Component measurement system having wavelength filtering

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9879968-B2
Application number	US-201514708728-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 11, 2015
Priority date	Oct 23, 2014
Publication date	Jan 30, 2018
Grant date	Jan 30, 2018

Abstract

A system is disclosed for measuring a feature of a component. The system may have a probe with a tip, and a sensing element configured to generate signals associated with a proximity of the tip to the feature. The system may also have an actuator configured to move the probe relative to the component, and a controller in communication with the sensing element and the actuator. The controller may be configured to generate a deviation report based on the signals, and to filter information from the deviation report according to wavelength into a plurality of deviation categories corresponding to specification requirements of the component. The plurality of deviation categories may include at least a waviness category. The controller may also be configured to determine a change to a process used to fabricate the component based on the information from the deviation report filtered into the waviness category.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for measuring a component, comprising:
a probe;
at least one actuator operably connected to the probe and configured to move the probe relative to the component; and
a controller in communication with the probe and the at least one actuator to control the movement of the probe relative to the component based on command signals from the controller;
the probe configured to move across and engage target points along surfaces of the component and generate signals corresponding to actual locations of the target points of the component detected by engagement of the probe with the target points;
the controller being configured to:
receive coordinates of intended form target points;
receive one or more definitions of one or more component datums from an operator of the system;
receive actual locations of the one or more component datums detected via the probe;
determine coordinates of the actual locations of the target points of the component relative to one or more component datums based on the signals;
make a comparison of the coordinates of the intended form target points and the coordinates of the actual locations of the target points by subtracting the coordinates of the intended form target points from the coordinates of the actual locations of the target points;
generate a deviation report based on the comparison;
filter information from the deviation report according to wavelength into a plurality of wavelength deviation categories each including a range of deviation wavelengths defined by wavelength boundaries wherein the wavelength deviation categories include one or more of a form error category, a waviness category, and a roughness category, and wherein values of wavelength boundaries bounding the range of deviation wavelengths of at least one of the deviation categories are customizable by an operator of the system; and
filter information from the deviation report into an offset deviation category, the offset deviation category defined by a dimensional offset deviation of a feature surface from an intended position.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to filter the information from the deviation report into three different deviation categories.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein deviations in a form error category have greater wavelengths than deviations in waviness and roughness categories.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein deviations in the waviness category have greater wavelengths than deviations in the roughness category.

5. A system for measuring a component, comprising:
a probe;
at least one actuator operably connected to the probe and configured to move the probe relative to the component; and
a controller in communication with the probe and the at least one actuator to control the movement of the probe relative to the component based on command signals from the controller;
the probe configured to move across and engage target points along surfaces of the component and generate signals corresponding to actual locations of the target points of the component detected by engagement of the probe with the target points;
the controller being configured to:
receive coordinates of intended form target points;
receive one or more definitions of one or more component datums from an operator of the system;
receive information regarding one or more actual locations of the one or more component datum detected via the probe;
determine coordinates of the actual locations of the target points of the component relative to at least one component datum based on the signals;
determine a difference between the coordinates of the intended form target points and the coordinates of the actual locations of the target points;
generate a deviation report based on the difference;
filter information from the deviation report according to ranges of different deviation wavelengths into a form error category, a waviness category, and a roughness category wherein each of the form error category, the waviness category, and the roughness category include a range of deviation wavelengths defined by wavelength boundaries;
wherein:
deviations in a form error category have greater wavelengths than deviations in waviness and roughness categories;
deviations in the waviness category have greater wavelengths than deviations in the roughness category; and
values of wavelength boundaries bounding the range of deviation wavelengths of the form error category and the waviness category are customizable by an operator of the system; and

filter information from the deviation report into an offset deviation category, the offset deviation category defined by a dimensional offset deviation of a feature surface from an intended position.

6. A method of measuring a component, comprising:
moving a probe across a surface of the component to engage target points along the surface of the component;
receiving from an operator information regarding definition of at least one component datum;
detecting actual locations of the at least one component datum;
measuring actual locations of the target points relative to the at least one component datum;
receiving perfect form locations of the target points;
making a comparison of the actual locations and the perfect form locations, wherein making the comparison includes subtracting coordinates of the perfect form locations of the target points from the actual locations of the target points;
generating a deviation report based on the comparison; receiving from an operator a desired value for a threshold wavelength of at least one of a plurality of deviation categories;
filtering information from the deviation report according to wavelength into the plurality of deviation categories, wherein the plurality of deviation categories include a form error category and a waviness category; and
filtering information from the deviation report into an offset deviation category, the offset deviation category defined by a dimensional offset deviation of a feature surface from an intended position.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the different deviation categories further include a roughness category.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein deviations in the form error category have greater wavelengths than deviations in the waviness and roughness categories.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein deviations in the waviness category have greater wavelengths than deviations in the roughness category.

Assignees

• Caterpillar Inc

Inventors

• Grant Jr Marion Billingsley
• Marsh Richard Griffith

Classifications

• G01B5/202

  of gears · CPC title

• G01B5/008 Primary

  using coordinate measuring machines · CPC title