This research deals with the optimization of metrology and calibration problems. The optimization involved here is the application scientifically sound operations research techniques to help in solving the problem intended optimally or semi-optimally with a practical time frame. The research starts by exploring the subject of measurement science known as metrology. This involves defining all the constituents of metrology facilities along with their various components. The definitions include the SI units’ history and structure as well as their characteristics. After that, a comprehensive description of most of the operations and parameters encountered in metrology is presented. This involves all sources of uncertainties in most of the parameters that affect the measurements. From the background presented and using all the information within it; an identification of the most important and critical general problems is attempted. In this treatment a number of potential optimization problems are identified along with their description, problem statement definition, impact on the system and possible treatment method. After that, a detailed treatment of the scheduling problem, the calibration interval determination problem and the average outgoing quality problem is presented. The scheduling problem is formulated and modelled as a mixed integer program then solved using LINGO program. A heuristic algorithm is then developed to solve the problem near optimally but in much quicker time, and solution is packaged in a computer program. The calibration interval problem treatment deals with the determination of the optimal CI. Four methods are developed to deal with different cases. The cases considered are the reliability target case, the CI with call cost and failure cost of both first failure and all failures and the case of large number of similar TMDEs. The average out going quality (AOQ) treatment involves the development two methods to assess the AOQ of a calibration facility that uses a certain multistage inspection policy. The two methods are mathematically derived and verified using a simulation model that compares them with an actual failure rate of a virtual calibration facility.

Electric cars are projected to become the vehicles of the future. A major barrier for their expansion is range anxiety stemming from the limited range a typical EV can travel. EV batteries' performance and capacity are affected by many factors. In particular, the decrease in ambient temperature below a certain threshold will adversely affect the battery's efficiency. This research develops deterministic and two-stage stochastic program model for charging stations' optimal location to facilitate the routing decisions of delivery services that use EVs while considering the variability inherent in climate and customer demand. To evaluate the proposed formulation and solution approach's performance, Fargo city in North Dakota is selected as a tested. For the first chapter, we formulated this problem as a mixed-integer linear programming model that captures the realistic charging behavior of the DCFC's in association with the ambient temperature and their subsequent impact on the EV charging station location and routing decisions. Two innovative heuristics are proposed to solve this challenging model in a realistic test setting, namely, the two-phase Tabu Search-modified Clarke and Wright algorithm and the Sweep-based Iterative Greedy Adaptive Large Neighborhood algorithm. The results clearly indicate that the EV DCFC charging station location decisions are highly sensitive to the ambient temperature, the charging time, and the initial state-of-charge. The results provide numerous managerial insights for decision-makers to efficiently design and manage the DCFC EV logistic network for cities that suffer from high-temperature fluctuations. For the second chapter, a novel solution approach based on the progressive hedging algorithm is presented to solve the resulting mathematical model and to provide high-quality solutions within reasonable running times for problems with many scenarios. We observe that the location-routing decisions are susceptible to the EV logistic's underlying climate, signifying that decision-makers of the DCFC EV logistic network for cities that suffer from high-temperature fluctuations would not overlook the effect of climate to design and manage the respective logistic network efficiently.

The present work aims to increase the diagnosis systems capabilities by choosing the location of sensors in the process. Therefore, appropriate sensor location will lead to better diagnosis performance and implementation easiness. The work is based on structural models ands some simplifications are considered in order to only focus on the sensor placement analysis. Several approaches are studied to solve the sensor placement problem. All of them find the optimal sensor configuration. The sensor placement techniques are applied to a fuel cell stack system. The model used to describe the behaviour of this system consists of non-linear equations. Furthermore, there are 30 candidate sensors to improve the diagnosis specifications. The results obtained from this case study are used to strength the applicability of the proposed approaches. / El present treball té per objectiu incrementar les prestacions dels diagnosticadors mitjançant la localització de sensors en el procés. D'aquesta manera, instal·lant els sensors apropiats s'obtenen millors diagnosticador i més facilitats d'implementació. El treball està basat en models estructurals i contempla una sèrie de simplificacions per tal de entrar-se només en la problemàtica de la localització de sensors. S'utilitzen diversos enfocs per tal de resoldre la localització de sensors, tot ells tenen com objectiu trobar la configuració òptima de sensors. Les tècniques de localització de sensors són aplicades a un sistema basat en una pila de combustible. El model d'aquest sistema està format per equacions no lineals. A més, hi ha la possibilitat d'instal·lar fins a 30 sensors per tal de millorar la diagnosis del sistema. Degut a aquestes característiques del sistema i del model, els resultats obtinguts mitjançant aquest cas d'estudi reafirmen l'aplicabilitat dels mètodes proposats.