Thermal error modeling and compensation of a heavy gantry-type machine tool and its verification in machining

Abstract

In order to derive a thermal error model that can better reflect the physical model of the machine tool to improve the model’s robustness and also has an explicit and simpler expression for real-time thermal error compensation, a new thermal error model of a heavy gantry-type machine tool was established. Firstly, multi-body system (MBS) was used to transform the thermal error modeling of the machine tool into the thermal error modeling of the discrete parts of the machine tool. Then, as for the thermal error modeling of the slider-ram structure, by analyzing the characteristic of the thermal expansion of a one-dimensional rod, power function was considered to better reflect that relationship in which the index number can represent the distance between heat source and the temperature measurement location. Then, its thermal error model was expressed as the superposition of two power functions according to the thermal superposition principle and the distribution of the heat sources. As for the thermal error modeling of gantry structure, it was simplified to a frame with −3 DOF. And its thermal error model was derived by virtual work principle (VWP). Then, the whole thermal error model of the machine tool was embedded into the Simens840d NC system and S7-300 programmable logic controller to establish a thermal error compensation system. Finally, the error model and compensation was verified by machining a rhombus-shaped workpiece of which different zones reflect the thermal error in different directions. And the workpiece was measured by a CMM. The results show that the average thermal error can be reduced from around 101 to 13.5 μm after the compensation, indicating the effectiveness of the thermal error modeling and compensation for the practical application.