A new heuristic method for assembly planning

Traditionally, the problem of assembly sequence planning is often converted to an equivalent problem of finding how the same assembly can be disassembled. Therefore, in our research, Disassembly Feasibility Information Graph is proposed firstly, to represent disassembly (sequence/operation) relevant information. And based on this graph, we transform disassembly sequence planning problem into a problem of searching for optimal path. Then, an ant colony system is designed to search optimal disassembly sequence solution. The tour of ant represents a possible product disassembly solution. The pheromone trail laid on edge by ant reflects the quality of its tour. It is by two steps to get heuristic information: obtain heuristic vector representing the feasibility of solution- and then, get heuristic information-representing the quality of solution. By this approach, disassembly solution could be generated, as well as corresponding assembly solution. Finally, an intelligent assembly planning software, based on the proposed approaches, is introduced.