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In today's industrial environment, there is a growing need for accurate, flexible, and user-friendly devices that provide 3-D measurements at high data acquisition rate while ensuring the highest possible data quality. Decreasing time-to-market goals has encouraged the development of optical 3-D digitizing and coordinate measuring systems using structured illumination or laser scanning techniques [1, 2]. Engineering applications now require the fast and accurate measurement of complex shapes and geometrical features using mobile 3-D sensors that can be adapted efficiently to objects of differing sizes without compromising flexibility, speed of acquisition, or accuracy. To fulfil these industrial demands, an advanced, high-resolution, and flexible 3-D sensor, the COMETVarioZoom, has been developed that is based on a fringe projection concept.

The Timken Company performed a detailed study involving topographical imagery and surface mapping. The primary purpose of the study was to develop a direct correlation between surface topography and component durability/life. Through these studies, an optimal surface finish was developed. A production environment was then formed to mass-produce components with this finish on a contact-to-contact component. The results of the study guide us to an increase in durability/life of the Timken product. The paper is divided into three sections. The first section describes the component itself and the testing procedures by which durability/life were determined. The second section describes the analytical work done at the Timken Research facility where topographical imagery and surface mapping were performed. At this time, topographical analysis of several surface finishes paved the way to create an optimal surface texture for increased durability/life.