Int. J. Mechatronics and Automation, Vol. 1, Nos.

3/4, 2011 181

Development of high precision gear measuring

machine

Tetsuya Taguchi*
Engineering Department, Osaka Seimitsu Kikai Co., Ltd.,
6-5-16 Mikuriya, Higashiosaka, Osaka 577-0032, Japan
E-mail: t-taguchi@osk-corp.co.jp
*Corresponding author

Aiguo Ming and Makoto Shimojo

Department of Mechanical Engineering and Intelligent Systems,
The University of Electro-Communications,
1-5-1 Chofugaoka, Chofu, Tokyo 182-8585, Japan
E-mail: ming@mce.uec.ac.jp
E-mail: shimojo@mce.uec.ac.jp

Abstract: The high precision gears are strongly required for advanced motion and power
transmission. And the improved evaluation technology for the precision gears is becoming
indispensable. Moreover, the reliability of the measured value became important when the
accuracy of the gear becomes high, and the establishment of the traceability system has been
needed. For the establishment of the traceability system, the higher precision gear measuring
machine (GMM) with lower uncertainty is expected to contribute to improve gear calibration
uncertainty. For the purpose, a new concept of the high precision GMM was proposed from
analysing the problems of the conventional GMM. A prototype of the high precision GMM using
the direct drive mechanism has been developed. And the high measurement capability of the
developed GMM was verified by the evaluation method using the standard deviation of the
measured form deviation.

Keywords: gear measuring machine; GMM; high precision gear; calibration; traceability; best
measurement capability ; BMC.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Taguchi, T., Ming, A. and Shimojo, M.
(2011) ‘Development of high precision gear measuring machine’, Int. J. Mechatronics and
Automation, Vol. 1, Nos. 3/4, pp.181–189.

Biographical notes: Tetsuya Taguchi received his BE in Mechanical Engineering from the
University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan, in 1989. From 1989 to 2001, he was with Nissan Motor
Co., Ltd., Kanagawa. Currently, he is an Engineer in the Engineering Department, Osaka
Seimitsu Kikai Co., Ltd., Osaka. His research interests include mechatronics and robotics.

Aiguo Ming received his BE in Mechanical Engineering from Hunan University, Hunan, China,
in 1983, ME in Precision Engineering from Yamanashi University, Yamanashi, Japan, in 1987,
and Doctoral Engineering degree in Precision Engineering from the University of Tokyo, Tokyo,
in 1990. From 1990 to 1991, he was with Mitutoyo Corporation, Tokyo. From 1991 to 1994, he
was a Research Associate in the Department of Mechanical Systems, Yamanashi University.
Since 1994, he has been an Assistant Professor and then Associate Professor in the Department of
Mechanical Engineering and Intelligent Systems, University of Electro-Communications. His
current research interests include robotics and development of mechatronic systems.

Makoto Shimojo received his BE in Mechanical Engineering from the University of

Electro-Communications, Tokyo, Japan, in 1973, ME from the Tokyo Institute of
Technology, Tokyo, in 1976, and Doctoral Engineering degree from the University of
Electro-Communications in 1993. From 1976 to 1992, he was a Senior Researcher at Industrial
Products Research Institute, Tsukuba, Japan. From 1993 to 1997, he was a Senior Researcher at
the National Institute of Bioscience and Human Technology, Tsukuba. From 1985 to 1986, he
was a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, Stanford, CA. From 1997 to 2001, he was a
Professor of Computer and Information Sciences at Ibaraki University. Since April 2001, he has
been a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Intelligent Systems at the University of
Electro-Communications. His current research interests include mechatronics, tactile sensing
system, and human interface using tactile information. He is a Fellow of the Japan Society of
Mechanical Engineers.

Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

182 T. Taguchi et al.

1 Introduction with highest accuracy. The purpose of our work is to

develop a higher precision GMM that has a smaller
In many fields such as automobiles, construction machines
measurement uncertainty than the standard GMM and can
and robots, noise reduction, miniaturisation, lightening, and
be adopted into the gear calibration system.
high reliability of power transmission devices are needed
strongly. To satisfy these needs, high accuracy of gears used Figure 1 Hierarchy of gear calibration
in the power transmission devices is strongly requested.
And, for the evaluation and the quality control of the high
accuracy gears, improvement in measurement technologies,
that is high precision and high efficiency of gear measuring
machines (GMMs), became important issues in their fields.
The suppliers of GMMs in the world are limited to small
number of special manufacturers in Europe, the USA and
Japan. The reason of it can be considered as those GMMs
require an extremely high technology by integrating
mechanics, optics, electronics and software, and also the
market of GMMs are limited. Historically, development of
GMM has been progressed by adopting the unique
technologies in Europe, the USA and Japan. The computer
numerical controlled GMM (Kajitani et al., 1970) was
firstly developed in Japan by introducing mechatronics
technologies to GMM.
Recently, according to the demand of the high accuracy
gear, the high precision GMMs (Kajitani et al., 2001;
Minoura et al., 2001; Haertig and Waeldele, 2001; Haertig Table 1 BMC of standard GMM
et al., 2003) were developed and were put into practical use
by each manufacturer and institute. On the other hand, Calibration scope BMC (k = 2)
reliability of measured value becomes important when the Total profile deviation: Fα 0.8 μm
accuracy of the gear becomes high, and establishment of the Profile form deviation: ffα
traceability system by national standards or international
Profile slope deviation: fＨα
standards has been needed. Then, the gear calibration
systems are being to be constructed by each national Total helix deviation: Fβ 0.7 μm
institute, etc. in Germany (Beyer, 1996), the USA (Cox Helix form deviation: ffβ
et al., 1998; Cox, 1999) and Japan (Kubo et al., 2004). For Helix slope deviation: fHβ
the manufacturing industry, the quality assurance required
Total cumulative pitch deviation: Fp 1.2 μm
from International Standards (ISO 9001, 2008; ISO/TS
16949, 2009) is the most important among the user’s Single pitch deviation: fpt 0.6 μm
requirements from the inside and outside of the country. In Note: Example: reference diameter from 60 mm up to 110 mm
the gear industry, it is the most important for the Japanese
small and medium-sized company to assure the quality. If
the traceability system of the gear shown in Figure 1 is
established, the international price of the same quality gear 2 Measurement of involute gear
can be compared accurately and proper price of the gear can
The gear tooth form commonly used today is the involute
be assured. It becomes easier for a small and medium-sized
profile. If a cord is wrapped around a cylinder, which has
company to enter to the market, and an increase in the
the base diameter, a point on the cord traces a curve called
number of employee can be expected.
involute. Figure 2 shows the basic principle of involute
The Gear Measuring Center (GMC) of Osaka Seimitsu
profile measurement. Where θ is rotational angle, db is base
Kikai Co., Ltd. was accredited by Japan Accreditation
diameter and y is rolling length. As the suffix of y, T refers
Board of Conformity Assessment (JAB) as a calibration
to the theoretical curve and M refers to the measured curve.
laboratory of GMM in 2006, and was accredited by Japan
In case of involute profile, the rolling length of gear is
Calibration Service System (JCSS) as gear calibration
theoretically defined as the following equation:
laboratory which satisfied the requirements of International
Standard (ISO/IEC 17025, 2005) according to the guidance db
of National Metrology Institute of Japan (NMIJ) and yT = ⋅θ (1)
2
National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE),
etc. in 2008. Table 1 shows an example of best Then, the rotational angle θ and the rolling length on actual
measurement capability (BMC) (EA-4/02, 1999) of the tooth flank are measured. The tooth profile curve deviation
standard GMM used in GMC. But the measurement eprof(θ) is calculated as the difference between theoretical
capability is not sufficient for the evaluation of artefacts curve yT and measured curve yM by the following equation:
 Development of high precision gear measuring machine
e prof (θ ) = yM − yT
Figure 3 shows the basic principle of helix measurement. βb
is base cylinder helix angle, and the theoretical distance on
helix measurement is defined as the following equation:
db
zT = ⋅θ ⋅ cot β b
2
Then, the actual moving distance zM and the probe
displacement yprobe are measured. The helix form deviation
ehelix(θ) is calculated by the following equation:
ehelix (θ ) = y probe + ( zM − zT ) ⋅ tan β b
Figure 2 Basic principle of involute profile measurement
Figure 3 Basic principle of helix measurement
3 Conventional GMM
3.1 Composition
Figure 4 shows the composition of a conventional GMM. It
is composed of three axes perpendicular to each other and
one rotational axis: radial axis (X-axis) for setting the stylus
on base diameter, tangential axis (Y-axis) for measuring
profile, axial axis (Z-axis) for measuring helix, and the
rotational axis (C-axis) for rotating the measuring object.
C-axis consists of ball bearing, worm gear and reduction
gears. X-axis consists of ball guide and ball screw. Y and
Z-axes consist of scraped casting guide and ball screw. All
axes are driven by the stepping motors. And, a stylus
installed on the detector set up on Y-axis slider is lightly
contacted to the tooth flank during the gear measurement
and detects the deviations in tangential direction.
183
(2) Figure 4 Composition of conventional GMM (see online version
for colours)
(3)
(4)
In case of profile measurement, in the state that the stylus is
lightly contacted to the tooth flank, C and Y-axes are
controlled to synchronise the rotation of the measuring
object and the movement of the detector in tangential
direction of tooth flank. At this time, the rotational angle θ
is detected with the rotary encoder, and the stylus distance
yM is detected with the linear encoder and the micrometer
built in the detector. In case of helix measurement, C and
Z-axes are controlled to synchronise the rotation of the
measuring object and the movement of the detector in
direction of helix according to βb. Here, the rotational angle
θ is detected with the rotary encoder, the detector distance
zM is detected with the linear encoder, and the stylus
displacement yprobe is detected by micrometer built in the
detector.
3.2 Problems
The conventional GMM, which adopted the highly accurate
parts, the processing technologies and the computer
numerical control, played a major role in the evaluation and
the analysis of the gear by automation and digitalisation.
However, it is necessary to improve the followings to make
the measured value more accurate.
1 Deviation by drive mechanism. For example, ball
screw, worm gear and reduction gears, etc.
2 Deviation by digitalisation. For example, aliasing, etc.
3 Deviation by eccentricity. For example, eccentricity of
the rotational axis and a rotary encoder, etc.
4 Deviation by measurement environment. For example,
thermal expansion, etc.
It was reported that the deviation by digitalisation can be
solved by filtering (Kubota et al., 2002). Moreover, it was
also reported that the deviation by eccentricity can be
184 T. Taguchi et al.

