Tolerance Analysis of Mechanical Assemblies Based on Fuzzy - Small Degrees of Freedom (F-SDOF) Model

Tolerances naturally generate an uncertain environment for design and manufacturing. In this paper, a novel fuzzy based tolerance representation approach for modeling the variations of geometric features due to dimensional tolerances is presented. The two concepts of fuzzy theory and small degrees of freedom are combined to introduce the fuzzy-small degrees of freedom model (F-SDOF). This model is suitable for tolerance analysis of mechanical assemblies with linear and angular tolerances. The presented method is compatible with the current dimensioning and tolerancing standards. The application of the proposed methodology is illustrated through presenting an example problem.