Multi-objective robust design optimization of the mechanism in a sewing machine

This work deals with the multi-objective robust design optimization of a needle-bar-and-thread-take-up-lever (NBTTL) mechanism used in sewing machines. A multi-objective imperialist competitive algorithm combined with the Monte Carlo method is developed and used for the robust multi-objective optimization of the NBTTL mechanism. This robust optimization minimizes simultaneously the needle jerk, the maximum angular velocity ratio and their standard deviations when the design parameters are known with a given uncertainty. By comparison with Juki 8700, the obtained results showed that the developed algorithm can give a robust design of a sewing machine with the same performance as the those obtained by deterministic methods but less sensitive to the design parameters uncertainties.