Applications- High-precision 3D contouring
NASA-turbine blade
Microanalysis-engine gasket
High-precision 3D contouring of gears for aerospace industry
General Stress Optics has developed the necessary technology to perform
high precision contouring. A study was carried out in which the profile
of a spur gear was measured using our technology; the results were compared
to results obtained via CMM. Below we see the 3-D reconstruction of one
gear tooth obtained by us. The results below show that the agreement in
between the two procedures is within 1-micron.
Complex geometries or high tolerance requirements
push mechanical measuring devices to their limits, with the aid of optical
techniques one can obtain fast and highly accurate results. One example
is the spiral bevel gear which has a very complex geometry and is difficult
to measure using CMM. For that reason most of the time the qualification
of a gear is determined via a 9x5 matrix test in which the points are taken
along the described matrix. These points are then matched to the master
that is also measured and the values are compared. If one wishes to obtain
a more detailed analysis it would require increasing the matrix size and
thus increase measurement time.
With our technology one can obtain a full field view of the surface and
therefore is not limited to a small matrix of points. In this case in order
to demonstrate the power of the technique we simplified our measurement
to the same matrix and below one can see how well they agree to the points
measured via CMM.
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This figure is in microns.