Modular design, or modularity in design, is a design principle that subdivides a system into smaller parts called modules (such as modular process skids), which can be independently created, modified, replaced, or exchanged with other modules or between different systems.
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A modular design can be characterized by functional partitioning into discrete scalable and reusable modules, rigorous use of well-defined modular interfaces, and making use of industry standards for interfaces. In this context modularity is at the component level, and has a single dimension, component slottability. A modular system with this limited modularity is generally known as a platform system that uses modular components. Examples are car platforms or the USB port in computer engineering platforms.
In design theory this is distinct from a modular system which has higher dimensional modularity and degrees of freedom. A modular system design has no distinct lifetime and exhibits flexibility in at least three dimensions. In this respect modular systems are very rare in markets. Mero architectural systems are the closest example to a modular system in terms of hard products in markets. Weapons platforms, especially in aerospace, tend to be modular systems, wherein the airframe is designed to be upgraded multiple times during its lifetime, without the purchase of a completely new system. Modularity is best defined by the dimensions effected or the degrees of freedom in form, cost, or operation.
Modularity offers benefits such as reduction in cost (customization can be limited to a portion of the system, rather than needing an overhaul of the entire system), interoperability, shorter learning time, flexibility in design, non-generationally constrained augmentation or updating (adding new solution by merely plugging in a new module), and exclusion. Modularity in platform systems, offer benefits in returning margins to scale, reduced product development cost, reduced O&M costs, and time to market. Platform systems have enabled the wide use of system design in markets and the ability for product companies to separate the rate of the product cycle from the R&D paths. The biggest drawback with modular systems is the designer or engineer. Most designers are poorly trained in systems analysis and most engineers are poorly trained in design. The design complexity of a modular system is significantly higher than a platform system and requires experts in design and product strategy during the conception phase of system development. That phase must anticipate the directions and levels of flexibility necessary in the system to deliver the modular benefits. Modular systems could be viewed as more complete or holistic design whereas platforms systems are more reductionist, limiting modularity to components. Complete or holistic modular design requires a much higher level of design skill and sophistication than the more common platform system.
Cars, computers, process systems, solar panels, wind turbines, elevators, furniture, looms, railroad signaling systems, telephone exchanges, pipe organs, synthesizers, electric power distribution systems and modular buildings are examples of platform systems using various levels of component modularity. For example, one cannot assemble a solar cube from extant solar components or easily replace the engine on a truck or rearrange a modular housing unit into a different configuration after a few years, as would be the case in a modular system. These key characteristics make modular furniture incredibly versatile and adaptable. [1] The only extant examples of modular systems in today's market are some software systems that have shifted away from versioning into a completely networked paradigm.
Modular design inherently combines the mass production advantages of standardization with those of customization. The degree of modularity, dimensionally, determines the degree of customization possible. For example, solar panel systems have 2-dimensional modularity which allows adjustment of an array in the x and y dimensions. Further dimensions of modularity would be introduced by making the panel itself and its auxiliary systems modular. Dimensions in modular systems are defined as the effected parameter such as shape or cost or lifecycle. Mero systems have 4-dimensional modularity, x, y, z, and structural load capacity. As can be seen in any modern convention space, the space frame's extra two dimensions of modularity allows far greater flexibility in form and function than solar's 2-d modularity. If modularity is properly defined and conceived in the design strategy, modular systems can create significant competitive advantage in markets. A true modular system does not need to rely on product cycles to adapt its functionality to the current market state. Properly designed modular systems also introduce the economic advantage of not carrying dead capacity, increasing the capacity utilization rate and its effect on cost and pricing flexibility.
Aspects of modular design can be seen in cars or other vehicles to the extent of there being certain parts to the car that can be added or removed without altering the rest of the car.
A simple example of modular design in cars is the fact that, while many cars come as a basic model, paying extra will allow for "snap in" upgrades such as a more powerful engine, vehicle audio, ventilated seats, or seasonal tires; these do not require any change to other units of the car such as the chassis, steering, electric motor or battery systems.
Modular design can be seen in certain buildings. Modular buildings (and also modular homes) generally consist of universal parts (or modules) that are manufactured in a factory and then shipped to a build site where they are assembled into a variety of arrangements. [2]
Modular buildings can be added to or reduced in size by adding or removing certain components. This can be done without altering larger portions of the building. Modular buildings can also undergo changes in functionality using the same process of adding or removing components.
For example, an office building can be built using modular parts such as walls, frames, doors, ceilings, and windows. The interior can then be partitioned (or divided) with more walls and furnished with desks, computers, and whatever else is needed for a functioning workspace. If the office needs to be expanded or redivided to accommodate employees, modular components such as wall panels can be added or relocated to make the necessary changes without altering the whole building. Later, this same office can be broken down and rearranged to form a retail space, conference hall or another type of building, using the same modular components that originally formed the office building. The new building can then be refurnished with whatever items are needed to carry out its desired functions.
