Energy-Saving Operation of Multistage Stochastic Manufacturing Systems Based on Fuzzy Logic

Abstract

The energy-saving operation of manufacturing systems is becoming increasingly significant due to the pressures of social sustainability and cost reduction. One method of saving energy in manufacturing systems is reducing the idle times of machines, which are non-value-added activities but consume non-negligible energy. Based on real-time data of manufacturing systems, this paper proposes a fuzzy control method to switch a machine into sleep/off mode when the idle state is about to arise and turn the machine on when production has to be resumed. A basic control module of a manufacturing system is described, considering stochastic failure of machines. The fuzzy rules for energy-saving operation are presented by analysing the buffer levels of machines based on production knowledge. Simulation studies are carried out to validate and illustrate the effectiveness of the method both for serial and parallel manufacturing systems. The proposed fuzzy control method is a simple and preferable way to achieve the energy-saving operation of unreliable manufacturing systems.