Tolerance design in mechanical design process

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Helsinki University of Technology | Diplomityö
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Date

2004

Major/Subject

Koneensuunnitteluoppi

Mcode

Kon-41

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

102+9

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Abstract

The main objectives of the thesis were to study the present day tolerance design techniques, evaluate the two of the most popular computer-aided tolerance design programs VisVSA<sup>TM</sup> and CE/Tol 6sigma<sup>TM</sup> and study how tolerance design should be integrated within the overall product creation process. The aim was to study the tolerance design process especially in terms of the special characteristics of the electro-mechanical product development process and finally present a process flow table. The evaluated computer-aided tolerance design programs were studied in terms of their suitability and necessity for an electro-mechanical product creation process. The evaluation was performed by participating to an on-going terminal product development project. The idea was not to estimate the accuracy of the programs compared to the real, manufactured products; but to examine the problems related to the computer-aided tolerance design of three-dimensional electro-mechanical products. The evaluated three-dimensional tolerance design programs, CE/Tol 6sigma<sup>TM</sup> and VisVSA<sup>TM</sup>, were both noticed to be capable to cope with all these special characteristics of electro-mechanical products. However, it was perceived that to make the tolerance simulation model function correctly, the designer have to be able to make own assumptions and corrections, to make the model function correctly and according to the real product. It was noted that the most important features, to make the simulation model correspond to the real product, were: the possibility of making a component float freely between defined features, the ability to cope with the drafted features and the possibility to apply real production information as the basis for the statistics of the critical dimensions. Finally, the programs were perceived to be essential and suitable tools for an electro-mechanical product development work. The tolerance design process flow created is intensified for the work of an original design manufacturer (ODM) company and it emphasises the role of the initial stages of the design process. The model requires full devotion both to the use of architectural product models and to computer-aided tolerance techniques.

Description

Supervisor

Kuosmanen, Petri

Thesis advisor

Hämäläinen, Mikko

Keywords

electro-mechanical tolerance design, computer-aided tolerancing (CAT), tolerance design process

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