© University of Strathclyde Martin Fitchie University of Strathclyde Research Presentation Day 2004 Integrating Tolerance Analysis and Virtual Prototype Systems

© University of Strathclyde Programme Background Research Approach System Architecture Example and Demonstration Findings Future Work Contribution

© University of Strathclyde Thesis Background Industrial contacts: Jaguar and Rover/BMW

© University of Strathclyde Scenario Assessing Cosmetic Quality in Automotive Design Process –Assign Tolerances –“Aesthetics” difficult to define and quantify –Difficult to interpret what Tolerance Data means –VR tools required Cost, stand-alone nature, lack of useful content in CAD data

© University of Strathclyde Example GoodBad

© University of Strathclyde Research Approach Specification developed according to Industrial Partners and Contact Prototypes - Continuous evaluation Integration into VR system Tolerance Analysis – ways of extracting and using the necessary data Information Visualisation – how to present the data

© University of Strathclyde VITAL Tools System Architecture Behaviour Module Assembly Module Deformation Module Environment Module Tolerance Model Third Party Tools User Interaction Interface Visualization Results Feedback to the user PQP Collision Detection & MathEngine ® Dynamics ClearCoat ® Rendering OpenGL ® Optimizer VSA ® Tolerance Analysis

© University of Strathclyde

Industrial Example Jaguar X200 Instrument Panel

© University of Strathclyde Assembly Full assembly consists of more than 80 individual components Focus on the glove box assembly and its mounting within the Instrument Panel Simulate both the assembly process and kinematics behaviour of the glove box

© University of Strathclyde Step 1: Set Quality Target Part of the initial specification sent out to potential suppliers Stage 1: Visually explore the acceptable gap and flush conditions Stage 2: Quantify gap and flush aesthetic quality targets

© University of Strathclyde Step 1: Set Quality Target AcceptableRejected Stage 1 Stage 2

© University of Strathclyde Step 2: Meeting Quality Targets Can the detailed design meet the quality targets? How does the variation in mounting positions effect the gaps on the glove box? Combination of tolerances and frame deformation

© University of Strathclyde DEMONSTRATION

© University of Strathclyde Findings & Future Work Uncovered further ways to evolve VR Prototyping and CAD Enhanced CAD data Positive Reaction –Further features requested, deformation, expansion and contraction. Concerns over CAD availability Integration into existing systems Integration into design process

© University of Strathclyde Contribution Adds value to VR and Tolerance systems by extending capabilities of CAD software Combine VR (at a good enough level to assess cosmetics) and detailed tolerance data Introduced the concept of “real-time”, interactive tolerance analysis

© University of Strathclyde Benefits of TAVI Approach Improved aesthetic quality assessment within a styling driven design process Engineers can “assess” and “prove” without the need for tolerance experts and without being “bogged down” with statistics Reduced product cost Mistakes can be found and fixed earlier in the design process Reduced number of physical prototypes Time to market Reduce build complexity Improved product quality Optimized design results through minimized variation

© University of Strathclyde

Future Work Higher levels of Integration between system elements, main stream software Adjustment to design process: E-build meetings, early CAD data, use of high info CAD data Developing techniques of presentation of data to include gap-fixing and gap-flush combined analysis, contribution analysis, reverse eng. Incorporate Additional Variables