Product Platform Planning is an emerging philosophy that calls for the planned development of families of related products. It is markedly different from the traditional product development process and relatively new in engineering design. Product families and platforms can offer a multitude of benefits when applied successfully such as economies of scale from producing larger volumes of the same modules, lower design costs from not having to redesign similar subsystems, and many other advantages arising from the sharing of modules. While advances in this are promising, there still remain significant challenges in designing product families and platforms. This is particularly true for defining the platform components, platform architecture, and significantly different platform and product variants in a systematic manner. Lack of precise definition for platform design assets in terms of relevant customer requirements, distinct differentiations, engineering functions, components, component interfaces, and relations among all, causes a major obstacle for companies to take full advantage of the potential benefits of product platform strategy. The main purpose of this research is to address the above mentioned challenges during the design and development of modular platform-based product families. It focuses on providing answers to a fundamental question, namely, how can a decision support approach from product module definition to the determination of platform alternatives and product variants be integrated into product family design? The method presented in this work emphasizes the incorporation of critical design requirements and specifications for the design of distinctive product modules to create platform concepts and product variants using a data clustering approach. A case application developed in collaboration with a tire manufacturer is used to verify that this research approach is suitable for reducing the complexity of design results by determining design commonalities across multiple design characteristics. The method was found helpful for determining and integrating critical design information (i.e., component dimensions, material properties, modularization driving factors, and functional relations) systematically into the design of product families and platforms. It supported decision-makers in defining distinctive product modules within the families and in determining multiple platform concepts and derivative product variants. / Ph. D.

This work describes the design, development and research applications of a Modular Automotive Technology Testbed (MATT). MATT is built to evaluate technology components in a hybrid vehicle system environment. MATT can also be utilized to evaluate energy management and torque split control strategies and to produce physical measured component losses and emissions to monitor emissions behavior. In the automotive world, new technology components are first developed on a test bench and then they are integrated into a prototype vehicle for transient evaluation from the vehicle system perspective. This process is expensive and the prototype vehicles are typically inflexible in hardware and software configuration. MATT provides flexibility in component testing through its component module approach. The flexible combination of modules provides a vehicle environment to test and evaluate new technology components. MATT also has an open control system where any energy management and torque split strategy can be implemented. Therefore, the control's impact on energy consumption and emissions can be measured. MATT can also emulate different types and sizes of vehicles. MATT is a novel, unique, flexible and powerful automotive research tool that provides hardware-based data for specific research topics. Currently, several powertrain modules are available for use on MATT: a gasoline engine module, a hydrogen engine module, a virtual scalable energy storage and virtual scalable motor module, a manual transmission module and an automatic transmission module. The virtual battery and motor module uses some component Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) principles by utilizing a physical motor powered from the electric grid in conjunction with a real time simulation of a battery and a motor model. This module enables MATT to emulate a wide variety of vehicles, ranging from a conventional vehicle to a full performance electric vehicle with a battery pack that has virtually unlimited capacity. A select set of PHEV research studies are described in this dissertation. One of these studies had an outcome that influenced the PHEV standard test protocol development by SAE. Another study investigated the impact of the control strategy on emissions of PHEVs. Emissions mitigation routines were integrated in the control strategies, reducing the measured emissions to SULEV limits on a full charge test. A special component evaluation study featured in this dissertation is the transient performance characterization of a supercharged hydrogen internal combustion engine on MATT. Four constant air-fuel ratio combustions are evaluated in a conventional vehicle operation on standard drive cycles. Then, a variable air fuel ratio combustion strategy is developed and the test results show a significant fuel economy gain compared to other combustion strategies, while NOx emissions levels are kept low. / Ph. D.

