A Knowledge-Informed Simplex Search Method Based on Historical Quasi-Gradient Estimations and Its Application on Quality Control of Medium Voltage Insulators

Quality control is of great significance for the economical manufacturing and reliable application of medium voltage insulators. With the increasingly stringent quality control requirement, traditional quality control methods in this field face a growing challenge on their efficiency. Therefore, this study aims to achieve quality specifications by optimizing process conditions with the least costs. Thus, a knowledge-informed simplex search method was proposed based on an idea of knowledge-informed optimization to enhance the optimization efficiency. Firstly, a new mathematical quantity, quasi-gradient estimation, was generated following a reconstruction of the simplex search from the essence and the development history of the method. Based on this quantity, the gradient-free method possessed the same gradient property and unified form as the gradient-based methods. Secondly, an implementation of the knowledge-informed simplex search method based on historical quasi-gradient estimations (short for GK-SS) was constructed. The GK-SS-based quality control method utilized the historical quasi-gradient estimations for each simplex generated during the optimization process to improve the method’s search directions’ accuracy in a statistical sense. Finally, this method was applied to the weight control of a kind of post insulator. The experimental simulation results showed that the method is effective and efficient in the quality control of medium voltage insulators.