Page 11 - Modular design for machine tools

Preface

Not only in the old days, but also at present, wider availability of the
machine tool is at crucial issue to enhance and rationalize the produc-
tion ability of the nation, which is capable of creating wealth. With the
advance of human society, the machine tool must have differing dimen-
sional and performance specifications to a various extent, and thus the
modular design has been duly employed across the whole world. The con-
cept of modular design is, in principle, one of the most strategic ordnance
in designing the machine tool, and the greater flexibility of the machine
tool must be realized from the aspect of the structural design. Even in
the era of NC (numerical control or numerically controlled) technology,
this concept is thoroughly applicable, although the NC can provide the
machine with the flexibility to a large extent by only exchanging the NC
information. In fact, the structural configuration should be regenerated
when the required flexibility is far beyond from that capable of being pro-
vided by the NC information only. In general, modular design sounds
like standardization, i.e., less expandability for the structural configu-
ration; however, the modular design is, in fact, a synergy of flexible con-
figuration and standardization. This is derived from the modular design
of hierarchical type, which was proposed by Brankamp of Aachen and
Herrmann of Langen, Germany, in 1969.
Importantly, the modular design for machine tools has a long history
since the 1930s, and its representative terminology has changed. As a
result, there are now a handful of variants of modular design simulta-
neously arising out of the confusion in the related terminologies and
technologies to a certain extent. More specifically, it is recommended to
consider the four design principles, i.e., principles for separation, unifi-
cation, connection, and adaptation, when studying on, conducting the
research into, and developing the leading-edge technology of the mod-
ular design. These principles were first proposed by Doi of Toyoda Iron
Works in 1963 and are applicable even in the year 2000 and beyond.
Within an engineering context, these principles can be converged into

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