Modeling and Control of Compliant Assembly Systems

The assembly of compliant, non-rigid parts is widely used in automotive, aerospace, electronics, and appliance manufacturing. Dimensional variation is one important measure of quality in such assembly. This paper presents models for analyzing the propagation of dimensional variation in multi-stage compliant assembly systems and the use of such models for robust design and adaptive control of assembly quality. The models combine engineering structure analysis with advanced statistical methods in considering the effect part variation, tooling variation, as well as part deformation due to clamping, joining and springback. The new adaptive control algorithm makes use of the fine adjustment capabilities in new programmable tooling in achieving reduction of assembly variation.