Measurement 38 (2005) 204218 www.elsevier.

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In-process dimensional inspection sensors

K. Vacharanukul, S. Mekid
*
The University of Manchester, School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, M60 1QD Manchester, UK Received 26 April 2004; received in revised form 17 May 2005; accepted 21 July 2005 Available online 9 September 2005

Abstract The available in-process and in-situ dimensional measurement sensors for quality control inspection of machined component are surveyed in this paper and classied into contact and non-contact types. The various measuring techniques are categorised according to sensors operating principles and explained through representative examples with the essential measurement characteristics. The operating systems encompass optical, pneumatic, ultrasonic and electrical techniques for non-contact measurement. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Length measurement; Laser interferometer; Optical methods; CCD camera; Capacitance; In-process measurement in machine-tools

1. Introduction The next generation of intelligent machine-tools require embedded sensors for positioning and inprocess inspection of workpieces to compensate for machining errors and hence to ensure a production of high quality products at low price and short time. The trend for higher performance will require fast automatic compensation for errors to obtain the true dimensional tolerances, which will

Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 161 2003804; fax: +44 161 2003803. E-mail address: s.mekid@umist.ac.uk (S. Mekid).

be easily facilitated by in-process accurate sensors. Quality control of the manufactured parts is traditionally performed using manual inspection methods and statistical sampling procedures. It has the disadvantages of releasing some defective parts and using an inspection area. To overcome these disadvantages, in-process measurement technique has been proposed over the last two decades to control the quality of workpiece while it is being machined. The trend principle in inspection of workpiece accuracy is the use of a measuring sensor and a control system governing measurement and adjustment of machining parameters. In mass production, the diameter is one of the signicant parameters to be inspected. Many

0263-2241/$ - see front matter 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.measurement.2005.07.009

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length (e.g., diameter) measurement techniques have been developed in the last three decades. Shiraishi [1] reviewed the developed in-process methods from 1961 to 1985 and Yandayan and Burdekin [2] presented a survey of the existing methods from 1986 to 1996. This paper continually extends the survey of all papers claiming inprocess and in-situ measurements until 2003. This paper introduces the denition of in-process, in-situ and post-process measurement. The recent existing techniques are then reviewed and classied into contact and non-contact measurement. Finally, reasons of selecting the optical method are explained.

2.3. Post-process measurement This is the standard inspection mode where the measurement occurs after the machining process is completed and the nished workpiece is removed from the machine. Specic instrument or machines (e.g., Coordinate Measuring Machine) could be used to inspect the workpiece. Compared to inprocess and in-situ measurement, the post-process measurement is a time-consuming procedure and needs a specic inspection area. For ultra-high precision, the components are preferred to be inspected in post-process at specic temperature, pressure and humidity. Moreover, the use of post-process measurement cannot prevent a number of defective workpiece caused by tool wear, tool deection and workpiece deection, always taking place during the machining process, while in-process measurement and in-situ measurement could be developed with control system to compensate for dimensional errors during the machining process.

2. Denitions of in-process, in-situ process and post-process measurement There are several techniques to be applied to measure the diameter of workpiece in turning process for example. Their concepts of dimensional measurements on turning machines [3] can be classied into three groups; in-process measurement, in-situ measurement and post-process measurement. 2.1. In-process measurement According to Merriam Websters dictionary: inprocess means being goods in manufacture as distinguished from raw materials or from nished products. It is the actual measurement performed while the workpiece is being machined without any interruptions to the machining process itself. It provides the useful information in real-time measurement. 2.2. In-situ measurement According to the Webster dictionary in situ, has Latin etymology and means in position, original position or place. Also called process-intermittent measurement or on-machine measurement. It is the actual measurement performed while the machined workpiece, which is held on the machine and the machining process being stopped before starting the measurement.

3. Reviews of existing techniques Various in-process techniques have been proposed and developed to measure the diameter of a workpiece in turning. Several techniques could be classied as contact measurements and others as non-contact measurements. These techniques can be categorised into six methods [1,2]; mechanical, optical, pneumatic, ultrasonic, electrical and temperature detection method. Most of these methods are non-contact measurements except the mechanical method, which uses a contact technique. The advantage of non-contact measurement is that the workpieces are not further deformed by contact forces caused by contact sensors depending on the type of material and when measuring with sub-micrometer accuracy. This review will present the dierent measurement techniques and will address the following essential criteria; accuracy over the range of measurement; repeatability; linearity and limitations of the measurement.

