An effective dimensional inspection method based on zone fitting

Coordinate measuring machines are widely used to generate data points from an actual surface. The generated measurement data must be analyzed to yield critical geometric deviations of the measured part according to the requirements specified by the designer. However, ANSI standards do not specify the methods that should be used to evaluate the tolerances. The coordinate measuring machines employ different verification algorithms which may yield different results. Functional requirements or assembly conditions on a manufactured part are normally translated into geometric constraints to which the part must conform. Minimum zone evaluation technique is used when the measured data is regarded as an exact copy of the actual surface and the tolerance zone is represented as geometric constraints on the data. In the present study, a new zone-fitting algorithm is proposed. The algorithm evaluates the minimum zone that encompasses the set of measured points from the actual surface. The search for the rigid body transformation that places the set of points in the zone is modeled as a nonlinear optimization problem. The algorithm is employed to find the form tolerance of 2-D (line, circle) as well as 3-D geometries (cylinder). It is also used to propose an inspection methodology for turbine blades. By constraining the transformation parameters, the proposed methodology determines whether the points measured at the 2-D cross-sections fit in the corresponding tolerance zones simultaneously.