AUTOMATION OF A STEEL WALL FRAMING ASSEMBLY

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Edgar Tamayo ◽  
Michael Bardwell ◽  
Ahmed Qureshi ◽  
Mohamed Al-Hussein
Keyword(s):  
Steel Structure ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Building Construction ◽  
Programmable Logic ◽  
Construction Site ◽  
Modular Construction ◽  
Automated Assembly ◽  
High Demand ◽  
Building Components ◽  
Electrical Installation

Modular construction has become increasingly popular in North America in recent years. In this emerging paradigm of building construction, building components are manufactured off site and then transported to the construction site for assembly. In Canada, automated modular steel structure fabrication is in high demand. Offsite manufacturing of steel wall frames for residential and commercial buildings provides timesaving and improvement of working conditions and morale that translates to improved productivity and safety performance. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of efficiently fabricating steel wall frames for offsite modular construction using automated assembly controlled by a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) and connected in a cost-effective and efficient electrical installation and centralized communication by Fieldbus technology. In particular, this paper describes the control strategy used to automate a steel wall framing assembly that incorporates a PLC and Fieldbus technology.

scholarly journals Data Analytics Application for Non-Conformance Reports in a Cabinet Manufacturing Facility

2019 ◽  
pp. 341-348
Author(s):  
Osama Mohsen ◽  
Yasser Mohamed ◽  
Mohamed Al-Hussein
Keyword(s):  
Data Analytics ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Systematic Approach ◽  
Building Construction ◽  
Instance Selection ◽  
Modular Construction ◽  
Manufacturing Facility ◽  
Building Components ◽  
Processing Techniques ◽  
The Impact

Industrialization of building construction through offsite construction and modularization is an effective approach for improving performance of construction projects. In a modular construction approach, building components are produced in a well-controlled factory environment. The components are then delivered to site, in sequence, for installation by site crews. This process reduces construction waste, improves product quality, and minimizes onsite safety incidents. As the market conditions are rapidly changing, the demand for more customized and unique products is increasing. Customers increasingly demand customized dwellings to reflect their cultural tastes and personal preferences. Cabinets in the house, kitchen or otherwise, are building components that constitute a large portion of the visible customization that customers are interested in. This paper focuses on the analysis of records in Non-Conformance Reports (NCRs) at a cabinet manufacturing facility in Alberta, Canada. An NCR record represents a defect in any product that needs a repair or rework; it captures several attributes of the defective part, such as the job number, wood species, stain, the date and time when the record is created, etc. The systematic approach presented in this study employs data analytics to the collection, cleaning, and analysis of the NCR dataset. The dataset is first analyzed as per existing operations. Various data pre-processing techniques, including attribute and instance selection and transformation, are then applied to clean the dataset. The results show that most of the “Rework” results from administrative or product handling errors, while the majority of “Repairs” result from product finishing errors. The impact of repairing the defective parts is discussed, and recommendations to reduce the number of NCRs and thereby enhance the performance of operations are presented.

scholarly journals Distributed Manufacturing: A New Digital Framework for Sustainable Modular Construction

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1515
Author(s):  
Chris Turner ◽  
John Oyekan ◽  
Lampros K. Stergioulas
Keyword(s):  
Data Streams ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Building Construction ◽  
Construction Site ◽  
Modular Construction ◽  
Environmental Footprint ◽  
Sensing Technology ◽  
Data Flows ◽  
Building Project

This paper explores the notion of the modular building construction site as an applied instance of redistributed manufacturing; in so doing, this research seeks to reduce the environmental footprint of building sites, treating them as small digitally connected subunits. In seeking to provide a whole lifecycle appreciation of a construction project, it is noted that the presence of a framework to provide guidance on the consideration of Internet of Things (IoT) data streams and connected construction objects is currently lacking. This paper proposes use of embedded IoT enabled sensing technology within all stages of a modular building lifecycle. An expanded four-phase model of intelligent assets use in construction is proposed along with an outline of the required data flows between the stages of a given building’s entire lifecycle that need to be facilitated for a BIM (Buildings Information Modelling) representation to begin to describe a building project as a sustainable asset within the circular economy. This paper also describes the use of concrete as a modular sensing structure; proposing that health monitoring of the material in situ along with the recoding of environmental factors over time could help to extend the longevity of such structures.