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3.1. Contact measurement The contact measurement has a sensing part in contact with a workpiece. Mechanical method is one of the contact techniques. The friction-roller type instrument [4,5] and the calliper-type method are some examples of the mechanical methods applied to measure the diameter of a workpiece in in-process measurement. Although the accuracy of the friction-roller type and the calliper-type method are not high enough, they have been widely used to measure large-scale diameter workpieces. Yun et al. [5] use a friction-roller technique to measure the outer diameter of rotator in operation. Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of the outer diameter measurement of rotator in operation. The main parts of the friction-roller instrument comprises friction-roller wheel with encoder, hall switch with magnet and a computer. The friction-roller wheel contacts with the rotator surface along which it rotates by friction force. When friction-roller wheel rotates, the encoder generates pulse signals. By counting the pulse signals in a revolution of the rotator, the diameter of the rotator is numerically evaluated. Before starting a measurement, the rotator has to be cleaned from oil as it causes measurement errors.

The accuracy of the diameter measurement seems to vary linearly from 0.1 mm to 1 mm for a range of diameter from 1 m to 5 m. This accuracy is limited mainly by the friction-roller and the characteristics of the ball switch. Recently, an electrical method has been developed for contact measurement. Liu [3] improved a repetitive measurement and compensation system to reduce workpiece diameter error using electrical techniques. A new on-machine workpiece measurement with a Q-setter and a ne touch sensor was developed. The Q-setter was used in the cutting tool set-up, as shown in Fig. 2(a), so that the tool oset is recorded. Fig. 2(b) shows an onmachine measurement with a ne touch probe. The cutting tool is used as the contact probe itself. The ne touch sensor consisted of an electric coil to generate an electromagnetic eld and a separate amplier circuit. The workpiece will be machined in several passes. After each machined pass, the workpiece diameter is inspected along its length using the on-machine measurement technology. When the cutting tool touches the workpiece, the complete loop current occurs and sends the output current to a separate amplier circuit to produce a switching signal, which triggers the tool to stop automat-

Rotator

Magnet Friction-roller with encoder Hall switch Sensor of circumference

Monolythic computer
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the outer diameter measurement of rotator in operation.

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Fig. 2. Q-setter and ne touch sensor: (a) Q-setter and (b) on-line measurement with ne touch sensor [3].

ically. A new tool oset is recorded and the diameter of the workpiece is calculated and compared to the tool oset during the tool set-up. The deviations between the desired diameters and the on-machine measurement workpiece diameters are calculated and used to modify the nominal depth of cut of the next compensation pass. Dierent points are measured in the same way to obtain the error distribution along the machined workpiece length. The maximum error was reduced by 90% after the second pass, which is about 3 lm over the workpiece length of 100 mm. However, this system is an onmachine workpiece measurement, not in-process measurement according to the denitions given earlier. Its accuracy depends on the geometric errors in three axes of the CNC machine. The type of the material inspected could aect the accuracy of the measuring system as it could alter the principle of measurement (i.e., magnetic eld). 3.2. Non-contact measurement Non-contact measurement has no sensing part in contact with a workpiece. Various techniques have been developed within the non-contact principle. These techniques have been classied into four methods in this paper depending on their operations as mentioned previously. This section will consider four methods; optical method, ultrasonic method, pneumatic method and electrical method because of the new techniques developed recently. The optical and ultrasonic methods have

been continually developing in their accuracy and resolution. 3.2.1. Optical methods For in-process measurement, optical methods are based on non-contact measurement using light, which is sent from the transmitter to the surface of the workpiece and collected by the photodiodes or CCD cameras. The information of the workpiece diameter obtained by the light is analysed and evaluated. In this report, the optical methods are divided into four groups [1,2]; light focusing, light-gauging method, light-spot detection and machine vision. According to light focusing techniques, Yandayan and Burdekin [6] developed a new in-process measurement technique based on the Laser Doppler eect. Fig. 3 shows the schematic overview of the laser Doppler in-process measurement system (LDIMS). This technique produces Doppler Shift frequency by detecting scattered light from a rotating workpiece surface to determine the circumferential velocity of the rotating workpiece. The Doppler Shift frequency, fd, related to the circumferential velocity is given by fd 2v sina=2 1 k where v is the circumferential velocity of the workpiece passing through a measuring volume, a is the angle between two crossing beams and k is the wavelength of the laser beam.