This dissertation describes the design, analysis, planning, and control of a self-reconfigurable modular robotic system. The proposed robotic system mainly contains three major types of robotic modules: load carrier, manipulation module, and locomotion module. Each module is capable of navigation and interaction with the environment individually. In addition, the robotic system is proposed to reassemble autonomously into various configurations to perform complex tasks such as humanoid configuration to enable enhanced functionality to reconfigure into a configuration that would enable the system to cross over a ditch. A non-back drivable active docking mechanism with two Degrees of Freedom (DOFs) was designed to fit into the tracked units of the robot modules for achieveing the reconfiguration. The quantity and location of the docking mechanisms are customizable and selectable to satisfy various mission requirements and adapt to different environments. During the reconfiguration process, the target coupling mechanism of each module reconfigurable with each other autonomously. A Lyapunov function-based precision controller was developed to align the target docking mechanisms in a close range and high precision for assembling the robot modules autonomously into other configurations. Additionally, an trajectory optimization algorithm was developed to help the robot determine when to switch the locomotion modes and find the fastest path to the destination with the desired pose. / Doctor of Philosophy / Though the capabilities of individual robot platforms have advanced greatly from their original rigid construction to more modern reconfigurable platforms, it is still difficult to build a singular platform capable of adapting to all situations and environments that users may want or need it to function in. To help improve the versatility of robot systems, modular robots have become an active area of research. These modular robotic systems are made up of multiple robotic platforms capable of docking together, breaking apart, or otherwise reconfiguring to form a multitude of shapes to overcome and adapt to many diverse challenges and environments. This dissertation describes the design of a new modular robotic system with autonomous docking and reconfiguration. Existing technologies and motivations for the creation of a new modular robotic system are covered. Then the physical design, with a primary focus on the docking mechanism, is reviewed. A validation of the proposed robotic system in a virtual environment with real physical properties is demonstrated. Following this, the development of a Lyapunov function-based controller to autonomously align the docking mechanisms is presented. The overall docking process was also preliminarily verified using a prototype of a locomotion module and an active docking mechanism. In addition, the trajectory optimization and tracking methods are presented in the end.

The thesis is an attempt to define and design a house by utilizing modernized construction technologies. From a single cell, a man grows up into a complex creature with an independent life. A livable space for a person starts from the mother's womb, then moves on to a crib, a full-size bed, a room, and finally a house. We can say, therefore, "a living room" originates from an independent life and is created for a person. Man cannot and does not live alone. Human interactions help develop the spatial relationship among rooms in a house, and among houses in a community. Social relations, such as those found among family, friends and neighbors, define the mental and physical dimensions as they are manifested in the demarcations of rooms, halls and houses. Sadly, modernization seems to have destroyed the human basis for spatial relations, as we no longer can find these attributes in contemporary designs where elevators and stairs have replaced alleys and backyards where neighborhood children once played and housewives enjoyed socializing. Industrialized processes have allowed us to build more space more quickly, but, unfortunately, these processes have also simultaneously equalized qualities in housing design today. Because of the potential complexity of these questions, I am compelled to focus on a room or a house as the scope of the study. The aim of the thesis is therefore the study of the development of a socially and technically responsive house in the face of growth and change in an industrialized world. In Part One, I shall start with an analysis of historical precedents and the development of a working concept for the design. Part Two ponders how to use minimum materials and sizes to create maximum spaces and capacity. The final section includes the demonstration of the design process involved in the creation of a future-oriented house. / Master of Architecture