Other types of modular buildings that are offered from a company like Allied Modular include a guardhouse, machine enclosure, press box, conference room, two-story building, clean room and many more applications. [3]
Many misconceptions are held regarding modular buildings. [4] In reality modular construction is a viable method of construction for quick turnaround and fast growing companies. Industries that would benefit from this include healthcare, commercial, retail, military, and multi-family/student housing.
The concept of Modular design has become popular with trade show exhibits and retail promotion displays too. These kind of promotional displays involve creative custom designs but need a temporary structure that can be reusable. Thus many companies are adapting to the Modular way of exhibit design. In this they can use pre engineered modular systems that act as building blocks to creative a custom design. These can then be reconfigured to another layout and reused for a future show. This enables the user to reduce cost of manufacturing and labor (for set up and transport) and is a more sustainable way of creating experiential set ups.
In 1963 Motorola introduced the first rectangular color picture tube, and in 1967 introduced the modular Quasar brand. In 1964 it opened its first research and development branch outside of the United States, in Israel under the management of Moses Basin. In 1974 Motorola sold its television business to the Japan-based Matsushita, the parent company of Panasonic.
Modular design in computer hardware is the same as in other things (e.g. cars, refrigerators, and furniture). The idea is to build computers with easily replaceable parts that use standardized interfaces. This technique allows a user to upgrade certain aspects of the computer easily without having to buy another computer altogether.
A computer is one of the best examples of modular design. Typical computer modules include a computer chassis, power supply units, processors, mainboards, graphics cards, hard drives, and optical drives. All of these parts should be easily interchangeable as long as the user uses parts that support the same standard interface.
For smartphones (see also Modular smartphone), this idea was explored in Project Ara, which provided a platform for manufactures to create modules for a smartphone which could then be customised by the end user. The Fairphone uses a similar principle, where the user can purchase individual parts to repair or upgrade the phone.
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Product lifecycle management is a strategy for efficiently managing information about a product (and product families, platforms, modules, and parts) during its product lifecycle. [5] Researchers have described how integrating a digital twin—a digital representation of a physical product—with modular design can improve product lifecycle management. [6] [7]
Some authors observe that modular design has generated in the vehicle industry a constant increase of weight over time. Trancossi advanced the hypothesis that modular design can be coupled by some optimization criteria derived from the constructal law. [8] In fact, the constructal law is modular for his nature and can apply with interesting results in engineering simple systems. [9] It applies with a typical bottom-up optimization schema:
A better formulation has been produced during the MAAT EU FP7 Project. [10] A new design method that couples the above bottom-up optimization with a preliminary system level top-down design has been formulated. [11] The two step design process has been motivated by considering that constructal and modular design does not refer to any objective to be reached in the design process. A theoretical formulation has been provided in a recent paper, [8] and applied with success to the design of a small aircraft, [12] the conceptual design of innovative commuter aircraft, [13] [14] the design of a new entropic wall, [15] and an innovative off-road vehicle designed for energy efficiency. [16]
Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve communications through documentation, and to create a database for manufacturing. Designs made through CAD software help protect products and inventions when used in patent applications. CAD output is often in the form of electronic files for print, machining, or other manufacturing operations. The terms computer-aided drafting (CAD) and computer-aided design and drafting (CADD) are also used.
A system on a chip or system-on-chip is an integrated circuit that integrates most or all components of a computer or other electronic system. These components almost always include on-chip central processing unit (CPU), memory interfaces, input/output devices and interfaces, and secondary storage interfaces, often alongside other components such as radio modems and a graphics processing unit (GPU) – all on a single substrate or microchip. SoCs may contain digital and also analog, mixed-signal and often radio frequency signal processing functions.
Software design is the process by which an agent creates a specification of a software artifact intended to accomplish goals, using a set of primitive components and subject to constraints. The term is sometimes used broadly to refer to "all the activity involved in conceptualizing, framing, implementing, commissioning, and ultimately modifying" the software, or more specifically "the activity following requirements specification and before programming, as ... [in] a stylized software engineering process."
Broadly speaking, modularity is the degree to which a system's components may be separated and recombined, often with the benefit of flexibility and variety in use. The concept of modularity is used primarily to reduce complexity by breaking a system into varying degrees of interdependence and independence across and "hide the complexity of each part behind an abstraction and interface". However, the concept of modularity can be extended to multiple disciplines, each with their own nuances. Despite these nuances, consistent themes concerning modular systems can be identified.
In industry, product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its inception through the engineering, design and manufacture, as well as the service and disposal of manufactured products. PLM integrates people, data, processes, and business systems and provides a product information backbone for companies and their extended enterprises.
A modular building is a prefabricated building that consists of repeated sections called modules. Modularity involves constructing sections away from the building site, then delivering them to the intended site. Installation of the prefabricated sections is completed on site. Prefabricated sections are sometimes placed using a crane. The modules can be placed side-by-side, end-to-end, or stacked, allowing for a variety of configurations and styles. After placement, the modules are joined together using inter-module connections, also known as inter-connections. The inter-connections tie the individual modules together to form the overall building structure.
