• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.133-142
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• 2012

With the recent changes in building environments such as low-carbon green growth, there have been increasing demands for the new building system that is eco-friendly and can maximize efficiency such as the unit modular system. For the unit modular system, more than 80% of the whole process is carried out in the factory while in the field, mostly unit module assembling and finish work are done. Thus, the quality at the pre-construction stage when design and manufacturing are done determines the quality of the building as a whole. In the country, the unit modular method was first applied in 2003 to school buildings and has gradually expanded afterwards, but due to the lack of examples and related information as well as the small scale of modular manufacturers, its characteristics have not been sufficiently reflected in design, manufacturing and field constructions. This study, as an attempt to improve the design quality of unit modular buildings, points to the problem in manufacturing and field construction, compares and analyzes its causes, and suggests major points to be considered in the early stage of designing the unit modular buildings.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.471-478
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• 2016

This paper describes a method to design a lightweight modular bridge for a railway infrastructure system. A lightweight design was achieved using the material selection method. Aluminum extrusions and honeycomb sandwich composites were selected as the best materials to reduce the weight of the upper structure of a conventional modular bridge made of carbon-steel material. The structural integrity of the lightweight modular bridge was evaluated under vertical and wind loads. The twisting and bending natural frequencies were also evaluated to investigate its dynamic characteristics. The results showed that the structural integrity and natural frequencies of the lightweight modular bridge, made of aluminum extrusion and sandwich composites, satisfied the design requirements. Moreover, it was found that the weight of the conventional modular bridge made of carbon steel could be reduced by a maximum of 47% using lightweight materials.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.110-117
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• 2022

A chiller cooler absorbs the thermal energy of water to generate cold water and supplies the generated cold water to a cold water pipe buried in the wall of a small mobile modular house to greatly increase the cooling area. An attempt was made to reduce the required cooling time significantly. A small chiller cooler suitable for the cooling load of a small mobile modular house with an area less than 3.3 m² was employed. When cooling is done during summer using a chiller cooler installed outdoors, heat absorption energy loss occurs in the cold water pipe owing to the high temperature. To address this, a study was conducted to reduce the endothermic energy loss significantly. As the mass flow rate of the cold water flowing inside the cold water pipe increased, the temperature decrease gradient of the cold water increased. From the start of the cooling operation, the air temperature of the small mobile modular house decreased linearly in proportion to the operation time. Furthermore, the temperature of the air inside the small mobile modular house decreased in proportion to the increase in the flow of water inside the cold water pipe.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.1177-1181
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• 1995

Fixtures are devided into special purpose fixtures, modular fixtures and general purpose fixtures. In this paper, the database of modual fixtures for flexible manufacturing systems is estabilished. Modular fixtures are classified into base plates, supporting elements, locating elements, clamping elements and accessories. Also the concept for the modular fixture design expert system is proposed.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.77-87
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• 2019

In Korea, the modular construction method was applied to the construction of facilities such as military barracks and school dormitories, beginning with the pilot project of Seoul New Elementary School in 2003. In 2017, public modular houses were supplied to Busan(Yongho-dong) and Seoul(Gayang-dong), and modular housing is expected to continue to be supplied in the future. However, there is no clear construction standard for the modular housing construction yet, and there are few cases where the infill modular system is applied. Therefore, this study established the work breakdown structure and proposed a standard process focusing on the infill modular system applied to the construction of Dujeong-dong modular house in Cheonan. Level 1 of the work breakdown structure by construction stage of Infill modular was defined as modular manufacturing, assembly, and finishing process. Level 2 was defined as preparation, modular production, modular infill, modular fixing, floor plastering, building finishing, and other site finishing. Level 3 is defined as 57 detailed unit work of infill modular construction. The standard process of infill modular is proposed for the assembly stage that is commonly applicable to infill modular housing construction. The results of this study can be used for the process plan, transportation plan, lifting plan of modular housing construction.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.336-343
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• 2022

Industrial robotic arms are widely adopted in numerous industries for manufacturing automation under factory settings, which eliminates the limitations of manual labor and provides significant productivity and quality benefits. The U.S. modular construction industry, despite having similar controlled factory environments, still heavily relies on manual labor. Thus, this study investigates the U.S., Canada, and Europe-based leading modular construction companies and research labs implementing industrial robotic arms for manufacturing automation. The investigation mainly considered the current research scope, industry state, and constraints, as well as identifying the types and specifications of the robotic arms in use. First, the study investigated well-recognized modular building associations, the Modular Building Institute (MBI), and renowned architecture design magazine, Dezeen to gather industry updates. The authors discovered one university lab and a few companies that adopted Switzerland-based robotic arms, ABB. Researching ABB robotics led to the discovery of ABB's competitor, Germany-based KUKA robotic arms. Consequently, research extended to the companies and labs adopting KUKA models. In total, this study has identified seven modular companies and four research labs. All companies employed robotic arms and gantry robot combinations in a production-line-like system for partial automation, and some adopted design standardization for optimization. The common goal among the labs was to achieve greater flexibility and full automation with robotic arms. This study will help companies better implement robotic arm automation by providing recommendations from investigating its current industry status.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.45-52
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• 2023

Modular construction is an economical and efficient construction that reduces time and costs by manufacturing units in factories and constructing them on site. Currently, the demand for modular construction is increasing not only abroad but also domestically. As the demand for modular construction increases, a lot of development and research on connections between modular units are being conducted. Connections between modular units should be quick and simple to assemble when assembling units on site, and should be in a form that allows each unit to be connected regardless of direction. In addition, it must be able to exert sufficient strength against external loads. In this study, a connection between modular units using connecting steel plates and bolts was proposed, and the nonlinear behavior of the connection to external lateral force was analyzed through finite element analysis, and resistance performance was evaluated.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.277-283
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• 2018

This study is conducted to improve the manufacturing process of the modular construction method, which is a pre-fabricated construction method recognized for its advantage on the shortening of construction time. This study first identified the factors that result in shortening of pre-fabrication processes in the current module-processing factory. In addition, those identified factors were further considered for installing the M.E.P. system that is being outsourced on the main module in the production line. A manufacturing process of the construction modules, which considers installation of a M.E.P. system most suitable for shortening the time on the outsourcing of modular construction, is introduced throughout the research. Furthermore, this study suggests the factors in need of improvement during design phase of modular construction and improvement measures to consider the quality of unit modules by focusing on the module parts that are most exposed to defects.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.491-495
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• 2002

In the paper, a Visual factory model for a optical-components manufacturing process is built. The optical-components manufacturing process is composed of 3 operation processes; optical sub assembly process, package assembly process, and fiber assembly process. Each process is managed not a batch mode, which is one of most popular manufacturing styles to produce a great deal of industrial output, but though a modular cell. In the processes, a modular cell has to be processed independently of the other cells. Optimization for the composition of assembly cell in the optical-components system is made by the Visual factory model.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.636-639
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• 2002

In the paper, a Visual factory model for a optical-components manufacturing process is built. The optical-components manufacturing process is composed of 3 operation processes; optical sub assembly process, package assembly process, and fiber assembly process. Each process is managed not a batch mode, which is one of most popular manufacturing styles to produce a great deal of industrial output, but though a modular cell. In the processes, a modular cell has to be processed independently of the other cells. Optimization for the composition of assembly cell in the optical-components system is made by the Visual factory model.