This paper addresses the issue of over-constrained assembly in mechanical designs using hole-pin patterns. When two hole-pin pairs are used, they can cause interference between components, leading to assembly failures. To mitigate this, designers often enlarge holes relative to pins to have a large float. However, when functional requirements do not permit significant float, field design engineers tend to add more assembly features, hoping them to mutually limit the float allowed by others. This numerical study employed two commercial tolerance analysis programs to demonstrate that these design changes could not sufficiently reduce float to justify added costs. Instead, this paper proposed an exactly-constrained design by replacing one of the holes with an elongated hole. Numerical analysis showed that this approach significantly reduced float compared to current design practices. This paper logically explains why this must be the case. It is hoped that this study contributes to the advancement of mechanical assembly design practices by adopting the exact constraint concep.

With recent development of 3D printing technology, its applications to the bio-industry are increasing. Many research studies are being done for manufacturing personalized tablets through this technology in the pharmaceutical process. In this study, to control the dissolution rate of tablets, a lattice structure was inserted into the tablet and the dissolution rate was compared. The tablet proposed in this study can be manufactured by the FDM method, adopting a lattice structure with a large surface area-to-volume ratio. Tablets containing various lattice structures were fabricated using water-soluble PVA filaments and dissolution experiments were conducted in water at 37oC. As a result, it was confirmed that the specific surface area and the mass loss rate were proportional to both the 3D lattice structure and the monolith structure. Among different structures, the diamond structure had the most active dissolution.

A hairpin motor is a type of motor that is used for driving an eco-friendly car. Unlike a conventional coil-winding motor, hundreds of hairpins formed by an enameled copper wire with a rectangular cross section comprise a stator to improve the driving efficiency by maximizing a coil drip rate. With the increased use of the hairpin motor, there has been an increased interest in manufacturing techniques and automated systems of the hairpin motor. Enamel coating removal is one of the major processes of hairpin motor production; enamel coating at the end of the hairpin should be removed to connect the hundreds of hairpins by using the welding process. Grinding is one of the machining processes used for removing the enamel coating. This study proposed an adaptive control method for the grinding process to improve the efficiency and quality of the enamel coating removal process. Grinding depth is maintained during machining by controlling the vertical position of the spindle based on driving torque. A lab-scale grinding machine including a sensory system for adaptive control is developed and used to verify the performance of the proposed method.