Interval approach to robust design

Abstract

Purpose

Aims to present a novel approach for the worst‐case, robust design (RD) of an electromagnetic system able to overcome some discretionary aspects of the available methods.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed methodology is based on a suitable application of the interval arithmetic and considers the width of the interval Taylor extension (WITE) of the performance function (PF) as a valuable robustness index (RI). In particular, the most robust stationary point is obtained by looking for the minimum of a continuous, non‐differentiable function thanks to the properties of WITE.

Findings

The method furnishes a reliable classification of the robust solutions with PFs expressed by either mono or multi‐dimensional polynomial forms and provides the over‐bounding of the PF without additional computational efforts.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations concern the necessity of an analytic formulation of the system performance. The IA approach may lead to lose some robust solution.

Practical implications

A RI can be assigned in analytic form and it can be suitably used as a figure of merit in a multi‐objective optimisation problem.

Originality/value

The use of the interval analysis for the worst‐case, RD of an electromagnetic system is original. The system designer may find the most robust stationary solution by means of a continuous, non‐differentiable function.

Citation

Lamberti, P. and Tucci, V. (2007), "Interval approach to robust design", COMPEL - The international journal for computation and mathematics in electrical and electronic engineering, Vol. 26 No. 2, pp. 280-292. https://doi.org/10.1108/03321640710727647