compensated by using the result of the comparison
measurement with a highly accurate encoder, too
(Kanamori et al., 2003). And, the deviation by measurement
environment can be reduced by using GMM in a
temperature-controlled room. In this paper, to reduce the
deviation by drive mechanism, a new mechanism for
rotational drive system and linear drive system is to be
developed.
4 Development of high precision GMM
4.1 Concept
To develop a new mechanism, the design guideline of high
precision GMM was decided as follows, with considering
problems of conventional GMM:
1 smooth motion by direct drive (DD) mechanism
2 accuracy improvement of encoders by calibration of
eccentricity, etc.
3 accuracy improvement of detector by compensation of
deflection, etc.
4 stabilisation of measurement accuracy by structural
approach.
Table 2 shows the precision requirements of high precision
GMM compared with the current precision of other GMMs.
Repeatability and reproducibility of measurement of high
precision GMM are to be about ten times of those of
conventional GMMs (Kawasaki and Oguma, 2001) and
about three times of those of standard GMM (Taguchi and
Takeda, 2004). The standard GMM realised a highly
accurate measurement by reducing velocity, but the high
precision GMM to be developed is to realise higher
accuracy while by high measurement speed equal to
conventional GMM for high measurement efficiency.
encoder, etc., the self-calibratable rotary encoder (Watanabe
et al., 2005) was adopted. Multiple reading heads are
arranged at the equal angle interval around a scale disk.
Then the angle error caused by the eccentricity of the
encoder can be measured as shown in Figure 7. And the
angle error is finally used for calibrating tooth profile curve.
The linear drive system consists of two axis DD stages;
each is composed by an air slider and a linear motor.
Cogging-less linear motors with the features of little speed
ripple were adopted to achieve smooth motion. Moreover,
linear encoders with high resolution and small thermal
expansion coefficient material were adopted for highly
accurate control and measurement without the influence of
heat such as from motors. And the straightness was
compensated by using the results of comparison with gauge
blocks, etc.
Table 3 Major specifications of high precision GMM
Maximum workpiece diameter 260 mm
Module range (minimum/maximum) 0.5 mm/7.0 mm
Maximum weight on board 50 kg
Maximum measuring speed 10 mm/s
Resolution of rotary encoder 19,200,000 pulse/rev
Resolution of linear encoder 0.01 μm
Resolution of laser interferometer 0.001 μm
Figure 5 Composition of high precision GMM (see online
version for colours)

