Online measurement method for roundness of large aluminum alloy ring based on laser ranging principle

Aluminum alloy rings are widely used in aerospace, energy, petrochemical, and equipment applications. The loss of roundness often occurs because of the weak rigidity and unstable plasticity of aluminum alloy rings. Therefore, an online measurement technique for the roundness of aluminum alloy rings is critical for ensuring the processing quality of aluminum alloy rings. In this paper, an online roundness measurement method based on the laser ranging principle and improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO) is proposed with the aid of the rotation of the ring during the rolling process. First, the distance from the outer surface of the ring to the laser rangefinder was measured using a triangular laser rangefinder with the help of the rotation of the ring in the rolling process. Second, the distance data were denoized using an improved Kalman filter algorithm to reduce the influence of random noise on the measurement results. Finally, the roundness and geometric center were evaluated using the IPSO algorithm combined with the minimum zone circle (MZC) method and compared with the results obtained using the standard particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, genetic algorithm (GA), and least square (LS) algorithm. The experimental results show that the roundness measured by the IPSO algorithm is less than 0.06 mm, demonstrating better performance in the roundness evaluation. The measurement method for roundness proposed in this paper is suitable for the online evaluation of large aluminum alloy rings, avoiding the influence of ring size on roundness measurement.