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Fig. 3. Schematic of LDIMS [6].

Therefore, the circumference of the workpiece is represented by the integration of the circumferential velocity and the time period obtained from the angular rotation of the workpiece. Consequently, using pi relationship the workpiece diameter can be obtained from its circumference. In LDIMS technique, the signal output is composed of a series of digital pulses with a constant period. The period between each pulse is related to the rotation of the workpiece surface through a distance equal to the interference fringe spacing, which is given by s k 2 sina=2 2

Thus, the circumference of the workpiece equals to the multiple of the number of pulses counted per revolution and the interference fringe spacing. The workpiece circumference can be directly converted to the actual workpiece diameter using a constant factor, which is derived from a known diameter of a masterpiece used for calibration at the beginning of the set up.

The resolution of LDIMS technique is dependent on the spacing of the interference fringes. It is almost proportional to Doppler signal pulses number counted from the spindle rotation and estimated to be 0.5 lm. However, the accuracy of this system, which is about 20 lm over a range of 80100 mm and a corresponding repeatability of 5 lm. The main limitation is mainly due to weak signal lling technique inducing extra pulses and other error sources (e.g., vibration of the tool holder of the machine tool). Regarding light-gauging detection, according to the work of Novak (1981) [7], the measuring range; up to 300 mm, is limited by the mechanical arms that hold the optical parts. The mechanical arms cause the Abbe eect (angular errors are amplied by the distance from the source). The accuracy claimed is 10 lm over a range of 280 mm with a repeatability of 3 lm. There have been two new techniques developed to extend the Novak work. First, Qibo [8] proposed the extended method to measure the dimensions of large-scale workpieces which reduce the Abbe

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8 7

8 7

10 9

10

Fig. 4. The conguration of the method and its application in large-scale workpiece measurement. 1Single-mode bre laser collimator, 2slide-way, 3measurement head, 4pentagonal prism, 5carriage, 6, 7quadrant photodiodes, 8positioning chocks, 9workpiece, 10signal processors.

error using a heterodyne laser interferometer. Fig. 4 shows the conguration of the method and its application in large-scale workpiece measurement. A laser beam from a single-mode bre laser collimator is split into two beams by a pentagonal prism and reected on a quadrant photodiode. One beam is dened as a reference datum line for adjusting the position of the measurement head. The second beam, which is reected at an angle of 90 with respect to the incident beam, is used as a measuring line. The diameter of the workpiece is determined when the measuring line passes through the centres of the other two quadrant photodiodes attached at both ends of the position chocks. With this new method, the Abbe error is greatly reduced and straightness and position errors introduced by the slide-way are eliminated. The measurement range is improved to 1000 mm with a measurement uncertainty less than 5 lm. The linearity was not reported in this type nor the repeatability. Second, Zhang et al. [9] presented a doubleedges laser-scanned large diameter online dynamic measurement and control system to measure and control diameter in measuring range of 1000 2000 mm. The method of inspection is based on laser-scanning measuring technology and grating

displacement-measuring technology. The system comprises a double-edge laser-scanned measuring system, a grating displacement-measuring system and ne mechanical systems. Fig. 5 shows the overall structure of the system. The double-edge laser-scanned measuring system consists of two laser-scanned emitters, two laser-scanned receivers, optical systems, optoelectronic transfer electronic systems and a main controller. The grating displacement-measuring system is composed of two grating reading heads and a grating digit displaying meter. The grating displacement-measuring system is used to extend the measuring range of the system due to the limitation in the measuring range of laser-scanned measuring instruments. The measuring principle of this system is as follows; the laser beams from two laser sources are scanned by the rotating mirrors turning at an angular speed x and go through the scanning optical system. The two scanning beams, which are parallel to their optical axis, scan separately the two edges of the machined part and enter each opto-electronic receiver. The signal is then analysed and calculated to determine the diameter of the machined part. The resolution and the accuracy of the system is 0.01 mm and 20 lm respectively over the range of 10002000 mm with a repeatability of 8 lm. This is the advantage of this method in inspecting large workpieces with high accuracy. Furthermore, the measuring system measures directly the diameter of workpiece and it is independent of target surface reectivity. It, however, cannot measure the workpiece below 1000 mm in diameter, as the sensor size is quite large. Moreover, this technique needs accurate mechanical design to put all the optics in the exact positions and the two measuring parts must be parallel to each other to reduce errors. The main factors aecting the accuracy have four aspects; scanning speed errors, the error of the focal length of scanning optical system, the unequal distances between every reected surface of the rotating mirror and the central axis, out of focus, the o centre of the rotating mirror and temperature variation; the optical collimation characteristics of the scanning system; and the measurement errors of the grating displacement systems.

