Designing and quality control of free form surfaces at automotive industry

As a result of developing systems and technologies in the automotive industry, great changesoccurred at the level of design processes. Especially, at the free form surface design ofautomobiles, the function of the surface placement is crucial. In the automotive industry, thequality evaluation is as important as design processes. CMM?s (Coordinate MeasuringMachines) are playing a great role at the surface quality evaluation level. Both through thedesign process and quality evaluation, automotive industry takes great advantage of CMM?s.In this thesis, firstly CMM?s which are widely used in design processes and quality evaluationin the automotive industry are introduced and CMM structures and types are explained. Underthe subject ?Coordinate Measuring Technique?, machine and part coordinate systems andpositioning of these systems are explained. Also under the same subject, the definitions ofterms used in coordinate measuring techniques are discussed including related diagrams.Following, the free form surfaces on automobiles and their design reasons are explained andexemplified. Then, types, designs and forming of free form surfaces are explained.Afterwards, reverse engineering process, reverse engineering process of free form surfacesand reverse engineering applications in the automotive industry are explained with details. Inthe following part, quality is defined, surface roughness and parameters are explained. Afterthat part, CMM and CAQ (Computer Aided Quality) integration are described. Finally,automobile body measuring systems are explained and thesis? conclusion is presented.ISO and TSE standards are utilized in the descriptions of the parameters and terms.Keywords: Free form surfaces at the automotive industry, free form surface design, reverseengineering.x