A Finite Element Approach to Estimate the Detailed Deviation Zone in Coordinate Metrology

The exact detailed knowledge of deviation zone in a manufactured surface needs measurement of infinite number of points when the coordinate metrology is utilized. The coordinate metrology process provides deviation of the limited number of discrete points on a measured surface, but typically the process is not capable to explore any information of the surface regions between these measured points. A Finite Element approach for Deviation Zone Evaluation (DZE) on the entire inspected surface is presented in this paper. The developed DZE solution estimates the deviation values at any unmeasured point of the inspected surface when a detailed understanding of the surface geometric deviations is required. Implementation of the developed methodology is described and case study for typical industrial parts is presented. This methodology can be used for closed-loop of inspection and manufacturing processes when a compensation scheme is available to compensate the manufacturing errors based on the DZE data.