IMPROVING PRODUCT DESIGN TOLERANCES USING METR-ONTOLOGY

Abstract

It is important to know the dimensions, material composition, manufacturing processes, product performance history, and inspection methodology while designing products and selecting manufacturing processes. This information could be encapsulated into product lifecycle management tools. Use of ontologies as knowledge base for product information have been on a rise to overcome the drawbacks inherent to many knowledge-based approaches. The current ontologies that exist lack sufficient information regarding product inspection and tolerance, that is important from the perspective of the field of product and process metrology. This research discusses the development of an engineering ontology for product metrology and is termed as “metrontology” herein. The focus of this developed metrontology is to aid in the understanding of product tolerances for future products being designed. The methodology is demonstrated through an example of single-cylinder engine. This research could lead to the creation of a metrology information enclave that will host the knowledge base of metrology information of several products.