Often you will want to investigate the impact of a number of specific factors each with their own ranges of levels in your mixture, but, with only one of these factors being used at any given time, in Synthace we call this mutual exclusion.
Mutual exclusion factors will be included in the workflow and design analysis, with only one of the choices within the mutual exclusion group being sampled from its defined level range in any given run.
In Synthace, this most commonly relates to the Mixture Composition **parameter in both the Make Mixtures and Mix Onto elements.
In this tutorial you will learn:
Where to add a mutual exclusion mixture component factor.
How to define the levels you want to investigate
Defining a mutual exclusion mixture component factor
Build a workflow that defines a set of liquids and provides those liquids to a Make Mixtures element.
Switch the workflow builder into DOE Mode.
Note: only the elements that can have DOE factors applied to their parameters will be interactive and display in colour. If the workflow has not already been added to a Synthace experiment you will be prompted to do so before being able to enter DOE mode.
Select the Make Mixtures element and toggle on the Mixture Compositions parameter to identify that you intend to describe these mixtures with DOE factors.
Click the adjacent factor button in the Instance Panel to launch the DOE Factor Panel.
Click on the “ADD” button to select a factor type.
Select the “New Mutual Exclusion” Option to open the Factor Definition Panel.
Defining the mutual exclusion factor name
In the Factor Definition Panel, click on the Factor Name and enter the name of the group of factors which will be mutually exclusive. In this example, Liquids.
Setting Factor Properties
Add a new factor definition to your mutual exclusion group by clicking on + ADD NEW FACTOR.
In the Factor Definition Panel, click on the Factor Name entry field and enter the name of the first mutually exclusive factor.
Note: Factor names will be auto suggested from the list of liquid names that were defined in your Define Liquids and Plates element.
Select the units for this factor.
Note: the units for your factor must match the units you set for your stock liquid component within your workflow.
Input the levels you want to investigate for your factor. Click on the “Add New Item” button to add additional levels for your factor.
Click on the “Add Factor” button to add this factor to the mutual exclusion group.
Repeat the previous three steps for each mutually exclusive factor you wish to add. In this example, we show three different liquids (Liquid A, Liquid B and Liquid C, each defined with three different levels).
Click on “Add Mutual Exclusion” to save the mutual exclusion group factor to your Factor Table where you will see a summary of the factors settings.
Well done on making it to the end of this tutorial.
To learn how to define a custom mutual exclusion factor, click here. (Coming Soon!)
To learn about other factor types, click here.