Experiments and simulation of thermal behaviors of the dual-drive servo feed system

Abstract

The machine tool equipped with the dual-drive servo feed system could realize high feed speed as well as sharp precision. Currently, there is no report about the thermal behaviors of the dual-drive machine, and the current research of the thermal characteristics of machines mainly focuses on steady simulation. To explore the influence of thermal characterizations on the precision of a jib boring machine assembled dual-drive feed system, the thermal equilibrium tests and the research on thermal-mechanical transient behaviors are carried out. A laser interferometer, infrared thermography and a temperature-displacement acquisition system are applied to measure the temperature distribution and thermal deformation at different feed speeds. Subsequently, the finite element method (FEM) is used to analyze the transient thermal behaviors of the boring machine. The complex boundary conditions, such as heat sources and convective heat transfer coefficient, are calculated. Finally, transient variances in temperatures and deformations are compared with the measured values, and the errors between the measurement and the simulation of the temperature and the thermal error are 2 °C and 2.5 μm, respectively. The researching results demonstrate that the FEM model can predict the thermal error and temperature distribution very well under specified operating condition. Moreover, the uneven temperature gradient is due to the asynchronous dual-drive structure that results in thermal deformation. Additionally, the positioning accuracy decreases as the measured point became further away from the motor, and the thermal error and equilibrium period both increase with feed speeds. The research proposes a systematical method to measure and simulate the boring machine transient thermal behaviors.