High-Speed Biprocessor Configuration for Numerical and Adaptive Control of Machine Tools

Abstract

The object of the paper is to present a powerful microprocessor-based control structure, which provides both the numerical control (NC) function and the adaptive control (AC) function for the machining process. References are made concerning the system’s architecture, the communication protocol and the basic configuration of the processing units. Thus, from the point of view of technic and economic requirements of the cutting process, several single board microcomputers, which exchange data and commands over a parallel common bus, optimize overall performance indexes such as: cutting productivity, time or cost and tool life, preserving the contouring properties. The hardware implementation of the control system in a multimicroprocessor structure allows for parallel computing of the position and feedrate references in a biprocessor software organization which involves the geometry processor for the position loop, and the axis processor for feedrate stabilization. Both units are connected to a master processor, which supplies the sampling period for the displacement algorithms.