Undertaking a work of architecture utilizing modular construction is, in most cases, a design project dominated, or at least driven by, the most technical aspects of architecture. Technical aspects which haven't been completely figured out yet. Rather than making the decision to use a pre-determined structural system in the project before going through the design process, my thesis offers an example of how a more traditional and balanced approach can improve resulting buildings. In addition, rather than allowing the technology of the module to create the form of the building, show how a thorough study of program and form can influence the structure, even in an endeavor which usually requires such hard-nosed engineering. / Master of Architecture

Modulare Megaendoprothesensysteme dienen der Überbrückung sehr großer Knochendefekte und gehören mittlerweile in der Tumorbehandlung wie auch in der Revisionsendoprothetik zu etablierten Behandlungsmethoden in der Orthopädischen Chirurgie. Im ersten Teil dieser Ar-beit wird anhand der publizierten Literatur ein umfassender Überblick über wichtige Aspekte bei Megaendoprothesen gegeben (Geschichte, Indikationen, Charakteristika, Ergebnisse). Im zweiten Teil erfolgt im Rahmen der eigenen Erhebungen die Auswertung eines Patientengutes von 104 Patienten (114 Operationen), welche in den Jahren 1994–2011 in der Orthopädischen Universitätsklinik Leipzig mit dem modularen Megaendoprothesensystem MML (Modular-system München-Lübeck) an den unteren Extremitäten versorgt wurden. Die Ergebnisse wur-den anhand der Krankenakten ausgewertet und mithilfe eines Erhebungsbogens standardisiert erfasst. Bei den Indikationen dominierten Tumoren mit 39,5 %, gefolgt von Revisionsoperati-onen aufgrund von TEP-Lockerungen (33,3 %), periprothetischen Frakturen (21,9 %), pri-mären Frakturen (16,7 %), Pseudarthrosen (6,1 %) und Resektionen nach Infektionen (6,1 %). Die häufigste Lokalisation stellte der proximale Femurersatz dar (65,8 %). Insgesamt bewegte sich die Komplikationsrate mit 38,6 % im Bereich der Angaben der Literatur. Allerdings sind die Ergebnisse in der Literatur heterogen dokumentiert. Eine standardisierte Erfassung der Komplikationen würde zu einer deutlich besseren Vergleichbarkeit führen. In unseren Erhe-bungen war die Infektion die zweithäufigste Komplikation (12,3 %). Die Luxation nahm in unserem Patientengut mit 25,6 % den größten Stellenwert ein, war jedoch im Verlauf meist besser zu beherrschen als Infektionen. Des Weiteren kam es zu periprothetischen Frakturen (3,5 %), Lockerungen (3,5 %), einem Endoprothesenbruch (0,9 %) und einer deutlichen an-haltenden Bewegungsstörung (0,9 %). Bei der Versorgung mittels modularer Megaendopro-thesen handelt es sich um komplikationsträchtige Eingriffe. Gemessen an den oftmals schwie-rigen Ausgangssituationen bewegen sich jedoch die Komplikationsraten in einem akzeptablen Bereich. Insbesondere die Infektion der Megaendoprothese stellt eine schwerwiegende Kom-plikation dar und resultiert oft in komplizierten Verläufen, bis hin zum Verlust der Extremität. Somit muss der Infektprävention besonders große Beachtung geschenkt werden. Modulare Endoprothesen stellen eine wichtige und nützliche Therapieform dar, wobei die Indikation für einen solchen Eingriff angesichts der teils schwierigen Verläufe mit äußerster Sorgfalt gestellt werden sollte. Die Verwendung modularer Endoprothesensysteme sollte erfahrenen und spe-zialisierten Zentren vorbehalten sein.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Rank 2 Drinfeld modular forms have been studied for more than 30 years, and while it is known that a higher rank theory could be possible, higher rank Drinfeld modular forms have only recently been de ned. In 1988 Gekeler published [Ge2] in which he studies the coe cients of rank 2 Drinfeld modular forms. The goal of this thesis is to perform a similar study of the coe cients of higher rank Drinfeld modular forms. The main results are that the coe cients themselves are (weak) Drinfeld modular forms, a product formula for the discriminant function, the rationality of certain naturally de ned modular forms, and the computation of some Hecke eigenforms and their eigenvalues. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Drinfeld modulêre vorme van rang 2 word al vir meer as 30 jaar bestudeer en alhoewel dit lankal bekend is dat daar Drinfeld modulêre vorme van hoër rang moet bestaan, is die de nisie eers onlangs vasgepen. In 1988 het Gekeler die artikel [Ge2] gepubliseer waarin hy die koeffisiënte van Fourier reekse van rang 2 Drinfeld modulêre vorme bestudeer. Die doel van hierdie proefskrif is om dieselfde studie vir Drinfeld modulêre vorme van hoër rang uit te voer. Die hoofresultate is dat die koeffi siënte self (swak) Drinfeld modulêre vorme is, `n produk formule vir die diskriminant funksie, die feit dat sekere natuurlik gede finiëerde modulêre vorme rasionaal is, en die vasstelling van Hecke eievorme en hul eiewaardes.

