@article{AltherrEdererLorenzetal.2014, author = {Altherr, Lena and Ederer, Thorsten and Lorenz, Ulf and Pelz, Peter F. and P{\"o}ttgen, Philipp}, title = {Experimental validation of an enhanced system synthesis approach}, series = {Operations Research Proceedings 2014}, journal = {Operations Research Proceedings 2014}, editor = {L{\"u}bbecke, Marco and Koster, Arie and Letmathe, Peter and Madlener, Reihard and Peis, Britta and Walther, Grit}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Basel}, isbn = {978-3-319-28695-2}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-28697-6_1}, pages = {6}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Planning the layout and operation of a technical system is a common task for an engineer. Typically, the workflow is divided into consecutive stages: First, the engineer designs the layout of the system, with the help of his experience or of heuristic methods. Secondly, he finds a control strategy which is often optimized by simulation. This usually results in a good operating of an unquestioned sys- tem topology. In contrast, we apply Operations Research (OR) methods to find a cost-optimal solution for both stages simultaneously via mixed integer program- ming (MILP). Technical Operations Research (TOR) allows one to find a provable global optimal solution within the model formulation. However, the modeling error due to the abstraction of physical reality remains unknown. We address this ubiq- uitous problem of OR methods by comparing our computational results with mea- surements in a test rig. For a practical test case we compute a topology and control strategy via MILP and verify that the objectives are met up to a deviation of 8.7\%.}, language = {en} } @article{VergePoettgenAltherretal.2016, author = {Verg{\´e}, Angela and P{\"o}ttgen, Philipp and Altherr, Lena and Ederer, Thorsten and Pelz, Peter F.}, title = {Lebensdauer als Optimierungsziel: Algorithmische Struktursynthese am Beispiel eines hydrostatischen Getriebes}, series = {O+P - {\"O}lhydraulik und Pneumatik}, volume = {60}, journal = {O+P - {\"O}lhydraulik und Pneumatik}, number = {1-2}, editor = {Greuloch, Ivo and Weber, Manfred and Meier, Miles}, publisher = {Vereinigte Fachverl.}, address = {Mainz}, issn = {1614-9602}, pages = {114 -- 121}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Verf{\"u}gbarkeit und Nachhaltigkeit sind wichtige Anforderungen bei der Planung langlebiger technischer Systeme. Meist werden bei Lebensdaueroptimierungen lediglich einzelne Komponenten vordefinierter Systeme untersucht. Ob eine optimale Lebensdauer eine g{\"a}nzlich andere Systemvariante bedingt, wird nur selten hinterfragt. Technical Operations Research (TOR) erlaubt es, aus Obermengen technischer Systeme automatisiert die lebensdaueroptimale Systemstruktur auszuw{\"a}hlen. Der Artikel zeigt dies am Beispiel eines hydrostatischen Getriebes.}, language = {de} } @article{SunAltherrPeietal.2018, author = {Sun, Hui and Altherr, Lena and Pei, Ji and Pelz, Peter F. and Yuan, Shouqi}, title = {Optimal booster station design and operation under uncertain load}, series = {Applied Mechanics and Materials}, volume = {885}, journal = {Applied Mechanics and Materials}, publisher = {Trans Tech Publications}, address = {B{\"a}ch}, issn = {1662-7482}, doi = {10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.885.102}, pages = {102 -- 115}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Given industrial applications, the costs for the operation and maintenance of a pump system typically far exceed its purchase price. For finding an optimal pump configuration which minimizes not only investment, but life-cycle costs, methods like Technical Operations Research which is based on Mixed-Integer Programming can be applied. However, during the planning phase, the designer is often faced with uncertain input data, e.g. future load demands can only be estimated. In this work, we deal with this uncertainty by developing a chance-constrained two-stage (CCTS) stochastic program. The design and operation of a booster station working under uncertain load demand are optimized to minimize total cost including purchase price, operation cost incurred by energy consumption and penalty cost resulting from water shortage. We find optimized system layouts using a sample average approximation (SAA) algorithm, and analyze the results for different risk levels of water shortage. By adjusting the risk level, the costs and performance range of the system can be balanced, and thus the system's resilience can be engineered}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LeiseAltherr2018, author = {Leise, Philipp and Altherr, Lena}, title = {Optimizing the design and control of decentralized water supply systems - a case-study of a hotel building}, series = {EngOpt 2018 Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Engineering Optimization}, booktitle = {EngOpt 2018 Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Engineering Optimization}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-319-97773-7}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-97773-7_107}, pages = {1241 -- 1252}, year = {2018}, abstract = {To increase pressure to supply all floors of high buildings with water, booster stations, normally consisting of several parallel pumps in the basement, are used. In this work, we demonstrate the potential of a decentralized pump topology regarding energy savings in water supply systems of skyscrapers. We present an approach, based on Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programming, that allows to choose an optimal network topology and optimal pumps from a predefined construction kit comprising different pump types. Using domain-specific scaling laws and Latin Hypercube Sampling, we generate different input sets of pump types and compare their impact on the efficiency and cost of the total system design. As a realistic application example, we consider a hotel building with 325 rooms, 12 floors and up to four pressure zones.}, language = {en} } @incollection{StengerAltherrMuelleretal.2018, author = {Stenger, David and Altherr, Lena and M{\"u}ller, Tankred and Pelz, Peter F.}, title = {Product family design optimization using model-based engineering techniques}, series = {Operations Research Proceedings 2017}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2017}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-319-89919-0}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-89920-6_66}, pages = {495 -- 502}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Highly competitive markets paired with tremendous production volumes demand particularly cost efficient products. The usage of common parts and modules across product families can potentially reduce production costs. Yet, increasing commonality typically results in overdesign of individual products. Multi domain virtual prototyping enables designers to evaluate costs and technical feasibility of different single product designs at reasonable computational effort in early design phases. However, savings by platform commonality are hard to quantify and require detailed knowledge of e.g. the production process and the supply chain. Therefore, we present and evaluate a multi-objective metamodel-based optimization algorithm which enables designers to explore the trade-off between high commonality and cost optimal design of single products.