The Comparison of Imperialist Competitive Algorithm Applied and Genetic Algorithm for Machining Allocation of Clutch Assembly

The allocation of design tolerances between the components of a mechanical assembly and manufacturing tolerances can significantly affect the functionality of products and related production costs. This paper introduces Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA) approach to solve the machining tolerance allocation of an overrunning clutch assembly. ICA is a multi-agent algorithm with each agent being a country, which is either a colony or an imperialist. These countries form some empires in the search space. Movement of the colonies toward their related imperialist, and imperialistic competition among the empires, form the basis of the ICA. During these movements, the powerful imperialist are reinforced and the weak ones are weakened and gradually collapsed, directing the algorithm towards optimum points. The objective of present study is to obtain optimum tolerances of the individual components for the minimum cost of manufacturing using ICA. The results were finally compared with the Genetic Algorithm (GA). Based on the results, ICA has demonstrated excellent capabilities such as accuracy, faster convergence and better global optimum achievement in comparison with traditional GA.