NONCONTACT SMALL DIAMETER BORE GAUGE

CURRENT PEACEKEEPER AND SMALL ICBM GUIDANCE SYSTEMS REQUIRE TOLERANCES ON SFIR (SPECIFIC FORCE INTEGRATING RECEIVER) AND TGG (THIRD GENERATION GYRO) BORES OF 5X10(-6) INCH (125NM). CURRENTLY, THESE BORES ARE INSPECTED USING A MANUALLY LOADED AIR GAUGE. IT IS POSSIBLE FOR THE OPERATOR TO DAMAGE THESE PYROCERAM BORES WHILE ATTEMPTING TO MEASURE THEM. THE PART MUST THEN BE WORKED OR SCRAPPED.THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MECHANICAL LOADED, HIGHLY ACCURATE NONCONTACT SMALL DIAMETER BORE MEASURING SYSTEM IS DESIRED SINCE IT COULD SAVE MANY MANHOURS AND REDUCE THE SCRAP RATE ON VERY EXPENSIVE PARTS. FLOW RESEARCH INC., PROPOSES TO CONDUCT A PHASE I FEASIBILITY STUDY TO INVESTIGATE POSSIBILITY OF DEVELOPING A NONCONTACT MEASURING SYSTEM BASED ON THE PRINCIPLE OF OPTICAL TRIANGULATION. IF SUCCESSFUL, A PHASE II PROGRAM WILL BE DEVOTED TO FINALIZING THE DESIGN AND THEN MANUFACTURING, TESTING AND VALIDATING A FULL-SCALE PROTOTYPE MEASURING SYSTEM.