Table 2 Precision requirements and current precision

High precision Standard Conventional

GMM GMM GMM
Repeatability 0.3 1.0 2.0
[μm]
Reproducibility 0.3 1.0 3.0
[μm]
Figure 6 Heads array of self-calibratable rotary encoder
(see online version for colours)
4.2 Mechanism
In the previous work (Taguchi et al., 2011) of authors’
group, the basic feasibility of the prototype consisting of a
rotational drive system by an air bearing and a DD motor,
and a linear drive system by an air slider and a linear motor
has been shown. The high precision GMM with more
practicable DD mechanism is designed. Table 3 shows the
major specifications of the developed GMM and Figure 5
shows the composition of it. The rotational drive system is
composed by an air bearing and a DD motor. To decrease
the angle error caused by the eccentricity of a rotary
 Development of high precision gear measuring machine 185

Figure 7 Calibration result of self-calibratable rotary encoder The difference Δε between the actual measured value εM
(see online version for colours) and the predicted value εP is shown in Figure 9. As a result,
it became possible to measure the accurate displacement by
compensating the stylus deflection εP.

Figure 9 Linearity compensation of detector (see online version

for colours)

4.3 Detector
For real-time improvement of measurement and control,
a detector shown in Figure 8 was developed with a
linear encoder instead of a conventional linear variable
differential transformer (LVDT). And, for the
improvement of the measurement accuracy, it is necessary
Figure 10 Front view of high precision GMM with features for
to measure the nearest stylus displacement to reduce the
stabilisation (see online version for colours)
influence of the pitching, etc. Then an optical high
resolution detector using the laser interferometer based on
the wavelength of He-Ne laser was designed and
developed, which is capable of detecting the stylus
displacement directly by the high resolution of 1 nm. As a
result of the detector linearity verification, the difference εM
between the slider displacement Δy and the detector
displacement Δf is defined by equation (5) and its result is
shown in Figure 9.

ε M = Δy − Δf (5)

If the stylus is completely rigid, the laser interferometer

displacement Δl will be equal to 0. As a result of the
verification, actually Δl shown in Figure 9 is nearly equal to
εM, and it is known that there exists a deflection of stylus
due to the displacement of the detector. The deflection can
be predicted as shown by equation (6) by using the
compensation coefficient α.

ε P = α ⋅ Δf (6)

4.4 Stabilisation of measurement precision

Figure 8 Composition and verification of detector (see online
version for colours) Figure 10 shows the front view of high precision GMM.
In the composition of high precision GMM, the granite,
that has the feature of the stable surface precision with a
high hardness and only few changes due to aging, was
adopted as the machine base in place of the cast iron.
Moreover, both the processing parts and the purchased
parts with higher accuracy than that of the conventional
GMMs, are used. Usually, accuracy of whole machine
might become lower after assembled even if the accuracy
of individual part is good. For the case of high precision
GMM, the high geometric accuracy of straightness and
squareness were able to be secured by using the traditional
scraping technology.
186 T. Taguchi et al.

5 Verification of high precision GMM 1

n m

5.1 Method of verification

h=
n⋅m ∑∑ h
i =1 j =1
ij (9)

Conventionally, gear flanks are measured with GMMs and n m

1
∑∑ ( h )
2
evaluated by International Standards (ISO 1328-1, 1995; σ2 = −h (10)
ij
ISO/TR 10064-1, 1992). And, the characteristics values n ⋅ m − 1 i =1 j =1
such as total cumulative pitch deviation (Fp), single pitch
deviation (fpt), total profile deviation (Fα), profile form Standard deviation σ is a positive square root of the
deviation (ffα), profile slope deviation (fHα), total form variance σ2. If σ is small, the form deviation of measured
deviation (Fβ), helix form deviation (ffβ) and helix slope profile and helix is small and the measurement accuracy
deviation (fHβ) are evaluated. Figure 11 shows the artefacts will be high. And, as a result of improving the measurement
used for verification of GMMs; (a) is an involute (profile) capability of the developed GMM, the measurement
artefact, (b) is a helix artefact, and (c) is a pitch artefact. accuracy of pitch can be expected to be high.
Table 4 shows their major dimension. Because it is difficult
to investigate whether the requirements for the repeatability Table 4 Major dimension of artefacts
and reproducibility of the developed GMM is satisfied by Type of artefact
only evaluating the characteristics values of the artefacts, Dimension
standard deviation as an index of the form deviation instead Involute Helix Pitch
of the repeatability and reproducibility is used to verify the Base diameter 100 mm 100 mm 101.487 mm
developed GMM. Figure 12 shows how the standard Face width 20 mm 7 mm 16 mm
deviation is calculated. In the figure, the deviation curve Helix angle 0° 0° 0°
of the measurement No.i, the deviation curve of the
15° LH 15°/30° LH
measurement No.(i + 1), and the average deviation curve are
shown as part of the results of repeated measurements. 15° RH 15°/30° RH
Number of teeth 3 5 36
Figure 11 Artefacts used for the evaluation, (a) involute (b) helix
(c) pitch (see online version for colours)
Figure 12 Standard deviation calculation (see online version
for colours)

