Design for Assembly Factors for Large and Heavy Parts

Abstract

Traditional Design for Assembly methods are limited to part sizes between a few millimeters to a few tens of centimeters in overall size and to part weights under a few kilograms. Parts in the range of a meter in overall size and weighing a few tens of kilograms are examined in this paper. An experimental plan separates weight, mass, and inertia and correlates these properties with assembly difficulty and time. When windage, part flexibility, and operator fatigue are absent, a set of three parameters serve to model these effects on human assembly performance. Adaptation of this result is made to extend a Design for Assembly methodology.