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Fig. 5. The overall structure of the system [9].

For the light-spot detection, Shiraishi [10] proposed and developed a new non-contact method to measure diameter for in-process measurement. The measuring system is mainly composed of a laser unit, optical systems and photoconductive cells. The measuring principle of the new method is shown in Fig. 6. The laser beam passing through the optical system 1 reects the workpiece surface at O1. The image of the laser spot is magnied by the optical

Fig. 6. Principle of measurement [10].

system 2 and received by the photo detector at P1. When the workpiece diameter changes, the laser spot moves to a new position (O2) and the movement of the image on the photo detector (P2) relates to the movement of the laser spot. The photo detector detects the displacement of the image and converts it in form of a resistance change. The output signal from the photo detector is sent to the measuring circuit, which consists of bridge circuit to compensate the temperature, a low pass lter to reduce the inuence of the selfexcited and the forced vibration, a DC amplier and an adder circuit. The output signal from the measuring circuit is obtained as a voltage change. The output voltage is proportional to the workpiece deviation in diameter. A compensating system has been introduced to compensate for systematic errors. The accuracy of the measuring system is within 10 lm in a range of 72 mm. The linearity and the repeatability were not reported. This measuring system has the limitations of surface roughness and the size of photodiode. Because the photo detector detects the displacement of image, the size of the photodiode has an inuence

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on the measuring range of the system. This technique is used to measure the displacement so that the exact workpiece diameter should be known before starting to machine. The laser beam must be normal to the workpiece surface. To achieve better accuracy, better optics have to be used to obtain better image. In machine vision techniques, the main component is a charge coupled device (CCD), which is used to capture an image of a workpiece. CCD cameras can be divided into CCD matrix or line scan cameras [11]. CCD sensors are based on a combination of point cells of photodiodes. Their applications involve measuring visible and infrared light (4001000 nm). Takesa et al. [12] proposed in 1984 a new technique for diameter measurement using a CCD camera. This new technique uses the image amplier factor, focal distance and the image length on CCD to calculate the diameter of workpiece. The image length on CCD is determined by counting the number of the pixels on the CCD. The measurement system consists of a CCD camera with xed focus, a light source (uorescent lamp) and a microcomputer. Fig. 7 shows the measurement system. Due to the light source in opposite position of the CCD camera, the dark image of the workpiece occurs. The CCD detects the contrast between the workpiece and the background by scanning the total length of the CCD corresponding to the clock pulses and sends the video signal to the microcomputer. The workpiece diameter is evaluated as the product of the number of clock pluses counted in the periods of dark image and the length of a pixel.

This measuring system using CCD is an onmachine measurement technique. The accuracy for this method is within 0.05% (i.e., 1525 lm) for a workpiece diameter of 3050 mm. It is considered as a short measuring range. The resolution of the technique depends on the number of pixels on the CCD. On going development on CCD technology will come up with an increase in the resolution and accuracy of the machine vision methods. Furthermore, to improve its accuracy a good quality lens and a powerful source (e.g., a laser source) should be applied to get a better image and the good contrast between darkness and brightness, respectively. Harding [13] described an online, non-contact measurement of hot rolled tube of size up to 66 mm in diameter. The measurement system uses two line scan cameras and two illuminators. The line scan cameras are tted on the mobile platforms to provide 2-dimensional movement around the tube. Fig. 8 shows the schematic diagram of the system. Through the lens, the image of the hot rolled tube is formed on the CCD arrays. The diameter of the hot tube will be known from the production of the number of pixels and the given magnicent factor. This measurement system is aected by hard knocks, heat and dirt, therefore the steel housing, the cooling system and two

Camera 1

Illuminator 2

workpiece

Shadow

Camera 2

Illuminator 1

Fig. 7. View of the measurement system [12].

Fig. 8. Schematic diagram of the system [13].