(a) (b) (c)

5.2 Repeatability verification
The deviation from an average curve of measured form is
obtained as εij. And hij is the value to be obtained so that the The repeatability was verified by measuring ten times
sum of εij becomes 0. These εij and hij are obtained by continuously both the same profile on the same tooth flank
equations (7) and (8). of an involute artefact shown in Figure 11(a) and the same
helix on the same tooth flank of a helix artefact shown in
n
1 Figure 11(b). To verify the measurement efficiency, the
ε ij = eij −
n ∑e
i =1
ij (7)
measurement was executed at three measurement speeds
such as 1 mm/s, 5 mm/s and 10 mm/s. Additionally, the
1
m number of sampling points is 1,000 and the filter is a simple
hij = ε ij −
m ∑ε
j =1
ij (8) moving average filter with cut-off wavelength of 0.2 mm.

where i (i = 1, 2, ⋅⋅⋅, n) represent measurement number, 5.2.1 Repeatability of profile measurement

n is the total measurement number of measured form,
j (j = 1, 2, ⋅⋅⋅, m) is data number of evaluation range of each
measurement and m is the total evaluation data number. The
arithmetic mean and the variance σ2 are calculated by
equations (9) and (10).
Figure 13 shows the results of profile measurement on
(a) left flank and (b) right flank with helix angle 0°. Ten
measurement results for each measurement speed are piled
up. The result of the repeatability by using standard
deviation is shown in Table 5. The standard deviations for
 Development of high precision gear measuring machine 187

three measurement speeds such as 1 mm/s, 5 mm/s and
10 mm/s, are shown with σ1, σ5 and σ10, respectively, and
every item is shown by 6σ in the table. The repeatability
was verified for three helix angles such as 0°, 15°RH and
15°LH. From the results, it is known that the measurement
speed had few influence to the repeatability and higher
speed measurement than the standard GMM is possible.
And each result for repeatability was far smaller comparing
to the target repeatability (0.3 μm) shown in Table 2, and it
can be said that high repeatability for profile measurement
has been achieved by the developed high precision GMM.
helix angles such as 0°, 15°RH, 30°RH, 15°LH and 30°LH.
From the results, it is known that the speed did not influence
measurement results of each flank. And, each repeatability
satisfied the target repeatability (0.3 μm) shown in Table 2,
and it can be said that high repeatability for helix
measurement has been achieved by the developed high
precision GMM.
Figure 14 Repeatability of helix form measurement with helix
angle 0°, (a) left flank (b) right flank (see online
version for colours)

Figure 13 Repeatability of tooth profile measurement with helix

angle 0°, (a) left flank (b) right flank (see online
version for colours)

(a)

(a)

(b)

Table 6 Standard deviation of helix repeatability

(b) 6σ1 (μm) 6σ5 (μm) 6σ10 (μm)

Helix
angle Left Right Left Right Left Right
Table 5 Standard deviation of profile repeatability flank flank flank flank flank flank
6σ1 (μm) 6σ5 (μm) 6σ10 (μm) 0° 0.06 0.12 0.08 0.16 0.11 0.15
Helix
angle Left Right Left Right Left Right 15°RH 0.14 0.17 0.16 0.18 0.19 0.19
flank flank flank flank flank flank 0.21 0.22 0.28 0.23 0.27 0.26
30°RH
0° 0.04 0.08 0.03 0.06 0.04 0.09 0.13 0.15 0.14 0.15 0.11 0.28
15°LH
15°RH 0.09 0.10 0.09 0.10 0.08 0.12 0.15 0.17 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.15
30°LH
15°LH 0.07 0.05 0.08 0.04 0.07 0.05

5.3 Reproducibility verification

5.2.2 Repeatability of Helix measurement
Figure 14 shows the results of helix measurement on
(a) left flank and (b) right flank with helix angle 0°. Ten
measurement results for each measurement speed are piled
up. The result of the repeatability by using standard
deviation is shown in Table 6. All results are shown by 6σ,
and the suffix of σ shows each measurement speed. In case
of helix measurement, the repeatability was verified for five
By using same artefacts used in the repeatability verification,
the reproducibility was verified by measurements for
four different phase locations (0 deg, 90 deg, 180 deg, and
270 deg) of each artefact. Because the measurements for
repeatability showed few difference of measurement
deviation, the reproducibility was verified at one
measurement speed 10 mm/s. Other measurement conditions
were same with the repeatability verification.
188 T. Taguchi et al.