Exploring the Benefits of Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) and the Mechanism for Automated 5D BIM Quantification Process in Offsite Modular Construction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tochukwu Moses ◽  
David Heesom ◽  
David Oloke ◽  
Martin Crouch
Keyword(s):  
Effective Means ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Modular Construction ◽  
Automated Quantification ◽  
Building Information ◽  
Project Risks ◽  
Value Add ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Level 2

The UK Construction Industry through its Government Construction Strategy has recently been mandated to implement Level 2 Building Information Modelling (BIM) on public sector projects. This move, along with other initiatives is key to driving a requirement for 25% cost reduction (establishing the most cost-effective means) on. Other key deliverables within the strategy include reduction in overall project time, early contractor involvement, improved sustainability and enhanced product quality. Collaboration and integrated project delivery is central to the level 2 implementation strategy yet the key protocols or standards relative to cost within BIM processes is not well defined. As offsite construction becomes more prolific within the UK construction sector, this construction approach coupled with BIM, particularly 5D automated quantification process, and early contractor involvement provides significant opportunities for the sector to meet government targets. Early contractor involvement is supported by both the industry and the successive Governments as a credible means to avoid and manage project risks, encourage innovation and value add, making cost and project time predictable, and improving outcomes. The contractor is seen as an expert in construction and could be counter intuitive to exclude such valuable expertise from the pre-construction phase especially with the BIM intent of äóÖbuild it twiceäó», once virtually and once physically. In particular when offsite construction is used, the contractoräó»s construction expertise should be leveraged for the virtual build in BIM-designed projects to ensure a fully streamlined process. Building in a layer of automated costing through 5D BIM will bring about a more robust method of quantification and can help to deliver the 25% reduction in overall cost of a project. Using a literature review and a case study, this paper will look into the benefits of Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) and the impact of 5D BIM on the offsite construction process.

The Development of Construction Management System on Architect View in Our Country

2011 ◽  
Vol 368-373 ◽  
pp. 3069-3073
Author(s):  
Sheng Hui Chen ◽  
Hui Min Li ◽  
Xin Ma
Keyword(s):  
Construction Management ◽  
Management System ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Building Construction ◽  
Construction Site ◽  
Site Management ◽  
Credit System ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Centralized System

In order to improve construction site management, we make the architect’ position as the starting point for our research ,analyze the similarities and differences between the project manager and the architect and transform the traditional building construction management system from centralized system into flat -like system. Furthermore, we propose that the implementation of the system must be assisted with the construction of credit system and the establishment and implementation of personal practice insurance system.

Solar Concentrating Systems Using Small Mirror Arrays

2009 ◽  
Vol 132 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Göttsche ◽  
Bernhard Hoffschmidt ◽  
Stefan Schmitz ◽  
Markus Sauerborn ◽  
Reiner Buck ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Plants ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Steel Structure ◽  
Steel Structures ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Wind Loads ◽  
Drive Systems ◽  
Mirror Area ◽  
The Cost

The cost of solar tower power plants is dominated by the heliostat field making up roughly 50% of investment costs. Classical heliostat design is dominated by mirrors brought into position by steel structures and drives that guarantee high accuracies under wind loads and thermal stress situations. A large fraction of costs is caused by the stiffness requirements of the steel structure, typically resulting in ∼20 kg/m2 steel per mirror area. The typical cost figure of heliostats (figure mentioned by Solucar at Solar Paces Conference, Seville, 2006) is currently in the area of 150 €/m2 caused by the increasing price of the necessary raw materials. An interesting option to reduce costs lies in a heliostat design where all moving parts are protected from wind loads. In this way, drives and mechanical layout may be kept less robust, thereby reducing material input and costs. In order to keep the heliostat at an appropriate size, small mirrors (around 10×10 cm2) have to be used, which are placed in a box with a transparent cover. Innovative drive systems are developed in order to obtain a cost-effective design. A 0.5×0.5 m2 demonstration unit will be constructed. Tests of the unit are carried out with a high-precision artificial sun unit that imitates the sun’s path with an accuracy of less than 0.5 mrad and creates a beam of parallel light with a divergence of less than 4 mrad.

FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED DETECTION OF PHYSICAL DEFECT VIA COMPUTER VISION

2015 ◽  
Vol 76 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Por Jing Zhao ◽  
Shafriza Nisha Basah ◽  
Shazmin Aniza Abdul Shukor
Keyword(s):  
Computer Vision ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Image Data ◽  
Automated Detection ◽  
Building Construction ◽  
High Demand ◽  
Major City ◽  
Cost System ◽  
Kinect Camera ◽  
Wall Condition

High demand of building construction has been taking places in the major city of Malaysia. However, despite this magnificent development, the lack of proper maintenance has caused a large portion of these properties deteriorated over time. The implementation of the project - Automated Detection of Physical Defect via Computer Vision - is a low cost system that helps to inspect the wall condition using Kinect camera. The system is able to classify the types of physical defects -crack and hole - and state its level of severity.The system uses artificial neural network as the image classifier due to its reliability and consistency. The validity of the system is shown using experiments on synthetic and real image data. This automated physical defect detection could detect building defect early, quickly, and easily, which results in cost saving and extending building life span. 

scholarly journals A Roadmap towards Successful Nanocapsule Synthesis via Vesicle Templated RAFT-Based Emulsion Polymerization

Polymers ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Rusli ◽  
Alexander Jackson ◽  
Alexander van Herk
Keyword(s):  
Emulsion Polymerization ◽  
Special Form ◽  
Chain Transfer ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Solid Particles ◽  
High Yield ◽  
Full Understanding ◽  
High Demand ◽  
Molecular Control ◽  
Reversible Addition

Vesicle templated emulsion polymerization is a special form of emulsion polymerization where the polymer is grown from the outside of the vesicle, leading to nanocapsules. Cost effective nanocapsules synthesis is in high demand due to phasing out of older methods for capsule synthesis. Although the first indications of this route being successful were published some 10 years ago, until now a thorough understanding of the parameters controlling the morphologies resulting from the template emulsion polymerization was lacking. Most often a mixture of different morphologies was obtained, ranging from solid particles to pro-trusion structures to nanocapsules. A high yield of nanocapsules was not achieved until now. In this paper, the influence of initial vesicle dispersion, choice of the Reversible Addition-Fragmentation chain Transfer (RAFT) species and oligomer, monomer and crosslinker have been investigated. It turns out that good initial vesicle dispersion, molecular control of the RAFT process, a not too hydrophobic monomer and some crosslinking is needed to result in high yield of nanocapsules. In previous work, the level of RAFT control was often suboptimal and not properly verified and although nanocapsules were shown, other morphologies were also present. We now believe we have a full understanding of vesicle templated nanocapsules synthesis, relevant to many applications.

scholarly journals High Frequency Electromagnetic Shielding by Biochar-Based Composites

Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2383
Author(s):  
Daniele Torsello ◽  
Mattia Bartoli ◽  
Mauro Giorcelli ◽  
Massimo Rovere ◽  
Rossella Arrigo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Complex Permittivity ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Electromagnetic Shielding ◽  
Building Construction ◽  
Physical Parameters ◽  
Preliminary Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Tool ◽  
Structural Composites ◽  
Microwave Shielding

We report on the microwave shielding efficiency of non-structural composites, where inclusions of biochar—a cost effective and eco-friendly material—are dispersed in matrices of interest for building construction. We directly measured the complex permittivity of raw materials and composites, in the frequency range 100 MHz–8 GHz. A proper permittivity mixing formula allows obtaining other combinations, to enlarge the case studies. From complex permittivity, finally, we calculated the shielding efficiency, showing that tailoring the content of biochar allows obtaining a desired value of electromagnetic shielding, potentially useful for different applications. This approach represents a quick preliminary evaluation tool to design composites with desired shielding properties starting from physical parameters.

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