A gap-based approach to capture fitting conditions for mechanical assembly
An approach, called the GapSpace model, is proposed to find the sufficient and necessary conditionswe call these the fitting conditions (FC)for non-interfering mechanical assemblies. When different parts are assembled, some features will be in contact while other features may not be able to touch one another or they may interfere. We refer to the gap size relating two features as zero, positive or negative. In the GapSpace approach, the linear sum of some gaps forms the FCs that are determined by the dimensions and tolerances. After all FCs are identified, tolerance analyses can be easily performed. The model can be integrated with commercial CAD products (such as Pro/E) for tolerance analysis.
fitting condition assembly gapspace model tolerance analysis