• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.588-595
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• 2016

This paper is a study on head bolts that are used in A/C compressors to reduce production cost and solve leak problems on the head bolt seat area that causes massive intermittent malfunctioning during production. In this study, the pre-heat treated steel, which was used as a material in the head bolt, eliminated the heat treatment process after forging. The pre-heat treated steel head bolts, which have 10 % lower tensile strength than the conventional SCM 435 head bolts, were selected after considering the results of creeping rupture properties, axial force, and stress concentration per tensile strength variation. Then, the performance test and the durability test with the A/C compressor that was assembled with the pre-heat treated steel head bolts were performed and verified. Based on the results, the pre-heat treated steel head bolts developed in this study saved 7.3 % in production cost by eliminating the heat treatment process and the logistics process. Furthermore, the leak problem on the head bolt seat area in the A/C compressor was addressed significantly on the mass production assembly line.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.7 no.7
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• pp.847-852
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• 2006

A fitting process carried out in the automobile transmission assembly line is classified into three classes; heat fitting, press fitting, and their combined fitting. Heat fitting is a method that applies heat in the outer diameter of a gear to a suitable range under the tempering temperature and assembles the gear and the shaft made larger than the inner radius of the gear. Its stress depends on the yield strength of a gear. Press fitting is a method that generally squeezes gear toward that of a shaft at room temperature by a press. Another method heats warmly gear and safely squeezes it toward that of a shaft. A warm shrink fitting process for an automobile transmission part is now gradually increased, but the parts (shaft/gear) assembled by the process produced dimensional change in both outer diameter and profile of the gear so that it may cause noise and vibration between gears. In order to solve these problems, we need an analysis of a warm shrink fitting process in which design parameters such as contact pressure according to fitting interference between outer diameter of a shaft and inner diameter of a gear, fitting temperature, and profile tolerance of gear are involved. In this study, an closed form equation to predict the contact pressure and fitting load was proposed in order to develop an optimization technique of a warm shrink fitting process and verified its reliability through the experimental results measured in the field and FEM, thermal-structural coupled field analysis. Actual loads measured in the field have a good agreement with the results obtained from theoretical and finite element analysis and also the expanded amounts of the outer diameters of the gears have a good agreement with the results.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.7-13
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• 2015

The production processes were reviewed through the injection analysis of the shift lever as a core component of an auto lever installed in the automatic transmission of cars. The injection analysis was carried out for the shift lever and rod among the components in a shift lever module. The shift lever and rod are designed for injection molding with the insertion of a tube, a pin cable plate, and a steel rod for securing the strength of the product. The charging time, failure of injection molding, weld line, air trap, and deformation were reviewed according to this insert. Analyses on various gate positions were carried out for reviewing the cultivation and deformation of fiber around major components, such as the generation section of manipulation feeling and assembly section, so that optimal gate conditions might be reviewed and reflected in the mold design. Finally, we plan to compare the analysis results with the production of trial products.

• Journal of the Korea Society for Simulation
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.9-16
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• 2010

This study presents a system for validating the PLC code in the virtual environments of automobile trim line. There have been considerable efforts to develop standard PLC editors for saving human power and PLC test time. However, it was difficult to apply the PLC editor on a real shop floor environment. A virtual equipment was developed to communicate with the PLC module of a shop floor and to make up the connectivity environment by a special protocol. We can validate the code without launching real equipments because the PLC module and the virtual equipment is able to be controlled in real time by the OPC protocol. An experimental model is applied to the final assembly line of an automotive industry and validated by using DELMIA Automation. In conclusion, the system is valuable in the process of PLC codes validation and virtual equipments operation. This system would reduce the development time of the PLC codes and improve the productivity and the integrity of the PLC codes.

