Development of side mold control equipment for producing free-form concrete panels

Abstract

Free-form concrete panel production requires an increasing amount of manpower because the molds cannot be reused. There are many limitations when it comes to reproducing accurate forms due to the many manual processes. Therefore, the current study developed side mold control equipment that can automatically fabricate molds for free-form concrete panels. The equipment is capable of molding various shapes and sustainable operation. However, there may be errors as it automatically produces various shapes. Therefore, it is necessary to check the errors between manufactured shapes and designed shapes. The shape created using the side mold control equipment showed less than 0.1◦ error in side angle and ±3 mm error in side length. Therefore, the equipment manufactured a precise shape. Based on the findings of the study, the side mold control equipment will be used to produce accurate shape of free-form concrete panels automatically.