Elements of cost-based tolerancing

One goal for optical design is to assign tolerances so that the as-built systems satisfy all required specifications and have the lowest fabrication and assembly expense. Tolerances affect not only the image quality, but also the production cost. Thus tolerance assignment is a critical step in the optical design process, In this paper we discuss the essential elements of a cost-based tolerancing method. The paper concludes with an example comparing results from a cost-based tolerancing procedure with results from a conventional approach.