THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

MECH 523 INTELLIGENT CONTROL

Mid -Term Examination

First Term 1998/99

November 3, 1998

OPEN TEXTBOOK/NOTES

FULLY ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS (1.5 HRS)

Problem 1.

(a) What is fuzziness of a set?

Three measures for fuzziness of fuzzy set A are
(i)

f ( x )dx

with f ( x) = A for A 0.5

= 1 A for A > 0.5

(ii)
(iii)

A1 | dx
2

s | A A | dx

where s is the support set of A, A is the complement of A, A1 is the half-cut

2

of A, A is the membership function of A, and the integrations are performed

over the support set s of A.
Establish the relationship between these three measures.
(15 points)
(b) Consider a fuzzy set A in the universe R, the real line, whose membership
function is given by

A ( x) = 1 2 | x 1 |

for | x 1 | 0.5

=0

otherwise

(i)

Sketch this membership function.

(ii)

What is the support set of A?

(iii)

What is the 1 - cut of A?

(iv)

Another fuzzy set, B, is given by the membership function

B ( x ) = 1 | x 2 |

for | x 2 | 1

=0

otherwise

Sketch this membership function.

Which one of the sets A and B is fuzzier? Explain your answer.
(20 points)

Problem 2.

(a) The extension principle may be considered as a special case of the

application of the compositional rule of inference. Describing the extension
principle and the compositional rule of inference, justify this statement.
(10 points)
(b) A process is represented by the crisp relation
z 2 = ( x a) 2 + y 2
where, information in the X x Y domain is mapped to the Z domain, with x, y,
and z defined in the universes X, Y , and Z, respectively.
Suppose that the information S in the X x Y domain is represented by the
fuzzy relation
1

S ( x , y ) =

( x a)
( y c )2
+
]
b
d
2

exp[

What is the membership function C (z ) of the corresponding "inference" C in

the Z domain? Assume that a, b, c, d > 0 and b > d.
Sketch S ( x , y ) and C (z ) .
(20 points)
Problem 3.

A metallurgical process consists of heat treatment of a bulk of material for a

specified duration of time at a suitable temperature. The heater is controlled by
its fuel supply rate. A schematic diagram of the system is shown in Figure 1.

The following fuzzy quantities are defined, with the corresponding states:
T : Temperature of the material (LW = low; HG = high)
M: Mass of the material

(SM = small; LG = large)

P : Process termination time

(FR = far; NR = near)

F : Fuel supply rate

(RD = reduce; MN = maintain; IN = increase)

Fuzzy
Controller

Reference
Inputs

Material In
Valve
Actuator
Temperature
Sensor (T)

Material
Bulk ( M)

Fuel Flow
In (F)

Furnace

Material Out

Figure 1. A Metallurgical Heat Treatment Process.

The membership functions of these quantities are given in Figure 2.

A simple rulebase that is used in a fuzzy controller for the fuel supply unit is given
below:
If T is LW and P is FR then F is IN
or if T is HG then F is RD
or if M is SM and P is NR then F is MN
or if M is LG and P is FR then F is IN
or if P is NR then F is RD
End if.

At a given instant, the following set of process data is available:

Temperature

= 300 C

Material mass

= 800 kg

Process operation time = 1.3 hr

Determine the corresponding inference membership function for the fuel supply,
and a crisp value for the control action. Comment on the suitability of this
inference.

(35 points)

T
LW

HG

1.0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Temperature (C)
SM

1.0

200

LG

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Material Mass (kg)

FR

1.0

NR

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

Process Time (hr)

RD

1.0

MN

50

IN

100

150

200

Fuel Supply (gal/min)

Figure 2. Membership Functions.

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