Nonlinear kinematic tolerance analysis of planar mechanical systems

This paper presents a nonlinear kinematic tolerance analysis algorithm for planar mechanical systems comprised of higher kinematic pairs. The part profiles consist of line and circle segments. Each part translates along a planar axis or rotates around an orthogonal axis. The part shapes and motion axes are parameterized by a vector of tolerance parameters with range limits. A system is analyzed in two steps. The first step constructs generalized configuration spaces, called contact zones, that bound the worst-case kinematic variation of the pairs over the tolerance parameter range. The zones specify the variation of the pairs at every contact configuration and reveal failure modes, such as jamming, due to changes in kinematic function. The second step bounds the worst-case system variation at selected configurations by composing the zones. Case studies show that the algorithm is effective, fast, and more accurate than a prior algorithm that constructs and composes linear approximations of contact zones. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.