Optimization of Steel Box Column for a Pillar-type Drilling Machine Using Particle Swarm Optimization

The design of any machine tool is required to possess rigidity, impact resistance and absorption or damping of vibrations. The structural member needs to be lightweight satisfying the strength requirement. This paper deals with the optimum design of thin plated steel box column of a pillar-type drilling machine. Under dynamic conditions, the maximum permissible inclination of the drill resulting from the deformation tells upon the accuracy of the hole. The existing formulation of behavioral and geometric constraint equations is solved by means of (i) Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The results obtained with PSO are compared with (i) exhaustive search results (ii) results obtained by using Davidon-Fletcher-Powell (DFP) method and (iii) results obtained using genetic algorithm (GA) available in the literature. The results are presented in the form of optimum values of crosssectional dimensions for minimum weight of column. The agreement and the enhancement in results indicate the fruitful application of PSO to the present case.