the Tractor-Trailer Vehicle. In this study, fuzzy control scheme is studied to support satisfactory route tracing of a tractor-trailer vehicle. To extruct the control rules, a fuzzy control system is developed.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Acta Medica Okayama2002Modeling flexible structures with unknown high-order modal parameters: a feasible set approach in frequency domain40924094ENJunImai<p>A control-oriented uncertainty modeling on frequency domain is presented for a class of spectral systems with unknown high-order modal parameters. At any user-specified frequency, the set of all the feasible frequency responses is characterized on the complex plane where it is said to be feasible if partial modal parameters of a system are given and the other unknown modal parameters meet certain conditions. We emphasize that such a characterization enables us to quantify the least upper bounds of errors for any nominal models, and also to develop further efficient results using additional information. It is shown that the DC gain information of the system reduces the size of the feasible set to half or smaller one, for any frequencies. The efficiency of the presented scheme is demonstrated by a simple example of an ideal flexible beam. </p>
No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Acta Medica Okayama2003An optimal finite-dimensional modeling in heat conduction and diffusion equations with partially known eigenstructure330335ENJunImaiYasuakiAndoMasamiKonishi<p>An optimal finite-dimensional modeling technique is presented for a standard class of distributed parameter systems for heat and diffusion equations. A finite-dimensional nominal model with minimum error bounds in frequency domain is established for spectral systems with partially known eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. The result is derived from a completely characterized geometric figure upon complex plane, of all the frequency responses of the systems that have (i) a finite number of given time constants T/sub i/'s and modal coefficients k/sub i/'s, (ii) an upper bound /spl rho/ to the infinite sum of the absolute values of all the modal coefficients k/sub i/'s, (iii) an upper bound T to the unknown T/sub i/'s, and (iv) a given dc gain G(0). Discussions are made on how each parameter mentioned above makes contribution to bounding error or uncertainty, and we stress that steady state analysis for dc input is used effectively in reduced order modeling and bounding errors. The feasibility of the presented scheme is demonstrated by a simple example of heat conduction in ideal copper rod. </p>No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.IEEEActa Medica Okayama0191-221642000Modeling uncertainty of large flexible structures with unknown modal parameters37803784ENJunImaiKiyoshiWadaA procedure for control-oriented modeling of uncertainty is proposed for large flexible structures. Techniques on quantification of errors in modal truncated nominal models are developed for the case where a finite number of upper and lower bounds of the unknown modal parameters are given. A feasible set of systems matching the conditions is introduced, and then error bounds covering the feasible set are established in the frequency domain. The bounds are easily checked using linear programming for any user-specified frequency. The feasibility of the proposed scheme is illustrated by numerical study on an ideal flexible beam example.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Acta Medica Okayama32002Modeling uncertainty of flexible structures with unknown high-order modal parameters - a geometric characterization of frequency responses15881591ENJunImai<p>A control-oriented uncertainty modeling on frequency domain is presented for a class of spectral systems with unknown high-order modal parameters. At any user-specified frequency, the set of all the frequency responses of the feasible systems is characterized on a complex plane in terms of the convex bull of several circle segments, where the system is said to be feasible if partial modal parameters are given and some other conditions are satisfied by the unknown parameters. We emphasize that such a characterization enables us to quantify the least upper bounds of errors for any nominal models, and to develop further efficient results using some additional information. It is shown that, the DC gain information of the system reduces the size of the feasible set to the half or smaller for all frequencies. The efficiency of the presented scheme is demonstrated by a simple example of ideal flexible beam. </p>
No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama1349-6115452011Optimal Digital Control Systems Design for Handling Machines using dsPIC114ENTatsuroAkiyoshiJunImaiMasamiKonishi10.18926/44495This paper presents a method of the controller design for the handling machine by using dsPIC(Digital Signal Processor + Peripheral Interface Controller). Recently, many manufacturing robots are operated in manufacturing facilities, with the aim of labor, cost saving,