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on-line cleaning air supplies are used to prevent these eects. Also, the external pyrometer is employed to measure temperature of the tube thus a correction factor for the cold diameter is computed. The accuracy and repeatability were not reported. Machine vision technique measures an outer diameter of a workpiece by using a laser beam to scan across the surface of the workpiece and the image is focused on CCD sensors. One of the main measurement error sources in these methods is the diraction of the laser beam at the endpoints of the workpiece. To overcome the problem Sasaki et al. [14] proposed a new method using a laser beam with sinusoidal intensity distribution. With this new technique, the diracted light at the endpoints inherits the information of the endpoint position in sinusoidal form. The endpoint position is then extracted. The diagram for measuring a cylinder diameter is shown in Fig. 9. Two lasers (LD1, LD2), two gratings (G1, G2) and two lens systems (L1 to L5) are used to produce two sinusoidal intensity distributions (P1, P2) with two dierent periods in order to extend the measuring range. The measurement error is less than 0.3 lm for a range of 4 mm in diameter, which is a limitation for this method but could be exploited in inspecting micro-artefacts. A number of the existing techniques have mostly been developed for turning, milling and grinding process. Mabberg and Paschen [15] pre-

Fig. 10. The principle of the light-slit method [15].

sented a non-contact, in-process measuring system for roll-bending process to measure the diameter of large cylindrical workpiece. The principle of this measuring system is based on the light-slit method, which extends the triangulation principle. Fig. 10 shows the principle of the light-slit method. Unlike the triangulation principle that uses a light beam, the light-slit method uses a light plane, which projects onto the surface of the workpiece. The image is detected by CCD camera. By applying the light-slit method with a variable optical base and an adaptable distance system, the measuring system can adjust itself to varying measuring distances with a wide range of 500 mm up to 2000 mm, as shown in Fig. 11. The measuring system uses four laser heads and one CCD camera, which are movable along the base. The image from this arrangement is a rectangle. Therefore, it is

Fig. 9. Conguration of the set up for measuring a cylinder diameter [14].

Fig. 11. Multiple light-slit with variable optical base [15].

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possible to scan the cylindrical workpiece, not depending on its orientation. The image processing is applied to calculate the radius of curvature. It is suggested that the accuracy of the radius estimation is less than 1.5 mm over a range 500 2000 mm. The signicant limitations of the noncontact, in-process measuring system are the accuracy of the driving system and the intensity of the laser lines. Furthermore, the rectangular image represents a fraction of the whole workpiece so the error occurs due to the circle approximation. Machine vision techniques have also been applied in an inside diameter measurement, which is an important parameter in mechanical production as well as an outside diameter. Fang and McClure [16] developed an optical non-contact system to measure the diameter, ovality and cylindricity of blind holes. The optical non-contact system mainly comprises a lighting system, a projection system, an imaging system, an optical amplication system and CCD camera system. Fig. 12 illustrates the principle and structure of the optical non-contact system for blind hole measurement. The principle of the system is the projection of the high precision circle pattern, printed on a reticule in the projection system, onto the wall of the blind hole. The reected image is captured by CCD camera through the optical amplication system, which increases the measurement sensitivity and accuracy of the optical non-contact system. The measurement accuracy of the sensing system is about 10 lm for a single diameter of 25 mm. The eccentricity error and parallelism error may cause the measurement error of the system. However, the structure of the new measuring technique can

Fig. 12. The principle and structure of the optical non-contact system for blind hole measurement [16].

be rearranged to measure diameter, ovality and cylindricity of through hole. Apart from light focusing technique, light-gauging detection, light-spot detection and machine vision technique, many techniques using optical sensor to control accuracy of the workpiece have been lately developed in terms of monitoring tool wear. Fan et al. [17] developed a radial error feedback control system (REFC) for bar turning in CNC turning centers. REFC was designed to compensate for the radial error due to the time-varying deection caused by the cutting force, which moves along the bar at a constant velocity. To compensate for the radial error, a time-varying analytical model of the deection, a proportional integrator (PI) controller and a Kalman lter were designed. The analytical model for uniform bars was derived based on vibration theory while nite element method can be used to develop a model for non-uniform bars. The PI controller was then designed based on the model. REFC used a laser sensor to measure the diameter of the workpiece in real-time. However, there was a nite distance between the cutting point and the measuring point. As a result, the sensing delay occurred. To compensate for the sensing delay, the Kalman lter was designed to predict the radial error at the cutting point based on the delayed measurement. The machining accuracy was improved by 95% using REFC technique. This paper has focused on the control technique part more than the measuring part. This is considered as in-process measurement for dry environment. The only average accuracy given by the authors was about 14 lm for a single diameter of 49 mm, hence the diculty to assess this technique. Moreover, Choudhury et al. [18] developed an on-line system to monitor tool wear and control workpiece dimensional deviations in turning. The tool wear was indirectly monitored by constantly monitoring the changes in the workpiece diameter. These changes were assumed to be the eects of tool ank wear. The system consisted of an optical bre transducer, a stepper motor with a controller to activate the actuator and a predictive system based on a neural network. Fig. 13 shows the schematic diagram of the experimental set-up. The output signal from the optical sensor was one of the

