Global interference detection technology for five-axis machining of complex surfaces

Abstract

Global interference detection and avoidance are key issues in tool path planning for five-axis machining of complex surfaces. Improving the detection accuracy and efficiency has always been the main goal of global interference research. In this paper, a novel method for fast interference judgment is proposed. First, the four planes with X or Y extremum are obtained by the intersection operation between the plane and the machined surface and solving extremum, respectively. Then, the four boundaries of the initial interference detection area are obtained by intersecting the four extreme planes with the machined surface. To determine whether there is collision interference between the tool and the machined part, the shortest distance between the tool axis and the detection area is used for interference judgment. The shortest distance can be obtained by calculating the distance between the discrete point in the detection area and the tool axis. In order to ensure the uniformity of the discrete points, the discretization of points was carried out in the projection area of the initial detection area on the XOY plane, rather than on the part surface. For improving the efficiency of interference detection, the four-sided constraint method is used to screen the discrete points in the initial detection area. Only the points satisfying the screening conditions can be used as effective detection points to calculate the distances, and the shortest distance can be found from all the calculated distances. In this paper, the subdivision technology is used to achieve high-precision interference detection. At the end of the paper, the interference detection algorithm was tested by two examples, and the correctness of the test results was verified by the VERICUT simulation and cutting experiment. The proposed algorithm can be applied to interference detection of five-axis end milling of complex surfaces.