Optimal Synthesis of Four-Bar Linkage Path Generation through Evolutionary Computation with a Novel Constraint Handling Technique

This paper presents a novel constraint handling technique for optimum path generation of four-bar linkages using evolutionary algorithms (EAs). Usually, the design problem is assigned to minimize the error between desired and obtained coupler curves with penalty constraints. It is found that the currently used constraint handling technique is rather inefficient. In this work, we propose a new technique, termed a path repairing technique, to deal with the constraints for both input crank rotation and Grashof criterion. Three traditional path generation test problems are used to test the proposed technique. Metaheuristic algorithms, namely, artificial bee colony optimization (ABC), adaptive differential evolution with optional external archive (JADE), population-based incremental learning (PBIL), teaching-learning-based optimization (TLBO), real-code ant colony optimization (ACOR), a grey wolf optimizer (GWO), and a sine cosine algorithm (SCA), are applied for finding the optimum solutions. The results show that new technique is a superior constraint handling technique while TLBO is the best method for synthesizing four-bar linkages.