O Plano Nacional de Logística e Transportes (PNLT) sinalizou a intenção de uma mudança substancial na matriz de transporte de cargas brasileira, com a diminuição do modal rodoviário e uma transição do modal aquaviário de 13 para 29% até 2025, o que só será possível com a ampliação da cabotagem. Desta forma, o presente trabalho dimensiona terminais \"rápidos\" de contêineres dedicados à cabotagem, que a partir de sua implantação possam ser ampliados gradativamente. Por meio de simulação de eventos discretos, o melhor layout modular, dimensionado por berço, foi definido de acordo com a demanda de contêineres movimentados e equipamentos utilizados, de forma a identificar gargalos e obter a melhor opção de modularização. Tal abordagem de terminais \"rápidos\" dedicados permitiria a desburocratização do sistema atual e a redução dos custos e tempos de armazenamento, tornando a cabotagem mais competitiva. / The National Logistics and Transport Plan (PNLT) has the intention of a substantial change in the Brazilian cargo transportation matrix, with the reduction of the road modal and a transition from 13 to 29% in the waterway modal by 2025, which will only be possible with the increase of short sea shipping. Thus, the present work will size a modular \"fast\" containers terminal dedicated to short sea shipping, that when implemented could be gradually extended. Using discrete events simulation, the best modular layout, dimensioned by berths, was defined according to containers demand and chosen equipments, in order to identify bottlenecks and the best modularization option. Such an approach of dedicated \"fast\" terminals would allow the reduction of bureaucratization of the current system and transport and storage costs and times, making short sea shipping more competitive.

O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar dos novos arranjos produtivos encontrados na indústria automobilística brasileira - o consórcio modular e o condomínio industrial. Essas novas configurações envolvem novas formas de relacionamento entre montadoras e fornecedores: no condomínio industrial, fornecedores de primeiro nível constroem instalações próximas às plantas da montadora, em alguns casos no mesmo terreno, de onde partem entregas de componentes ou subconjuntos em esquema just in time ou just in time seqüenciado. No consórcio modular, os fornecedores de primeiro nível e a montadora operam sob um mesmo edifício, e toda a montagem do veículo é realizada pelos fornecedores - ou \"parceiros\". A montadora não possui mão-de-obra direta e os investimentos são compartilhados. Discutimos, neste trabalho, os \"comos e porquês\" de tais arranjos: que lógicas levam ao surgimento dos consórcios e condomínios; que produtos e empresas fornecedoras são escolhidos como participantes; que vantagens e desvantagens podem ser obtidas para montadoras e fornecedores. Como pano de fundo, mostramos as políticas globais de escolha de fornecedores adotadas pelas montadoras nos anos 90 - o global e o follow sourcing. Como conclusão geral, temos que tais arranjos são frutos de uma lógica de redução de custos via melhoria da cadeia de suprimentos; que, em geral, como os condomínios e consórcios as montadoras podem obter muitas vantagens de curto prazo, enquanto as maiores vantagens para os fornecedores serão alcançadas em prazos mais longos; que a questão do poder das montadoras na cadeia produtiva é central, porque elas coordenam toda a formação dos arranjos, definindo quem e como participa; e que, devido às características intrínsecas a tais configurações, cada vez mais os fornecimentos diretos são restritos a empresas multinacionais, deslocando as empresas nacionais a posições mais afastadas do topo da cadeia produtiva. / This study aims to analyse two new productive arrangements found in the Brazilian automobile industry - the \"modular consortium\" and the \"industrial condominium\". Those new configurations involve new relationship forms between assemblers and suppliers: in the industrial condominium, first tier suppliers build their facilities close to the assembler\'s plant, in some cases in the same land, from where they deliver components or subsets in a just-in-time or just-in-sequence basis. In the modular consortium, first tier suppliers and the assembler operate under the same building, and the whole vehicle assembly is accomplished by the suppliers - or \"partners\". The assembler does not possess direct labour and