Mechatronics

Module 3
 MECHATRONICS IN CNC MACHINES

CNC machine is the best example of a Mechatronics system.

CNC means operating a machine tool by a series of coded
instructions consisting of numbers, letters of the alphabets,
and symbols which the machine control unit (MCU) can
understand.
CNC automatically guides the axial movements of machine
tools with the help of computers.
Manual operation of table and spindle movements is
automated by using a CNC controllers and servo motors.
The spindle speed and work feed can precisely be controlled
and maintained at programmed level by the controller.
Constituent Parts of CNC Machines
Machine Structure
Guideways
Feed drives
Spindle and Spindle bearing
Measuring systems
Controls Software and operating interface
Gauging
Tool monitoring
MACHINE STRUCTURE

The machine structure is the load carrying and supporting

member of the machine tool.
All motors, drive mechanisms and other functional
assemblies of the machine tools are aligned to each other and
rigidly fixed to the machine structure.
The machine structure is subjected to static and dynamic
forces and it should not deform or vibrate beyond the
permissible limits under the action of these forces.
Irrespective to the direction and magnitude of the static and
dynamic forces, all components of the machine must remain
in correct relative position to maintain accuracy.
The basic design factors involved in the design of
machine structure are

Static Load

Dynamic Load and

Thermal Load
STATIC LOAD

It results from the weights of slides and the work piece,

and the forces due to cutting.
The structure should have adequate stiffness and a
proper structural configuration to keep the deformation
under static loading within the permissible limits.
DYNAMIC LOAD

It is a term used for the constantly changing forces acting on the structure
while movement is taking place. These forces cause the machine system to
vibrate.
The origin of such vibration is;
Unbalanced rotating parts
Improper meshing of gears
Bearing irregularities
Interrupted cuts while machining

The effect of these vibrations can be reduced by;

Reducing the mass of the structure
Increasing the stiffness of the structure
THERMAL LOAD
Some of the local heat sources which set up thermal gradient in machine tools are;
Electric motor
Friction in mechanical drives and gear boxes o
Friction in bearings and guideways
Machining process
Temperature of surrounding objects
These heat sources may cause localized deformation, resulting in considerable inaccuracies in
machine performance.
The following steps are generally followed to reduce thermal deformation;
• External mounting of drives, i.e. motors and gear boxes
• Removing frictional heat from bearings and guideways by a proper lubricating system.
• Efficient cooling and swarf removal system for the dissipation of heat generated from the
machining process
• Thermo – symmetric designing of the structure.
• Reducing ambient temperature by installing air conditioning units
GUIDEWAYS
Guideways (slide ways) are linear bearings for translatory
motion between two members of a machine tool such as carriage
and bed in lathe.
Guideways are used in machine tools to;
Control the direction or line of action of the carriage or the
table on which a tool or a work piece is held.
To absorb all the static and dynamic forces.
The shape and size of the work produced depends on the
accuracy of the movement and on the geometric and kinematic
accuracy of the guideway.
The geometric relationship of the slide and the guideway to
the machine base determines the geometric accuracy of the
Factors considered while designing guideways;
❑ Rigidity
❑ Damping capability
❑ Geometric and kinematic accuracy
❑ Velocity of slide
❑ Friction characteristics
❑ Wear resistance
❑ Provision for adjustment of play
❑ Position in relation to work area
❑ Protection against swarf and damage.

Guideways are primarily of two types;

❑ Friction guideways
❑ Antifriction linear motion (LM) guideways
FRICTION GUIDEWAYS

Friction guideways are most widely used

because of their low manufacturing cost
and good damping properties.
These guideways operate under conditions
of sliding friction and do not have a
constant coefficient of friction.
The coefficient of friction is very high
when the movement commences and as
the speed of the slide increases, it rapidly
falls and beyond a certain critical velocity
it remains almost constant.
To start the movement, the force to overcome friction has to be
very high. This force causes drive mechanism, such as a screw, to
elastically deform. The energy thus stored in the screw, together
with the applied force, causes the carriage to slip and move at a
faster rate.
As the speed increases the friction decreases and a greater
amount of movement than that intended for the slide takes place.
There is a possibility of this cycle of events repeating itself and
resulting in errors in positioning and consequently in jerky
motion. This phenomenon is known as stick – slip phenomenon.
There should be a minimum but constant friction between the
surfaces in contact to avoid this phenomeneon. It is achieved by
using strips of materials such as Poly Tetra Fluoro Ethylene
The friction guideways commonly used in machine
tools have a number of different forms;

❖ Vee

❖ Flat

❖ Dovetail and

❖ Cylindrical
VEE GUIDEWAYS

❑ The vee or inverted vee type guideway is

commonly used in machine tools especially
on lathe beds.

