engineering

Precision engineering

Precision engineering is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Precision engineering rather than just read about it. In short: Precision engineering is a subdiscipline of electrical engineering, software engineering, electronics engineering, mechanical engineering, and optical engineering concerned with designing machines, fixtures, and other structures that have exceptionally low tolerances, are repeatable, and are stable over time. These approaches have applications in machine tools, MEMS, NEMS, optoelectronics design, and many other fiel…

Key takeaways

Precision engineering belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Precision engineering to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Precision engineering from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Precision engineering is a subdiscipline of electrical engineering, software engineering, electronics engineering, mechanical engineering, and optical engineering concerned with designing machines, fixtures, and other structures that have exceptionally low tolerances, are repeatable, and are stable over time. These approaches have applications in machine tools, MEMS, NEMS, optoelectronics design, and many other fields. Precision engineering is a branch of engineering that focuses on the design, development and manufacture of product with high levels of accuracy and repeatability. It involves the use of advanced technologies and techniques to achieve tight tolerance and dimensional control in the manufacturing process.

Overview Professors Hiromu Nakazawa and Pat McKeown provide the following list of goals for precision engineering:

Create a highly precise movement. Reduce the dispersion of the product's or part's function. Eliminate fitting and promote assembly, especially automatic assembly. Reduce the initial cost. Reduce the running cost. Extend the life span. Enable the design safety factor to be lowered. Improve interchangeability of components so that corresponding parts made by other factories or firms can be used in their place. Improve quality control through higher machine accuracy capabilities and hence reduce scrap, rework, and conventional inspection. Achieve a greater wear/fatigue life of components. Make functions independent of one another. Achieve greater miniaturization and packing densities. Achieve further advances in technology and the underlying sciences.

Technical Societies American Society for Precision Engineering euspen - European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology JSPE- The Japan Society for Precision Engineering DSPE - Dutch Society for Precision Engineering SPETA - Singapore Precision Engineering and Technology Association

See also Abbe error Accuracy and precision Flexures Kinematic coupling Measurement uncertainty Kinematic determinacy

References This article incorporates public domain material from the National Institute of Standards and Technology

External links Precision Engineering, the Journal of the International Societies for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology

Precision Engineering Centre at Cranfield University

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Precision engineering

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Precision engineering claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Precision engineering before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Precision engineering ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Precision engineering

In research: Precision engineering appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Precision engineering in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Precision engineering is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Mechanical engineering, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Precision engineering outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Precision engineering in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Precision engineering means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Precision engineering out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Precision engineering in simple terms?

Why does Precision engineering matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Precision engineering?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Precision engineering.