Assessment of Femoral Head Sphericity Using Coordinate Data through Modified Differential Evolution Approach

Abstract

Coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) are utilized to acquire coordinate data from manufactured surfaces for inspection reasons. These data are employed to gauge the geometric form errors associated with the surface. An optimization procedure of fitting a substitute surface to the measured points is applied to assess the form error. Since the traditional least-squares approach is susceptible to overestimation, it leads to unreasonable rejections. This paper implements a modified differential evolution (DE) algorithm to estimate the minimum zone femoral head sphericity. In this algorithm, opposition-based learning is considered for population initialization, and an adaptive scheme is enacted for scaling factor and crossover probability. The coefficients of the correlation factor and the uncertainty propagation are also measured so that the result’s uncertainty can be determined. Undoubtedly, the credibility and plausibility of inspection outcomes are strengthened by evaluating measurement uncertainty. Several data sets are used to corroborate the outcome of the DE algorithm. CMM validation shows that the modified DE algorithm can measure sphericity with high precision and consistency. This algorithm allows for an adequate initial solution and adaptability to address a wide range of industrial problems. It ensures a proper balance between exploitation and exploration capabilities. Thus, the suggested methodology, based on the computational results, is feasible for the online deployment of the sphericity evaluation. The adopted DE strategy is simple to use, has few controlling variables, and is computationally less expensive. It guarantees a robust solution and can be used to compute different form errors.