• Journal of the Korea Society for Simulation
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.11-18
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• 2023

This study analyzes the effect of a handshake location of an AS/RS with twin cranes for mixed-model production line at an automobile plant. Implementing a handshake operation has the advantage for preventing route interference between twin cranes that operate without crossing into each other's working areas. However the handshake operation requires additional unloading and loading processes to retrieve assembly parts beyond the handshake area. Therefore the decision regarding the handshake location is crucial to improve efficiency of storage and retrieval operations. Simulation results show that the handshake operation with the optimal handshake location reduces the average response time of storage requests to 87% compared to non-handshake operation.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.62-66
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• 2006

The learning control develops controllers that learn to improve their performance at executing a given task, based on experience performing this specific task. In a previous work, the authors presented an iterative precision of linear decentralized learning control based on p-integrated learning method for the vertical dynamic multiple systems. This paper develops an indirect decentralized learning control based on adaptive control method. The original motivation of the learning control field was learning in robots doing repetitive tasks such as an assembly line works. This paper starts with decentralized discrete time systems, and progresses to the robot application, modeling the robot as a time varying linear system in the neighborhood of the nominal trajectory, and using the usual robot controllers that are decentralized, treating each link as if it is independent of any coupling with other links. Some techniques will show up in the numerical simulation for vertical dynamic robot. The methods of learning system are shown for the iterative precision of each link.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.22 no.5 s.170
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• pp.113-120
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• 2005

Because of the turbulent markets and the increasing demand on product quality, the application of new technology to practice is increasingly important. In case of automotive industries, they take interest in laser welding to solve these problems because laser welding has many advantages such as good accessibility, welding quality, fast welding speed and so on. To apply this technology to welding of car body, the data of laser welding are collected through lots of the experiment according to the material, geometry and layer number of welding points. Based on the experiment results and the information of product, i.e. the car side panel, the clustering of stitches for laser welding was carried out and the optimal equipments are selected through the comparison between the requirements of welding and the potential of equipments. Using these results, laser welding cell for the car side panel are configured with the concept of the digital manufacturing, which ensures maximum planning security with visualization and simulation. Finally, the optimal laser welding cell is chosen by the evaluation of alternative cells with assessment criteria.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.48-59
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• 1999

Objectives. This study was conducted to evaluate the association between upper extremity musculoskeletal symptoms and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment(RULA) in vehicle assembly line workers. The goal of this study is to show the feasibility of RULA as a checklist for work related musculoskeletal symptoms (WMSDs) in Korean workers. Methods. The total number of 199 people from the department of assembly and 115 people from the department of Quality Control(QC) in automotive plant were subjects for this cross sectional study. A standard symptom questionnaire survey has been used for the individual characteristics, work history, musculosketal symptoms and non-occupational covariates. The data were obtained by applying one-on-one interview for the all subjects. RULA has been applied for ergonomic work posture analysis and the primary ergonomic risk sure was computed by RULA method. Association between upper extremity musculoskeletal symptoms and RULA were assessed by multiple logistic regression analysis. Results. A total of 314 workers was examined. The prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms by NIOSH case definition was 62.4%. The distribution of musculoskeletal symptoms by the part of the body turned out to be following; back:41.4%, neck: 32.8%, shoulder: 26.4%, arm: 10.5% and hand:29.3%. The relationship of the individual RULA scores were statistically significant for the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms. As the result of the multiple logistic regressioin analysis, grand final score (OR=2.250 95% CI: 1.402-3.612) was associated with musculoskeletal symptoms in any part of the body.; upper arm score(OR=1.786 95% CI: 1.036-3.079) and posture score A(OR=1.634 95% CI: 1.016-2.626) in neck; muscel use score(OR=3.076 95% CI:1.782-5.310) and posture score A(OR=1.798 95% CI: 1.072-3.017) in shoulder; upper arm score(OR=1.715 95% CI: 1.083-2.715) and muscel use score(OR=2.057 95% CI:1.303-3.248) in neck & shoulder; muscle use score(OR=10.662 95% CI: 3.180-35.742) in arm; writst/wist score(OR=2.068 95% CI: 1.130-3.786) and muscle use score(OR=2.215 95% CI: 1.284-3.819) in hand & wrist.; muscle use score of trunk (OR=2.601 95% CI: 1.147-5.901) in back. Conclusions. Musculoskeletal symptoms of the extremities were strongly associated with individual RULA body score. These results show that RULA can be used as a useful assessment tool for the evaluation of musculoskeletal loading which is known to contribute to work-related musculoskeletal disorders. RULA also can be used as a screening tool or incorporated into a wider ergonomic assessment of epidemiological, physical, mental, environmental and organizational factors. As shown in this study, complement of the analysis system for the other risk factors and characterizing between the upper limb and back part will be needed for future work.