investments are shared. We discuss, in this study, the \"hows and whys\" of such arrangements: which is the logics that leads to consortia and condominiums; which products and companies are chosen as participants; which advantages and disadvantages can be obtained for assemblers and suppliers. As a background, we show the global politics of choice of suppliers adopted by the assemblers in the 1990s - global and follow sourcing. As general conclusions, we have the following: such arrangements result from a logic of cost decrease through improvements in the supply chain; in general, with the condominiums and consortia, assemblers may obtain many short term advantages, while the main advantages for suppliers will be reached in the long term; the issue of the power of assemblers in the productive chain is central, as they coordinate the whole settlement of such arrangements, defining who will participate and how; and, due to intrinsic characteristics of such configurations, direct delivers are more and more restricted to multinational companies, moving Brazilian companies to more distant positions in the supply chain.

A coordenação modular é um sistema para ordenação relativa de dimensões, espaços e componentes construtivos. Sua aplicação tem manifestações remotas por princípios que controlam a composição e fixam escalas convenientes para as partes e o todo, todavia foi a produção seriada industrial que determinou o papel que a disciplina teria no século XX. No Brasil, seu desenvolvimento aconteceu entre as décadas de 1950 e 1970, quando foi determinada a formatação fundamental da disciplina. Identifica-se a partir da década de 1980 um intervalo nas discussões específicas que durou até a virada do século, quando foi recuperado o interesse pela área. É consenso entre os autores que ainda não houve no Brasil sucesso na implantação de modelos abrangentes da coordenação modular, mas faltam análises atualizadas. O objetivo da dissertação - examinar o desenvolvimento da disciplina no Brasil após 1986 - está fundamentado em indícios de que as discussões recentes não se aprofundam em temas atuais e de que há um enfraquecimento de uma visão integrada do problema. As principais conclusões indicam que o desenvolvimento da construção civil vem sendo acompanhado do afastamento da arquitetura de etapas da produção, o que afeta o exercício da coordenação modular e que o programa habitacional e as ações políticas de financiamento foram determinantes para a retomada das pesquisas. Entretanto, há ecos dos modelos estabelecidos pelo setor privado, com ênfase à racionalização e à aplicação de componentes industriais. Diante disso, destaca-se que a coordenação modular, como campo da coordenação dimensional, está ligada às necessidades humanas. / Modular coordination is a system for relative ordering of dimensions, spaces, and building components. Its application presents remote manifestations through principles that control the design and set suitable scales for the parts and the whole. Nevertheless, the industrial mass production defined the role that the subject would play during the 20th century. In Brazil, its development took place between the 1960s and the 1970s; period that several authors consider decisive in what regards the subject\'s fundamental formatting. From the 1980s on, the specific debates about the matter went through a gap that lasted until the turn of the century when the interest in the field resurfaced. It is consensual among authors that Brazil still has not been successful to implement comprehensive modular coordination standards, but there is a lack of up-to-date analysis as well. The objective of the dissertation - to examine the discipline\'s development in Brazil after 1986 - is based on indications that recent discussions are leaving aside current issues and that there is a weakening of an integrated view of the matter. The main conclusions indicate that a dissociation between architecture and construction has accompanied the building industry\'s development, which affects the application of modular coordination. Moreover, the housing program and the research funding were decisive for the resumption of the field; nonetheless, there are echoes from the models established by the private sector, with emphasis on the rationalization and application of industrial components. In this context, it should be noted that modular coordination, as a field of dimensional coordination, is linked to human needs.