Assembly and Installation

operations in assembling and erecting structures, structural members, technological equipment and units, machines, apparatus, and instruments consisting of finished parts and components.

Civil engineering. In civil engineering, assembly and installation are basic production processes conducted during the erection or modification of buildings and structures. As a result of the processes, structural components and technological equipment are placed in the positions specified in the plans. Installation of technological equipment includes its connection to a power supply and cleaning and waste-removal systems as well as the provision of automatic control instruments and devices.

Assembly and installation consist of a series of sequential operations, including connection of components to the working members of the assembly and installation equipment, hoisting and moving the components to the work site, alignment and positioning of the components, and fastening them in locations specified in the plans. Structural members and technological equipment are installed with the aid of various types of equipment (mostly cranes). Towers and booms are used to install specialized structures or when work is done in cramped spaces. Special equipment (such as ties, supports, and locating pins) is used to restrain shifting of the components being installed and thus to improve the accuracy of positioning. The efficiency of the installation process can be significantly increased by the large-unit assembly of structures and equipment—that is, a transition from the installation of single components to modular installation. In this case the structural components of buildings and equipment are preassembled on the ground into modules, joined as required by the plans (by welding, packed seals, and so on), treated by an appropriate process (painting of structures, application of protective coatings, and installation of thermal insulation), and only then installed at the heights specified in the designs. An effective method for the erection of certain high-rise buildings calls for the assembly of floor slabs or whole floors at ground level; they are then raised to the required height by jacks operating in synchronization. In the installation of containers, such as tanks, gasholders, and scrubbers, a method is widely used in which such items are delivered to the construction site in rolls and then unrolled to design dimensions.

Radioelectronic equipment. For radioelectronic equipment, the main process is assembly of the equipment from individual electric or electronic components, electrical insulation parts, plates, supporting structures (chassis or printed circuit boards), and connecting electric conductors. Assembly on a chassis consists in the following sequential operations: (1) installation of insulating parts (bays) on which there are contact areas corresponding to the planned layout of current-conducting terminals of the electric or electronic components; (2) positioning of electric or electronic components of the assembly (capacitors, resistors, modules, and integrated microcircuits) and connection of their leads to the contact areas by soldering or welding (if the terminals of the electric or electronic components are not sufficiently strong, they are attached to the chassis by clamps, clips, or adhesive); (3) interconnection of the contact areas by wire leads (for superhigh frequencies the leads can be radio wave guides, microstrip and strip lines, or coaxial cables); (4) fastening of plug connectors to the chassis (to make connections to power supplies or to other instruments).

Assembly on a printed circuit board usually does not require a chassis, since the board itself is used as the supporting structure. The use of printed circuit boards has made possible automation of the design of wiring of individual components (using computers) and the provision of an automated manufacturing process for such wiring.

The appearance of microminiaturized radio and electronic components has substantially improved the quality and reliability of assembly and installation and has facilitated complete automation of the processes.