and improvement of the productivity. Such robots need to have positioning performance of high precision and simultaneously to save cost. In this paper, a digital optimal servo controller is designed, and it is implemented into our barebones controller which involves dsPIC. We have designed and manufactured the controller which is added suitable peripherals to improve the consistency between the mechanical machine operating in continuous time and controller in discrete time. The significance of this research is that digital implementation of the embedded system which has performance-limitation has ensured a comparable result, against the one with PC which has broad utility. When it is used as a controller, it is possible to restrain product prices greatly equivalent PC precision. We demonstrate potential that good control can be achieved even with low cost. Our research has lead to the viability
of lower cost and higher performance system for the production process at factories.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-0071381-22004Control Method for Temperature Distribution in Reactor Furnace by Sequential Quadratic Programming Method514ENKazuhitoIshimaruMasamiKonishiJunImaiTatsushiNishi10.18926/46947Temperature distribution in the reactor furnace is mainly operated by gas blowing from multiple tuyeres and material charge distribution. The objective of our research is obtain the optimal profile of gas flow to control temperature distribution in the reactor furnace in the shortest possible time. We formulated the optimization problem to reduce deviation of temperature distribution from its desired one in the reactor furnace. Based on the formulation, gas blow conditions are optimized by a sequential quadratic programming method to realize the desired temperature distribution. The validity of the method was checked through numerical experiments.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-0071381-22004Feature Extraction and Classification of Operational Data for Diagnosis of Hot Strip Mill Looper Control1527ENTakashiTorigoeMasamiKonishiJunImaiTatsushiNishi10.18926/46948In these days, mechanical systems are becoming more complex and highly automated. So, there exist wide variety of demands for reliable diagnostic technology. A reliable data analysis and quantitative diagnosis method of mechanical system is necessary for the purpose. In this paper a quantitative diagnosis method for looper height control system has been developed based on neural network technologies. The wavelet transformation is used for pre-processing to analyze characteristics of looper height control system. And, self organizing map neural network is used for the purpose of classification based on the pre-processed data. After that, the classified results are used for quantitative diagnosis in hierarchical neural network.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00713712002Agent Based Routing Control for Multi Mobile Robots in Transportation110ENKenSotobayashiMasamiKonishiTatsushiNishiJunImai10.18926/46967Auto Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are widely used in a semi-conductor fabricating factory and contribute to the stable production of a high quality semi-conductor products. In the near future, further expansion of the transportation system is expected accompanied with the rapid growth of semi-conductor industries. In such situation, the necessity of performing quick planning of transportation route and transportation control will be elevated. In this paper, practicable planning of the transportation route and transportation control are studied based on the decentralized agent method. Especially, the geometrical sizes of AGVs are considered in the determination of transportation routes and control strategy avoiding the occurrence of mutual collisions or deadlock of AGVs.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00713722003Sensitivity Analysis and its Application to the Control of Inner Furnace Temperature Distribution1327ENTaizoShibutaMasamiKonishiJunImaiTatsushiNishi10.18926/46977Nowadays, various kind of reactor furnaces are widely used for the production in industry. The raw materials charged into the furnace generate reaction heat produced by blowing gas. Generally speaking, the reaction heat generated in the furnace is remarkably high. Therefore the occurrence of an inappropriate temperature distribution in the furnace may make damege or serious accident of the furnace. This is the motivation of furnace control. The author is considering the application of studied results to the furnace control of Blast Furnace in steel industry. To the propose, the approximated and simplified Macro Model of the Blast Furnace is constructed which has the function of representation of qualitative characteristics of the furnace in dynamical sense. The furnace temperature, distribution greatly effects both on the producting and the product quality of the furnace. Needless to say, stable furnace operation is indispensable for the economical prosperity of the industry. In this paper, macro simulation of the furnace is developed to support the analysis and design of the furnace control. Using the simulator, the stability and the control characteristics for inner furnace temperature distribtion are analised quantitatively.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00713722003Gain Tuning Model of Human Expert for Looper Height Control in Hot Strip Rolling2944ENShuyaImajoMasamiKonishiJunImaiTatsushiNishi10.18926/46978In hot strip rolling mills, the looper control system is automated. However, the looper's behavior tends to be unstable in threading. Therefore, human expert always intervenes and stabilizes the looper's behavior by tuning PID gains and interposing manipulation variable of looper control system. In this paper, we propose a method based on the recurrent neural network to express PID gains tuning action by human. Furthermore, we propose two methods to update the model by learning. To check the effectiveness of the proposed learning methods, numerical simulation applied to the looper height control is carried out.