Minimum cost tolerancing under uncertain cost estimates

This paper presents Cost Tolerance Sensitivity Analysis (CTSA), a new method of determining which features are critical and noncritical early in the design phase when cost information is uncertain. The method utilizes minimum cost tolerancing methods combined with designed experiments to determine which features are sensitive or insensitive to uncertainties in the cost-tolerance curve estimates. The paper also discusses novel aspects that must be considered in estimating cost tolerance curves in the early design phases. The method is demonstrated on the case study of a windmill transmission. The results show that the method could successfully identify critical and non-critical dimensions, both cost and tolerances must be considered simultaneously, and examination of near optimal solutions improves the results.