In a machine tool, the three major types of errors are geometric, thermal and cutting-force included errors. Thereinto, the geometric errors make up the major part of the inaccuracy of a machine tool, the error caused by cutting forces depending on th...
In a machine tool, the three major types of errors are geometric, thermal and cutting-force included errors. Thereinto, the geometric errors make up the major part of the inaccuracy of a machine tool, the error caused by cutting forces depending on the types of tool and work piece and the cutting conditions adapted. In a machine tool, continuous usage causes heat generation at the moving elements and this heat causes expansion of the various structural elements of the machine tool. It is this expansion of the structural linkages of the machine that leads to inaccuracy in the positioning of the tool. Such errors are called thermal errors and constitute a significant portion of the total error in a machine tool. Thus the overall volumetric error of a machine tool is not only dependent on errors due to the assembly and the specific kinematic structure of the machine but also on the thermal errors.
As a tried and tested technology, ball screw drive systems are still used in a majority of machine tools which can meet the demands of higher productivity and tight part tolerances due to their low cost and high degree of stiffness. Ball screw is a precision mechanical linear actuator that uses steel balls between a screw shaft and a nut to transfer the motion which convert rotary into linear movement when screw is rotated. Different from any conventional power transmission screw, which needs to overcome sliding friction between the screw and the nut threads, ball screw operates similar to bearing components could achieve high mechanical efficiency since it moves in relatively low rolling friction. Ball screw is the key contributor to the thermal error of a machine tool which leading to dimensional error of machined work-piece.
In order to eliminate geometric error, thermal error and noise error of ball screw feed drive system, series of works were done in this paper. In geometric error elimination, using the method of ball screw groove surface finishing, groove surface grinding process optimization and groove surface lapping technology were developed. In thermal error elimination, the nut and screw liquid cooling method were used to control heat generation of ball screw system. And a series of tests contains axial deformation, positioning accuracy, temperature variation and temperature distribution was carried out in the certain working condition to verify the performance of the such cooling system. And in the noise error elimination case, improvement of circulation method was used. As the results, the such methods of error elimination of ball screw feed drive presented excellent performance improvement.