Title: Automotive body inspection uncertainty associated with computational processes

Authors: Ahmad Barari

Addresses: Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, Ontario, L1H 7K4, Canada

Abstract: Coordinate metrology is comprehensively used to inspect the auto-body sheet metal surfaces. The traditional sources of inspection uncertainties including length measurement uncertainty, probing uncertainty, sheet metal in-process deflections, and the environmental effects in inspection of auto-body surfaces are already addressed. However, unfortunately the sources of uncertainties inherent in the corresponding computational processes are not properly discussed yet. The significance of two major sources of computational uncertainties i.e. measurement planning and minimum deviation zone evaluation are studied in this paper. It is shown that the computational uncertainties can be at least as significant as the other uncertainty sources in coordinate metrology.

Keywords: automotive body inspection; measurement uncertainty; coordinate metrology; sampling; MDZ; minimum deviation zone evaluation; automobile industry; vehicle design; sheet metal inspection; surface inspection; measurement planning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.2011.044725

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 2011 Vol.57 No.2/3, pp.230 - 241

Received: 04 Nov 2009
Accepted: 04 May 2010
Published online: 15 Apr 2015 *

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