Optimal design of the front linkage of a hydraulic excavator for multi-objective function

The workspace, working velocity, excavating force, and load capacity of a hydraulic excavator play critical roles in the performance of the excavator for various tasks. This paper presents an optimal design of the front linkage of an excavator to maximize the performances of several indices simultaneously. A multi-objective function is defined to increase the excavator's workspace, working velocity, excavating force, and load capacity simultaneously. The workspace is defined by using four geometrical indices and the working velocity is defined by the amount of time needed to perform one cycle composed of digging and dumping. The excavating force consists of two forces, and the load capacity is defined by using the minimum values of three types with specific operations. A total of 10 indices define objective function with each weight, and pin-points of the front linkage are the design parameters, including joint positions of links and hydraulic actuators. A two-step optimization procedure is considered based on a new method called the hybrid Taguchi-random coordinate search algorithm. The results indicate a 3.43% increase in performance relative to the initial design parameters of a commercial excavator. More specifically, the excavator's workspace, working velocity, excavating force, and load capacity increase by 5.55%, 0.14%, 5.46%, and 0.33%, respectively. These improved design parameters can be applied to next generation excavators.This work was supported by the 2012 Yeungnam University Research Grants