Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
Many equipment breakdowns and stoppages occur because of improper clearance between holes and shafts.
The shaft is too tight in the hole; the center of the hole is not at the center of the shaft making it off-center; one part is loose on another and slips out of place or does not seal as it should. [Read more…]
In the Monte Carlo method, one uses the idea that not all parts have the same dimensions, yet a normal distribution describing the variation of the part dimensions is not assumed.
Although the normal distribution does commonly apply, if the process includes sorting or regular adjustments or if the distribution is either clipped or skewed then the normal distribution may not be the best way to summarize the data.
As with any tolerance setting, getting it right is key for the proper functioning of a product. Monte Carlo method allows you to consider and use the appropriate models for the variations that will exist across your components. [Read more…]
The root sum squared (RSS) method is a statistical tolerance analysis method. In many cases, the actual individual part dimensions fall near the center of the tolerance range with very few parts with actual dimensions near the tolerance limits.
This, of course, assumes the part dimensions are tightly grouped and within the tolerance range.
Setting tolerances well, using the best available data about the part(s) variation, allows creating designs that function well given the expected part variation. This is better for reliable performance. Also, the same method can be applied when the loads and stresses are normally distributed.
Check that assumption with you data first, of course. [Read more…]
Worst-case tolerance analysis is the starting point when creating a tolerance specification.
It is a conservative approach as it only considers the maximum or minimum values of part variation—whichever leads to the worst situation. Setting tolerances such that the system will function given the expected variation of manufactured components improves that ability of the system to perform reliably.
In the worst-case method, you simply add the dimensions using the extreme values for those dimensions. Thus, if a part is specified at 25 ± 0.1 mm, then use either 25.1 or 24.9 mm, whichever leads to the most unfavorable situation.
The actual range of variation should be the measured values from a stable process. It may be based on vendor claims for process variation, industry standards, or engineering judgment. [Read more…]
The short answer is, everything varies.
The longer answer involves the agreement between what is possible and what is desired.
If we could design a product and it could be replicated exactly, including every element of the product, we would not need tolerances. Any part would work with any assembly. We would simply specify the dimensions required.
Instead, variation happens.
Widths, lengths, weights, roughness, hardness, and any measure you deem worth specifying will vary from one part to the next. Manufacturing processes impart some amount of variation between each item produced. In many cases, the variation is acceptable for the intended function. In some cases, the vacation is unacceptably large and leads to failures. When the design does not account for the variation holes will not align, components will not fit, or performance will be poor.