Tolerance analysis of systems in motion taking into account interactions between deviations

Abstract

A product's functionality depends largely on the interaction of its components and their geometries. Hence, tolerance analyses are used to determine the effects of deviations on functional key characteristics of mechanisms. However, possible interactions between the different deviations and the resulting effects on themselves as well as on the functional key characteristics have not yet been considered.This article considers the extension of the existing ''integrated tolerance analysis of systems in motion'' approach. By means of the methodology, the interactions between appearing deviations can be identified and integrated into a tolerance analysis functional relation. Therefore, the appearing interactions are represented by meta-models that can be easily integrated into the functional relation. Consequently, the product developer is able to gain information about the effects of deviations on functional key characteristics, as well as the effects of the deviations among themselves. In order to show the methodology's practical use, the interactions between deviations of a nonideal crank mechanism inside a four-stroke combustion engine are considered. For this purpose, two different meta-modeling techniques are used: response surface methodology and artificial neural networks.

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