Implementation and verification of a dual-probe measurement system for geometric form evaluation of a ring-type cylinder.

This paper presents the implementation and verification of a dual-probe measurement system with a novel method and easily integrated chromatic confocal probes, for synchronous evaluation of not only the inner and outer cylindricity but also the thickness distribution of a ring-type cylinder. A pair of measuring probes mounted on a four-axis scanning stage, which is composed of XYZ -slides and a spindle, is utilized to target the two sides of the ring-type cylinder. In the developed system, to reduce the influence of the positioning errors and tilt misalignments of the confocal probes and the cylinder, alignment methods are developed. The outputs of the measuring probes are employed to accurately evaluate the geometric errors of the ring-type cylinder through performing spiral scanning while separating the Z -slide and spindle motion errors of the scanning stage based on a reversal error separation method. To verify the performance of the proposed system and method, the geometric errors of a thin-walled cylinder which has a nominal outer diameter of 50 mm, an inner diameter of 40 mm, and a length of 100 mm are evaluated in experiments. The experimental results are further compared with those by a coordinate measuring machine (CMM), and the high correspondence of the comparison results well confirm the feasibility of the implemented measurement system. Finally, measurement uncertainty analysis is conducted to demonstrate the reliability of the proposed method for the evaluation of the geometric errors of ring-type cylinders. The measurement accuracy is comparable to that of a CMM. • A dual-probe measurement system was developed for geometrical evaluation of ring-type cylinders. • The inner, outer roundness and thickness distribution of a ring-type cylinder was simultaneously measured. • The measurement uncertainty was analyzed to confirm the reliability of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]