Abstract
The paper regards the method of automobile design and production by means of composition of the automobile platform from the unified functional modules. This can be achieved by means of unification of the composition modules for the same type and class of the vehicles produced by various automakers. The method of unification is based on the subset of these modules parameters. As the unification parameters are taken the parameters of the joining and coupling units of these modules. They must be globalized. The other modules’ parameters of different automakers could be not unified. As a result the automobiles will have the same family concept platform but they will be unified according to the subset of their modules parameters. The problems and methods of their solution described in this paper could bring certain changes in the process of design and production of vehicles from the point of its optimization according to different criteria. First it will reduce time and means necessary to design and produce new models of the automobiles. It will broaden the possibilities for the modernization of the automobiles by means of replacing the functional modules. It could change the structure of the automotive plants. The modules production could be organized on the specialized plants and the production of the automobiles using these modules could be organized on the other specialized plants. These plants could be located close to the areas where the automobiles will be used. It will reduce the cost of the vehicles transportation. The transition to the usage of the unified functional modules could change the structure of the technical service and repair of the automobiles. The application of the unified functional modules could be one of the possibilities for the development of standards on technical service and repair of the automobiles which would be observed while designing and producing the automobiles. The main criteria of these standards should be reducing working hours and productive means. The broad cooperation between countries in the spheres of design, production and private business requires the solution of the unification problem at the level of the world automotive community. For the solution of this problem we need to develop and coordinate the standards on the methods of the decomposition of the platforms into the functional modules, to choose the parameters of the modules unification, to develop and coordinate the design of the modules’ joining and coupling units. This is one of the possible ways of the realization of the concept for developing the unified functional modules of the automobile’s platforms. It looks like the most simple and practically realized method. It will save a lot of time. As a basic concept we can regard the existing automotive designs with slight changes in the automotive module shells parameters and units of coupling and joining modules.
KEYWORDS – automobile, module, parameter, platform, unification