}, language = {en} } @article{AltherrBroetzDietrichetal.2018, author = {Altherr, Lena and Br{\"o}tz, Nicolas and Dietrich, Ingo and Gally, Tristan and Geßner, Felix and Kloberdanz, Hermann and Leise, Philipp and Pelz, Peter Franz and Schlemmer, Pia and Schmitt, Andreas}, title = {Resilience in mechanical engineering - a concept for controlling uncertainty during design, production and usage phase of load-carrying structures}, series = {Applied Mechanics and Materials}, volume = {885}, journal = {Applied Mechanics and Materials}, publisher = {Trans Tech Publications}, address = {B{\"a}ch}, isbn = {1662-7482}, doi = {10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.885.187}, pages = {187 -- 198}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Resilience as a concept has found its way into different disciplines to describe the ability of an individual or system to withstand and adapt to changes in its environment. In this paper, we provide an overview of the concept in different communities and extend it to the area of mechanical engineering. Furthermore, we present metrics to measure resilience in technical systems and illustrate them by applying them to load-carrying structures. By giving application examples from the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 805, we show how the concept of resilience can be used to control uncertainty during different stages of product life.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LeiseAltherrPelz2018, author = {Leise, Philipp and Altherr, Lena and Pelz, Peter F.}, title = {Technical Operations Research (TOR) - Algorithms, not Engineers, Design Optimal Energy Efficient and Resilient Cooling Systems}, series = {FAN2018 - Proceedings of the International Conference on Fan Noise, Aerodynamics, Applications and Systems}, booktitle = {FAN2018 - Proceedings of the International Conference on Fan Noise, Aerodynamics, Applications and Systems}, pages = {1 -- 12}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The overall energy efficiency of ventilation systems can be improved by considering not only single components, but by considering as well the interplay between every part of the system. With the help of the method "TOR" ("Technical Operations Research"), which was developed at the Chair of Fluid Systems at TU Darmstadt, it is possible to improve the energy efficiency of the whole system by considering all possible design choices programmatically. We show the ability of this systematic design approach with a ventilation system for buildings as a use case example. Based on a Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Program (MINLP) we model the ventilation system. We use binary variables to model the selection of different pipe diameters. Multiple fans are model with the help of scaling laws. The whole system is represented by a graph, where the edges represent the pipes and fans and the nodes represents the source of air for cooling and the sinks, that have to be cooled. At the beginning, the human designer chooses a construction kit of different suitable fans and pipes of different diameters and different load cases. These boundary conditions define a variety of different possible system topologies. It is not possible to consider all topologies by hand. With the help of state of the art solvers, on the other side, it is possible to solve this MINLP. Next to this, we also consider the effects of malfunctions in different components. Therefore, we show a first approach to measure the resilience of the shown example use case. Further, we compare the conventional approach with designs that are more resilient. These more resilient designs are derived by extending the before mentioned model with further constraints, that consider explicitly the resilience of the overall system. We show that it is possible to design resilient systems with this method already in the early design stage and compare the energy efficiency and resilience of these different system designs.}, language = {en} } @incollection{AltherrDoerigEdereretal.2017, author = {Altherr, Lena and D{\"o}rig, Bastian and Ederer, Thorsten and Pelz, Peter Franz and Pfetsch, Marc and Wolf, Jan}, title = {A mixed-integer nonlinear program for the design of gearboxes}, series = {Operations Research Proceedings 2016}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2016}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-319-55701-4}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-55702-1_31}, pages = {227 -- 233}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Gearboxes are mechanical transmission systems that provide speed and torque conversions from a rotating power source. Being a central element of the drive train, they are relevant for the efficiency and durability of motor vehicles. In this work, we present a new approach for gearbox design: Modeling the design problem as a mixed-integer nonlinear program (MINLP) allows us to create gearbox designs from scratch for arbitrary requirements and—given enough time—to compute provably globally optimal designs for a given objective. We show how different degrees of freedom influence the runtime and present an exemplary solution.}, language = {en} } @incollection{LeiseAltherrPelz2018, author = {Leise, Philipp and Altherr, Lena and Pelz, Peter F.}, title = {Energy-Efficient design of a water supply system for skyscrapers by mixed-integer nonlinear programming}, series = {Operations Research Proceedings 2017}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2017}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-319-89919-0}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-89920-6_63}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The energy-efficiency of technical systems can be improved by a systematic design approach. Technical Operations Research (TOR) employs methods known from Operations Research to find a global optimal layout and operation strategy of technical systems. We show the practical usage of this approach by the systematic design of a decentralized water supply system for skyscrapers. All possible network options and operation strategies are modeled by a Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Program. We present the optimal system found by our approach and highlight the energy savings compared to a conventional system design.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{AltherrPelzEdereretal.2017, author = {Altherr, Lena and Pelz, Peter F. and Ederer, Thorsten and Pfetsch, Marc E.}, title = {Optimale Getriebe auf Knopfdruck: Gemischt-ganzzahlige nichtlineare Optimierung zur Entscheidungsunterst{\"u}tzung bei der Auslegung von Getrieben f{\"u}r Kraftfahrzeuge}, series = {Antriebstechnisches Kolloquium ATK 2017}, booktitle = {Antriebstechnisches Kolloquium ATK 2017}, editor = {Jacobs, Georg}, isbn = {9783743148970}, pages = {313 -- 325}, year = {2017}, language = {de} }