A novel gear machining CNC design and experimental research

Abstract

Strict position and speed synchronization constraint relationship of the gear machine tools axes make gear machining different from the traditional multiaxis machining process. This paper proposes a reconfigurable embedded CNC system platform used for gear machine tools based on the “ARM + DSP” hardware structure. The parametric automatic programming module is introduced to generate NC machining program according to the gear parameters, cutting tool parameters, and machining process parameters automatically. The gear machining process-database module is used to support the previous function modules to optimize the cutting process cycle parameters through intelligent expert knowledge base. In order to meet the requirements of multiaxis synchronous movement, a new type of software electronic gearbox is put forward, and the implementation method of it in the CNC is also studied. To reconfigure the electronic gearbox (EGB) function and simple parameters setting, the embedded gear machining CNC system can be applied to different gear cutting machine tools, such as gear milling, shaping, hobbing, scudding, grinding, and honing machine. Finally, the proposed embedded CNC system is verified experimentally on a six-axis gear hobbing machine. All of the tracking error, contour error, and final measured results show that the proposed CNC system which has these core gear machining function modules can work effectively.