A practical sampling method for profile measurement of complex blades

Blade is one of the most important parts in turbine machinery. The complex geometry of blades not only makes them difficult to fabricate, but also leads them difficult to inspect. Typically, the surface of blades is measured by using coordinate measuring machine (CMM). Since the measurement time and cost increase proportionally as the increase of measurement points, it is essential to sample measurement points which can represent entire blade with sufficient confidence and accuracy. In order to achieve a certain allowable deviation with a suitable set of points, a practical sampling method for surface measurement of blades was studied. Firstly, the leading edge curve and trailing edge curve were supposed to represent the twisted and bend information of blades. A sampling method based on maximum chordal deviation for leading edge curve and trailing edge curve was researched. Further, a fusion approach for sampling points on both edge curves, which determine the cross-sections, was proposed. Secondly, the inspection points sampling method for sectional curves were investigated. Finally, two simulation and one experimental examples were used to demonstrate the sampling methodology. The results indicated that the approach of this study can ensure the measurement precision at high curvature potion by measuring a small number of points.     

A swing-arm on-machine inspection method for profile measurement of large optical surface in lapping process

Generally, the optical components are fabricated by grinding, lapping, and polishing.And, those processes take long time to obtain such a high surface quality. Therefore, in the case of large optical component, the on-machine inspection (OMI) is essential. Because, the work piece is fragile and difficult to set up for fabricating and measuring. This paper is concerned about a swing-arm method for measuring surface profile oflarge optical concave mirror. The measuring accuracy and uncertainty for suggested method are studied. The experimental results show that this method is useful specially in lapping process with the accuracy of 3–5 μm. Those inspection data are provided for correcting the residual figuring error in lapping or polishing processes.     

Quality follow-up of CMM via the measurement of microdefects

The use of CMM in industrial environments requires a surveillance of their state of quality. The implementation of the procedure which allows to ensure the quality of the measurement is often left to the user’s initiative, which is powerless in the face of the complexity of the problem. We are interested in a new type of deviation that we call microdefects. We propose indicators which characterize the microdefects. These indicators are intended to point out metrological failure of CMM axes. We propose indicators that will assess the procedure adapted to a use of CMM in an industrial environment within an integrated CMM global survey system. After an introduction of the microdefects we are interested in, we describe the quality indicators we have defined and the procedure chosen to evaluate them. We conclude with the perspective for these indicators.     

A Hole-Plate Artifact Design for the Volumetric Error Calibration of CMM

To measure the volumetric error of coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), a hole-plate artifact method was studied. Example designs of the hole-plate are shown using titanium and ceramic materials. The deflection by its own weight of the designed hole-plate is analysed using the finite element method. The hole distances moved by the deflection are shown in different hole-plate set-up cases, for vertical and horizontal positions. The influence of inside hole roundness as a measuring standard is also studied. Eccentric errors for different hole roundness are simulated. The hole-plate set-up errors are also discussed. A method for obtaining the parametric errors of a CMM is shown using the hole-plate as a measuring artifact for CMM positioning error. In addition, a method for measuring 2D and 3D length errors using the hole-plate data is introduced.