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Fig. 13. Schematic diagram of the experimental set-up [17].

input parameters for the neural network program. The others were cutting speed, feedrate and depth of cut. The neural network predicted the ank wear in terms of its length. Using this predicted value, the control system is used to compensate for this change in workpiece dimensions. Therefore, the on-line system could control the workpiece dimensional accuracy within 30 lm. However, the accuracy of the workpiece is not good enough for the stringent needs in the market. Moreover, this technique is not a real-time measurement because of the delay time due to the measuring position behind the cutting point. 3.2.2. Ultrasonic methods Ultrasonic methods use wave propagation principles and produce digital output. The signals employed are generally outside the frequency range of human hearing. Generally, an ultrasonic sensor uses the pulse-echo technique to generate a sharp acoustics pulse and change it into a sound wave form. Mitsui et al. [19] proposed a new ultrasonic displacement measuring method based on astigmatic focus error detection. The new sensor mainly comprises an ultrasonic transmitter, an ultrasonic detector, a half-mirror, an acoustic objective lens

and a cylindrical acoustic lens as shown in Fig. 14. The cylindrical acoustic lens is used to detect displacement between the acoustic objective lens and target surface due to the astigmatic eect. The principle of an astigmatic focus error detection is experimentally evaluated by measuring the sound pressure distribution on the detector face. The measuring method of the new ultrasonic sensor is as follows; an ultrasonic beam from the transmitter reects the target surface and reaches the cylindrical acoustic lens. At the cylindrical acoustic lens, the reected wavebeam prole will be refracted so that it converges at the quadranttype ultrasonic detector face in a form of sound pressure distribution. The sound pressure distribution changes according to target surface displacement. This new technique is suitable for wet environment and its output is independent of target surface reectivity. However, this new ultrasonic technique didnt claim any accuracy. It is assumed that the principle of astigmatic focus error detection could provide high accuracy during cutting and grinding operation. Moreover, it may be dicult to set the optics up because the ultrasonic beam is invisible to the naked eyes. The authors did not mention any measurement charac-

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Fig. 14. Schematic diagrams of ultrasonic measuring system and measuring principle [19].

teristics for this sensor but according to previous ultrasonic techniques [19] the resolution is in the range of 220 lm. 3.2.3. Pneumatic methods The pneumatic method can be dened as the measuring system that measures the pressure drop in the gap between the measuring head and the workpiece and converts it into an electrical signal. The pneumatic technique is suitable to measure small distances. The main advantage of the technique is that the continual ow of air through the measuring head can blow away cutting uids and swarfs. Shiraishi and Yasui [20] developed a new

pneumatic proximity sensor with three same diameter sensing nozzles for a stepped prole workpiece. Fig. 15(a) shows the schematic of the pneumatic proximity sensor. The dimensional error of the workpiece was measured by monitoring any deviation in distance between the workpiece surface and the sensing head. The output from the sensor, which was the sum of backpressure from three sensing heads, is proportional to the distance between the workpiece surface and the sensing head within the linearity range of 0.250.38 mm. Fig. 15(b) shows the measurement procedure of stepped prole that can continually be measured using one of the three sensing nozzles.

Fig. 15. Pneumatic proximity sensor: (a) diagram of the pneumatic proximity sensor and (b) measurement procedure for a stepped prole [20].

