Cold crucible furnaces are widely used in multiple special applications. Unfortunately, the efficiency of this type of furnace is significantly lower than that of other induction units. The paper presents methodology and the analysis results of influence of the cold crucible components geometry on efficiency of transfer energy from an inductor to a charge. Distribution and the total value of the Joule heat generated in the charge inside an induction furnace with a cold crucible were determined for various modifications of construction of the typical furnace. The obtained results allowed for proposing a solution of the cold crucible with a lowered, in comparison to the crucible wall, bottom and a reduced number of segments.

The overwhelming majority of methodologies for the flexible flow shop scheduling problem proposed so far have a common feature, which is the assumption of constant time and cost for the execution of individual technological operations (ignoring an optimal selecting combination of individual employees and tools). Even if the existence of the influence of the selection of production resources on the course of operations is signaled in the available works, the research so far has not focused on the measurable effect of such a solution that takes into account this phenomenon in scheduling. The proposed production scheduling methodology, including the influence of employees and tools, turned out to be more effective in terms of minimizing the maximum completion time and the cost of the production process compared to existing solutions. The efficiency of the new proposed scheduling methodology was assessed using examples of four technological processes. The research was carried out on the basis of a dedicated adaptation of the Monte Carlo optimization algorithm in order to determine the actual effect of the new solution. The algorithm itself is not an integral part of the proposed solution, and the universal methodology developed will ensure significant profit for any optimization algorithm correctly implemented.

The Joule heat generated by current flow between electrodes in a resistance furnace not only melts and heats the charge but also induces mixing of the molten material. Increased mixing promotes improved chemical and temperature uniformity within the bath. This paper presents a novel approach to effectively optimizing electrode geometry in resistance furnaces. The method relies on a surrogate criterion derived exclusively from an electromagnetic submodel, which governs the process hydrodynamics. This criterion is based on the location of the Joule heat generation center in the bath. Its idea is to lower this center as much as possible while keeping it close to the vertical bath axis. Owing to this, the best conditions for the development of natural convection were obtained. The developed methodology was demonstrated through an application to a two-electrode furnace. The results showed that the influence of forced MHD convection is negligible in this furnace (with a Lorentz force of only about 0.0015 N/kg). The validation of the optimized geometry, derived using solely the electromagnetic submodel, was carried out using a full process model, including time-consuming hydrodynamic calculations. The proposed optimization methodology enabled a 10-fold increase in the average mixing velocity (from 0.0008 to 0.0084 m/s). The main significance of the presented study is the introduction of a surrogate criterion that allows for a multiple reduction in the time of numerical optimization of the mixing intensity in electrode resistance furnaces in comparison to the standard solution based on the flow velocity criterion determined from the hydrodynamic model.

This paper proposes a novel crossover operator for evolutionary algorithms in task sequencing and verifies its efficacy. Unlike the conventional blind and entirely stochastic selection of sequence fragments exchanged with the second individual, the proposed operator employs a method where the probability of fragment selection is influenced by the total cost of internal connections within the exchanged fragments. At the same time, the new operator retains its stochastic nature and is not a deterministic operator, which reduces the risk of the evolutionary algorithm getting stuck in a local minimum. The idea of the proposed crossover operator was based on the main mechanism of the evolutionary algorithm that determines the success of this type of algorithm selection. To assess its effectiveness, the new operator was compared against previously employed crossover operators using a traveling salesman problem (TSP) instance in a multidimensional space in order to map the problem of symmetric sequencing tasks described with multiparameters (e.g., a symmetric variant of production tasks sequencing).

The process of platinum recovery from used car catalysts is highly desirable for both economic and environmental reasons. From the many available methods of processing used car catalysts, the article conducted both numerical and experimental studies using a device based on the collector metal method with lead as a modified medium through a magnetohydrodynamic pump for washing platinum from the channels of the ceramic catalyst carrier. It was assumed that lead alloys with the addition of lithium increase the extraction of platinum from thin catalytic layers and accelerate the platinum dissolution reaction in the Pb-Li alloy, which is the result of a greater affinity of lithium for platinum compared to lead. This assumption was verified by numerical simulations as well as laboratory tests. Tests were carried out for the secondary supply voltage range between 40 and 60 V and the catalyst flushing time between 240 and 480 s. Graphical results of the research were discussed.