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00713612001Modeling uncertainty for unknown modal parameters in large flexible structures2939ENJunImaiKiyoshiWada10.18926/46998A procedure for control-oriented modeling is proposed for large flexible structures with unknown modal parameters. Techniques on quantification of errors in modal truncated nominal models are developed for the case where a finite number of upper and lower bounds of the unknown modal parameters are given. A feasible set of systems matching the conditions is introduced, and then error bounds covering the feasible set are established in the frequency domain. The bounds are easily checked using linear programming for any user-specified frequency. The feasibility of the proposed scheme is illustrated by numerical study on an ideal flexible beam example.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00713622002A Study on the Planning and Scheduling of Production System Considering Demand Changes1542ENRyujiOhtaniMasamiKonishiJunImaiTatsushiNishi10.18926/47023In this paper, we studied a planning and scheduling of production system considering demand changes. In the proposed system, planning part determines lot-size and amount of jobs in production. On the other hand, scheduling part determines the production sequence of jobs. In order to treat with the demand changes, both planning and scheduling should work well simultaneously. In the proposed system, preset and real time production control system is newly constructed from the view point of adaptive control. In the system, production planning is modified when the difference between production amount and demand becomes large. Moreover, production schedule is regenerated when the determined schedule is deviated from the prospected one. The scheduling system is characterized as the autonomous decentralized optimization system where each job works as agent and agent searches its appropriate starting time of processing. The effectiveness of the proposed system is confirmed by numerical examples.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.社団法人 日本鉄鋼協会Acta Medica Okayama0021-15759762011熱延操業支援エージェント構築のための操業診断と圧延操作方法326333ENMasamiKonishiKoichiNakanoJunImaiIn the last two decades, it becomes possible to automate operations of various steel plants especially in rolling mills. As the results, stabilization of productivity and improvement of product quality have been attained. On the while, in these years, many skilled engineers and operators who actively promoted economical growth of steel industries will retire due to their age limits. Thus, the inheritance of the high level technology and know-how has becomes a serious problem. To overcome the problem, it is necessary to extract knowledge of the skilled persons and make technical textbook reducing tacit knowledge. In this paper, rules are extracted from the operation data of hot strip rolling applicable to the operation diagnosis and intervention during operation. To attain the object, agent based simulator of hot strip rolling has been developed to prepare various rolling data for extraction of diagnosis and intervention rules in rolling operations. As for the selection of normal and abnormal data, SVM algorithm is tested before rules extraction. Rules are written in Fuzzy logic forms and its parameters are optimized by GA algorithm. These technologies are involved in the operation support agent system of hot strip rolling mills together with RNN for automatic gain tuning of mill controller.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.ElsevierActa Medica Okayama2405-89634982016A State-Space Modeling via the Galerkin Approximation for a Boundary Control System712ENJunImaiOkayama UniversityKatsuyukiNosoOkayama UniversityAkikoTakahashiOkayama UniversityShigeyukiFunabikiOkayama University For linear distributed parameter systems with a finite number of boundary inputs, we propose a framework to implement the method of weighted residuals using candidate trial functions without boundary homogenization. Proposed scheme utilizes inner product matrix, or Grammian, of the trial functions to separate appropriate homogenized basis functions and the other trial functions matching inhomogeneous boundary conditions. The finite-dimensional approximate model by using the proposed scheme is represented in descriptor form and it is proved to be straightforwardly transformed into state space form. Feasibility of the method is illustrated by a brief controller design example using the approximate model of a heat conduction rod with Dirichlet boundary input.