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The accuracy of the pneumatic sensor was within 5 lm over a range of 30100 lm. However, one major disadvantage of the sensor was the occurrence of the unmeasured zone due to the nite diameter of the sensor head. Moreover, thermal effects could slightly aect the measurement. The sensor is used to measure the average dimensional error of the workpiece by monitoring the distance between the workpiece surface and the sensing head. It means that the sensor is not applied to measure the workpiece diameter. 3.2.4. Electrical methods Electrical methods are non-optical and noncontact measurements using electrical eld techniques, such as reluctance, capacitance and eddy-current techniques. The main limitation of electrical methods using reluctance, capacitance and eddy-current techniques is the material of workpiece. The workpiece material must be electromagnetic for reluctance techniques and electrical for capacitance and eddy-current techniques. Fan and Chao [21] proposed the moving three-

probe technique (MTPT). It is a new non-contact technique to measure diameter through three servo measurement units as shown in Fig. 16. Each unit is composed of a non-contact displacement probe (proximitor) for gap sensing, a stepping motor for controlling linear carriage, carrying the probe for surface tracing, and a displacement transducer (LVDT) for real-time recording of the carriage position. As shown in Fig. 16, the displacement probe (the eddy-current type proximitor) detects the gap between the probe and the machined surface. If the radius of the workpiece varies over the measuring range of the probe, the controlled linear carriage will move the probe to remain within the measuring range and the digital LVDT will record the amount of this variation of movement. Consequently, the surface of the workpiece can be traced using three servo measurement units. The equation used to determine the diameter is given D1 2L1 L2 L3 2C 1 C 2 C 3 2h1 h2 h3 3

The accuracy of measurement is 15 lm. With the compensation technique the measurement errors are within a limit of 15 lm over a range of 32 54 mm. However, this technique was applied only to the nish process of workpiece and it is not suitable for step workpieces. To avoid contact between the probe and workpiece, the feedrate of each process is carefully controlled. Moreover, it should be dicult to apply this technique to industry companies as it occupies a large space around workpiece. It is not easy to set up the three probes in their reference positions and to dene their distance. Also, the material property of the machining workpiece must be conducted with electricity.

4. Concluding remarks Some of the contact measuring methods, especially friction-roller methods [4,5] are still used to measure large-scale diameter workpieces. However, there are several disadvantages arising from the contact measurement where scratches, chips,

Fig. 16. Geometrical relations of the MTPT method [21].

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etc., could damage the sensing part of sensors. Also, the workpiece material, depending on elastic properties, could deform inducing measurement errors. The measuring speed of contact measurement is lower than that of non-contact measurement. Moreover, the temperature of the machining process can aect the accuracy of the sensor and this issue has to be seriously addressed using compensation techniques. To achieve the narrower tolerance of machined parts, non-contact measurement techniques are considered. From the technical literature above, non-contact methods have been continually developed, especially the optical methods. Laser was rst invented in 1958. Due to its characteristics, the laser has a suciently well dened frequency and constant amplitude oscillations. Therefore, its applications have been drastically developed in many elds. It is widely applied in length measurements. Most of the proposed non-contact methods are based on displacement techniques. Electrical, pneumatic and ultrasonic sensors measure a small variable displacement between the sensor head and the workpiece surface. They need to compare the results to a known standard diameter workpiece. Ultrasonic methods for diameter measurement are still in research process. The light-gauging techniques have an important error source; the Abbe error, which has to be systematically minimised. In laser scan technology; the scanning speed depends upon the limit on angular speed of the mechanical parts. Despite the great number of sensors developed for non-contact measurement, the limitations from the existing techniques could be summarised below: Most of the measurement techniques are not inprocess measurements. Size of the sensors is quite large. No technique can achieve sub-micron accuracy. None of the existing techniques can measure more than one parameter with one sensor. They are not suitable to measure large diameter workpieces. Some techniques must be dicult to set up and others have complex structures. The temperature always aects the measuring accuracy.

They cannot measure all types of workpiece proles on turning machine, such as xed, variable or stepped proles, using one sensor. Therefore, the requirements of a new sensor are: In-process measurement system. Non-contact sensor. Sub-micrometer accuracy and high resolution with fast response. Small size and lightweight. Inexpensive. Independent of ambient temperature but take into account material expansion. Using simple method to ease the set up and operating. From the advantages and disadvantages of each method reviewed through above, to overcome the limitations and compromise the requirements, the light focusing technique in optical methods is chosen to be applied to a new sensor for in-process measurement because it can achieve high accuracy and high resolution as well as high frequency due to its high speed if fast data acquisition systems are deployed.

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