Modular design
system divided into smaller parts that can be independently built, modified, replaced, or exchanged with other parts or between different systems
Modular design, or modularity in design, is a design principle that subdivides a system into smaller parts called modules (such as modular process skids), which can be independently created, modified, replaced, or exchanged with other modules or between different systems.
Overview
A modular design can be characterized by functional partitioning into discrete scalable and reusable modules, rigorous use of well-defined modular interfaces, and making use of industry standards for interfaces. This partitioning makes standardization easier to achieve, and product variability possible. In this context modularity is at the component level, and has a single dimension, component slotability. A modular system with this limited modularity is generally known as a platform system that uses modular components. Examples are car platforms or the USB port in computer engineering platforms.
In design theory this is distinct from a modular system which has higher dimensional modularity and degrees of freedom. A modular system design has no distinct lifetime and exhibits flexibility in at least three dimensions. In this respect modular systems are very rare in markets. Mero architectural systems are the closest example to a modular system in terms of hard products in markets.
The public source identifies “Modular design” as system divided into smaller parts that can be independently built, modified, replaced, or exchanged with other parts or between different systems. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Modular, design and system.
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This entry incorporates text from “Modular design” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.