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Institute of Electrical and Electronics EngineersActa Medica Okayama2169-3536112023Design and Analysis of Hybrid-Excitation Variable Flux Memory Motor for Traction Applications: Improving Output Power in High-Speed Area During Six-Step Operation Mode8202482036ENRenTsunataGraduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversityKeitoYokomichiGraduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversityMasatsuguTakemotoGraduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversityJunImaiGraduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversityVariable flux motors with adjustable magnetic flux have been gaining attention because of their capability to simultaneously achieve a high torque density and high efficiency. In addition, the output power characteristic, which is related to acceleration performance, in high-speed areas is important in traction applications. However, typical traction motors have lower output power in high-speed areas. In this paper, a Hybrid-Excitation Variable Flux Memory Motor (HE-VFMM) is therefore proposed to enhance output power characteristics under six-step operation mode in high-speed area. The proposed HE-VFMM can perform magnetic flux adjustment with two components: field winding and variable flux permanent magnet (VPM), thus dramatically increasing flux adjustment range. The simulation results show the proposed HE-VFMM achieves 23.7% higher output power at 17,000 rpm than that of an existing traction motor in Prius 4th generation that has the same size while maintaining high efficiency in the frequently used operating area. Additionally, it was found that variable magnetic flux is very effective in enhancing the output power, especially in the high-speed region because the magnetic saturation in the stator core is mitigated by field-weakening control. Consequently, as the rotational speed increases, an increase ratio of the output power caused by the adjustable magnetic flux becomes higher. This paper shows that the proposed HE-VFMM is an effective method for improving the problem of low output power in high-speed regions in traction motors.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)Acta Medica Okayama0093-99945932023Comparison of Thermal Characteristics in Various Aspect Ratios for Radial-Flux and Axial-Flux Permanent Magnet Machines33533367ENRenTsunataDivision of Industrial Innovation Sciences Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversityMasatsuguTakemotoDivision of Industrial Innovation Sciences Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversityJunImaiDivision of Industrial Innovation Sciences Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversityTatsuyaSaitoSumitomo Electric Industries LtdTomoyukiUenoSumitomo Electric Industries LtdThis paper proposes an axial-flux permanent magnet machine (AFPM) that uses a neodymium-bonded permanent magnet (Nd-bonded PM) and a coreless rotor structure and assesses how it performs in industrial applications requiring high efficiency and low cost. The AFPM is able to achieve high efficiency in high-speed regions because its Nd-bonded PM can restrain eddy current loss. Additionally, the AFPM can continuously function at the rated operating point without a cooling system, so the expenses for one can be eliminated. Hence, the AFPM can simultaneously achieve high efficiency and low-cost mass production. In this paper, a comprehensive comparison including the thermal characteristics of the proposed AFPM and a conventional radial-flux permanent magnet machine (RFPM) is shown. Furthermore, this paper also focuses on how the aspect ratio influences the thermal characteristics of both machines. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed AFPM in industrial applications is assessed using 3D-FEA and experimental results.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Institute of Electrical and Electronics EngineersActa Medica Okayama2169-3536112023A Proposal of an Axial-Flux Permanent-Magnet Machine Employing SMC Core With Tooth-Tips Constructed by One-Pressing Process: Improving Torque and Manufacturability109435109447ENRenTsunataGraduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversityMasatsuguTakemotoGraduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversityJunImaiGraduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversityTatsuyaSaitoSumitomo Electric Industries Ltd.TomoyukiUenoSumitomo Electric Industries Ltd.This study aims to improve the torque performance and manufacturability of axial-flux permanent magnet (AFPM) machines. Hence, we propose a novel AFPM machine that employs a soft magnetic composite (SMC) core with tooth-tips constructed by a one-pressing process and die. In this paper, the proposed AFPM machine is compared to two conventional AFPM machines using an SMC core. One of them has open-slot structure without tooth-tips. Another model employs an SMC core with tooth-tips pressed by a conventional pressing process that requires multiple operations and dies. As a result of the comparison, the proposed AFPM machine realizes a much higher torque than the two conventional machines. Additionally, the manufacturability of an SMC core with tooth-tips pressed by the proposed method is superior to the conventional one because the proposed structure can be realized by the one-pressing process and die. Furthermore, two prototypes of the proposed AFPM machine and the conventional one with an open-slot structure are fabricated, and then, they are compared by experiments. Consequently, the proposed AFPM machine achieves a 15.7% higher torque than that of the conventional machine using an open-slot structure. Finally, this paper presents an improved design of an AFPM machine with SMC cores using the proposed pressing process. As a result, the proposed AFPM realizes a 20% larger torque than that of a conventional model employing an open-slot structure.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.