The High Level Architecture (HLA) is a standard for distributed simulation, used when building a simulation for a larger purpose by combining (federating) several simulations. The standard was developed in the 1990s under the leadership of the US Department of Defense and was later transitioned to become an open international IEEE standard. It is a recommended standard within NATO through STANAG 4603. Today the HLA is used in a number of domains including defense and security and civilian applications.
A car platform is a shared set of common design, engineering, and production efforts, as well as major components, over a number of outwardly distinct models and even types of cars, often from different, but somewhat related, marques. It is practiced in the automotive industry to reduce the costs associated with the development of products by basing those products on a smaller number of platforms. This further allows companies to create distinct models from a design perspective on similar underpinnings. A car platform is not to be confused with a platform chassis, although such a chassis can be part of an automobile's design platform, as noted below.
Modular programming is a software design technique that emphasizes separating the functionality of a program into independent, interchangeable modules, such that each contains everything necessary to execute only one aspect of the desired functionality.
ISO 10303 is an ISO standard for the computer-interpretable representation and exchange of product manufacturing information. It is an ASCII-based format. Its official title is: Automation systems and integration — Product data representation and exchange. It is known informally as "STEP", which stands for "Standard for the Exchange of Product model data". ISO 10303 can represent 3D objects in Computer-aided design (CAD) and related information.
Modular self-reconfiguring robotic systems or self-reconfigurable modular robots are autonomous kinematic machines with variable morphology. Beyond conventional actuation, sensing and control typically found in fixed-morphology robots, self-reconfiguring robots are also able to deliberately change their own shape by rearranging the connectivity of their parts, in order to adapt to new circumstances, perform new tasks, or recover from damage.
System integration is defined in engineering as the process of bringing together the component sub-systems into one system and ensuring that the subsystems function together as a system, and in information technology as the process of linking together different computing systems and software applications physically or functionally, to act as a coordinated whole.
Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) are photovoltaic materials that are used to replace conventional building materials in parts of the building envelope such as the roof, skylights, or façades. They are increasingly being incorporated into the construction of new buildings as a principal or ancillary source of electrical power, although existing buildings may be retrofitted with similar technology. The advantage of integrated photovoltaics over more common non-integrated systems is that the initial cost can be offset by reducing the amount spent on building materials and labor that would normally be used to construct the part of the building that the BIPV modules replace. In addition, BIPV allows for more widespread solar adoption when the building's aesthetics matter and traditional rack-mounted solar panels would disrupt the intended look of the building.
In computer science, information hiding is the principle of segregation of the design decisions in a computer program that are most likely to change, thus protecting other parts of the program from extensive modification if the design decision is changed. The protection involves providing a stable interface which protects the remainder of the program from the implementation. Written in another way, information hiding is the ability to prevent certain aspects of a class or software component from being accessible to its clients, using either programming language features or an explicit exporting policy.
Modular construction is a construction technique which involves the prefabrication of 2D panels or 3D volumetric structures in off-site factories and transportation to construction sites for assembly. This process has the potential to be superior to traditional building in terms of both time and costs, with claimed time savings of between 20 and 50 percent faster than traditional building techniques.
Phonebloks is an open-source modular smartphone concept created and designed by the Dutch designer Dave Hakkens in 2013, primarily to reduce electronic waste. While Phonebloks is not the first attempt at modular design in a phone, it is notable due to the extent of its modularity and the attention and support it has gained. By attaching individual third-party components to a main board, a user would create a personalized smartphone. These bloks can be replaced at will to replace a broken blok, to upgrade an existing blok, or to expand the functionality of the phone into a specific direction. Bloks would be available in Blokstore, "an app store for hardware", where users could buy new and used bloks as well as sell back their old ones.
Project Ara was a modular smartphone project under development by Google. The project was originally headed by the Advanced Technology and Projects team within Motorola Mobility while it was a Google subsidiary. Google retained the ATAP group when selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo, and it was placed under the stewardship of the Android development staff; Ara was later split off as an independent operation. Google stated that Project Ara was being designed to be utilized by "6 billion people": 1 billion current smartphone users, and 5 billion feature phone users.
A modular smartphone is a smartphone designed for users to upgrade or replace components and modules without the need for resoldering or repair services. The most important component is the main board, to which others such as cameras and batteries are attached. Components can be obtained from open-source hardware stores.
A digital twin is a digital model of an intended or actual real-world physical product, system, or process that serves as the effectively indistinguishable digital counterpart of it for practical purposes, such as simulation, integration, testing, monitoring, and maintenance. The digital twin has been intended from its initial introduction to be the underlying premise for Product Lifecycle Management and exists throughout the entire lifecycle of the physical entity it represents. Since information is granular, the digital twin representation is determined by the value-based use cases it is created to implement. The digital twin can and does often exist before there is a physical entity. The use of a digital twin in the creation phase allows the intended entity's entire lifecycle to be modeled and simulated. A digital twin of an existing entity may be used in real-time and regularly synchronized with the corresponding physical system.
The Hayes-Wheelwright Matrix, also known as the product-process matrix, is a tool to analyze the fit between a chosen product positioning and manufacturing process.