MEASUREMENT


Accurate force measurement in large applications


Accurate force measurement is not the preserve of small and intricate applications, says Starrett’s John Cove as he highlights its role in large-scale manufacturing in the energy and aerospace markets


A


ll contractors will be familiar with the combination square: a ruled blade with interchangeable heads tomeasure angles in workshops, construction sites and metalworking.


Invented in 1883 by L S Starrett, the combination


square quickly became an integralmeasurement device in all contractors’ toolkits.However, inmost modernmanufacturing applications, a far greater level of precision is required. Absolute accuracy in dimensionalmeasurement


andmeasurement of the forces associated with any part or process are necessary requirements in almost every industry, and the practice is becoming an integral—and highly regulated—aspect of all product design and development. You would be hard pushed to find another


industry where precision is such a vital consideration as aerospacemanufacturing. In an industry with copious regulatory requirements, and costly fines for failing tomeet standards, ensuring that components are safe, fully functional and reliable could not bemore important.However, manufacturers in this sector will be familiar with the complexities of retaining these high levels of precision when working on large scale products, like aircraft wings, external panels, turbine and helicopter blades. For both the aerospace and the energy industries,


high precision can be required on incredibly large scales. Take the blades of wind turbines as an example. Until recently, themanufacture of wind turbines involved limited concern for quality control standards. This is becausemass production of wind turbines is relatively new and, as a result, standards are yet to be set. Despite this lack of standards, for the wind turbine to effectively and safely generate power,mistakes inmanufacturing simply cannot happen. Efforts are now beingmade by the government


16 /// Environmental Engineering /// August 2017


andmanufacturers to establish a standard for wind turbines and other applications related to new forms of energy generation. In themeantime, it is in manufacturer’s best interests tomaintain high levels of precision now—avoiding potential problems in the future. Unlike small applications, precisionmeasurement


for large applications cannot be assessed using handheldmeasurement tools and entry-level equipment. Instead,manufacturersmust invest in specialistmetrology systems that are designed to handle heavy equipment and irregular loads. Alongside precision hardware,manufacturersmust also consider choosing sophisticated force measurement andmetrology systems to test the components theymake. For example, Starrett’s forcemeasurement


software, L2 Plus, can provide a comprehensive analysis of ameasurement test—providing exact forcemeasurement results fromsimple peak load measurement tomore complex break determination. Inputting the requirements of a part,material or component allows the software to generate high- resolution graphs based on load, distance, height and time ofmeasurement. Using this data, quality controlmanagers can rest assured that parts will meet industry standards and are unlikely to fall victimtomanufacturing errors. The StarrettHDV500 digital video projector has a


travel on the workstage of 500 x 200mm, and a workstage weight capacity of 150kg,making it ideal formeasuring larger, heavier parts. Retaining accuracy during product design and


manufacturing is an integral part ofmaintaining quality control andmeeting industry regulations. Just as the combination square became a vital part of a contractors’ toolkit, investing in technical measurement equipment—and software—will soon be just as imperative formanufacturers and engineers. EE


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