5.3.1 Reproducibility of Profile measurement said that high reproducibility for helix measurement has
been achieved by the developed high precision GMM.
Figure 15 shows the results of profile measurement on left
flank and right flank with helix angle 0°. Four-phase Table 8 Standard deviation of helix reproducibility
measurement results of each flank are piled up. The form
deviations 6σ for three helix angles are shown in Table 7. 6σ10 (μm)
Helix angle
From the results, it is known that the setting phase of Left flank Right flank
artefact did not influence measurement results of each flank.
0° 0.09 0.10
And all 6σ were very small comparing to the target
reproducibility (0.3 μm) shown in Table 2, and it can be 15°RH 0.13 0.13
said that high reproducibility for profile measurement has 30°RH 0.20 0.22
been achieved by the developed high precision GMM. 15°LH 0.15 0.16
30°LH 0.16 0.13
Figure 15 Reproducibility of tooth profile measurement with
helix angle 0° (see online version for colours)

6 Evaluation of BMC
To verify the effectiveness for applying the developed high
precision GMM to the gear calibration system, the
uncertainty of the detector, the rotational axis, three
orthogonal axes, the calibration work and so on, are
estimated, and the BMC of the developed high precision
GMM was evaluated based on the uncertainty calculation
manual in the gear calibration laboratory. First, the
uncertainty of the gear measurement (expanded uncertainty
at k = 2) was calculated from the results of each uncertainty
Table 7 Standard deviation of profile reproducibility factor. Some factors necessary for the quality control of
GMM were considered although long term stability of the
6σ10 (μm) developed high precision GMM had not been specified at
Helix angle
Left flank Right flank this time. As one example, the high precision BMC for the
0° 0.09 0.07 calibration of gears with reference diameter form 60 mm up
0.08 0.06
to 110 mm is shown in Table 9. From the result, it can be
15° RH
said that 14% to 40% improvement of BMC for the high
15° LH 0.09 0.07 precision GMM has been achieved comparing with the
present BMC shown in Table 1, and especially the
Figure 16 Reproducibility of helix form measurement with helix capability for pitch measurement has been improved
angle 0° (see online version for colours) largely.

Table 9 BMC of developed GMM

Calibration scope BMC (k = 2)

Total profile deviation: Fα 0.6 μm
Profile form deviation: ffα
Profile slope deviation: fＨα
Total helix deviation: Fβ 0.6 μm
Helix form deviation: ffβ
Helix slope deviation: fHβ
Total cumulative pitch deviation: Fp 0.7 μm
5.3.2 Reproducibility of helix measurement
Single pitch deviation: fpt 0.4 μm
Figure 16 shows the results of helix measurement on left
flank and right flank with helix angle 0°. The four-phase Note: Example: reference diameter from 60 mm up to
110 mm
measurement results of each flank are piled up. The form
deviations 6σ for five helix angles are shown in Table 8.
From the results, it is known that the setting phase of
7 Conclusions
artefact did not influence measurement results of each flank.
And all 6σ were very small comparing to the target The high precision GMM, with the target measurement
reproducibility (0.3 μm) shown in Table 2, and it can be accuracy ten times higher than the conventional GMM and
 Development of high precision gear measuring machine
three times higher than the standard GMM, has been
developed. To verify the developed GMM, the standard
deviation was calculated from measured data as an index of
the form deviation, and both the repeatability and
reproducibility of the developed GMM were confirmed to
be less than the target value. Besides, the BMC of the
developed GMM was evaluated based on the uncertainty
calculation manual in GMC as the JCSS gear calibration
laboratory. And it is known that the BMC of the developed
GMM is better than the present BMC declared by GMC.
Therefore, it is verified that the developed GMM has a
sufficient measurement capability to be applied to the gear
calibration system.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by Ministry of Economy, Trade
and Industry (METI), Japan.
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