Development of an automated and dedicated measuring system

Author(s)

Fabricio Tadeu Paziani

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Carlos.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC/SBD)
• Defense date: 2005-09-28

Examining board members

Benedito Di Giacomo; Eduardo Morgado Belo; Antonio Piratelli Filho; José Francisco Ferreira Ribeiro; Roberto Hideaki Tsunaki

• Advisor: Benedito Di Giacomo

Abstract

Dedicated measuring systems are particularly recommended for the repetitive inspection of a mechanical feature. However, measuring instruments and systems present errors that deteriorate the result of the inspection. Such a circumstance demands the application of error separation techniques that perform decoupling of errors induced by the measuring system from part errors. This work aims to present an automated measuring system that is dedicated to the task of inspecting straightness and roundness errors in mechanical components. An industrial robot was employed to operate specific measuring devices for each measurement. However, industrial robots present relatively large positioning errors that prevent the use of their coordinate system as a reference to accurate measurements. In order to minimize the effect of the measuring system on the measured value, multi-probe error separation techniques were employed. On the straightness measurement, a new approach was developed to minimize the influence of the axial positioning error of the sensors, which consist of the major error source on the decoupling process. Computational simulations and experimental straightness and roundness tests were accomplished for various artefacts, which confirmed the effectiveness of the employed methodology. (AU)