❑ The main advantage is that the parallel

alignment of the guideway with the spindle
axis is not affected by wear. There is a
closing action as the upper member settles
on the lower member and this automatically
maintains alignment.

❑ The majority of the lathes have a

combination of vee and flat guideways to
prevent the carriage from lifting the
guideways
VEE GUIDEWAYS
FLAT GUIDEWAYS
DOVE-TAIL GUIDEWAYS
CYLINDRICAL GUIDEWAYS
 ROLLING CONTACT BEARINGS (ANTIFRICTION
BEARINGS)
A bearing is a machine element that is used to support and
guide a moving member over a stationery member. Depending
on the type of contact the bearing can be classified as rolling
contact and sliding contact bearings.

• In rolling contact bearings the type of contact between

elements in relative motion is rolling.

• Rolling contact bearings are often referred to antifriction

bearings.

• Antifriction bearings, as their name implies, minimize

friction by removing any possible sliding between bearing
surfaces and replacing all contacts with rolling interfaces.
Anti friction bearings consist of the following basic elements.

❑ Outer race or ring

❑ Inner race or ring
❑ Rolling element and
❑ Cage or retainer

The races or rings

In the case of ball bearings, the bearing has inner and outer races and a set of
balls. Each race is a ring with a groove where the balls rest. The groove is
usually shaped so the ball is a slightly loose fit in the groove. Thus, in principle,
the ball contacts each race at a single point.

In the case of roller bearings, the bearing has inner and outer races and a set of
rollers. Each race is a ring with a groove where the rollers rest. The groove is
usually shaped so the roller is a slightly loose fit in the groove. Thus, in
principle, the roller contacts each race at a line contact point .
The rolling element
The rolling element is determined by the magnitude of the load and direction of the load (axial or
radial).

Ball
Balls are most commonly used rolling element. Can withstand relative large radial loads with some
axial loads.

Roller
Rollers are line contact and thus can carry very large radial loads with minimal axial loads.

Taper roller
Taper rollers are line contact and will run in taper races. They can carry both radial and axial loads.

Needle roller
Needle rollers is similar to rollers, their length is longer in relation to their diameter. Normally used
where radial space is limited

Spherical roller
A spherical roller bearing is a rolling-element bearing that permits rotation with low friction, and
permits angular misalignment.
Journal Bearing

• Journal bearings are the simplest

types of bearings that allows the
shaft to rotate freely within a
supporting sleeve.

• It is a sliding contact type bearing

• The part of the shaft which is fit

in these bearings is called a
journal hence the name journal
bearing.
 Hydrodynamic Bearing
❑ In Hydrodynamic journal bearing there is no
external pump.
❑ Journal rotation causes pumping of the
lubricant (oil) flowing around the bearing in
the rotation direction.
❑ If there is no force applied to the journal its
position will remain concentric to the bearing
position. However a loaded journal displaces
from the concentric position and forms a
converging gap between the bearing and
journal surfaces.
❑ The pumping action of the journal forces the
oil to squeeze through the wedge shaped gap
generating a pressure.
Hydrostatic Bearing
❑ Hydrostatic lubrication is obtained by
introducing the lubricant, which is
sometimes air or water, into the load-
bearing area at a pressure high enough to
separate the surfaces with a relatively thick
film of lubricant.

❑ Unlike hydrodynamic lubrication, this kind

of lubrication does not require motion of
one surface relative to another.
 Recirculating Ball Screws
► In the machine tool, the rotary motion from the drive motor needs to be
converted to the linear motion. For this purpose a lead screw and nut
arrangement is normally used. Friction and backlash are the main problems
associated with lead screw and nut.
► Hence most of the CNC machine tools use a lead screw with a recirculating ball
nut.
► To reduce the friction, the recirculating ball screws employ rolling friction by
the use of balls very similar to a ball bearing.
► The nut is replaced by a series of balls that circulate in a channel made in the
form of threads.
► This rolling motion of the balls results in a very low coefficient of friction
between the screw shaft and nut.
► The balls at the end of the thread portion in the nut will be repositioned back
into the beginning of the thread form by a deflector or an external return tube.
Recirculating Ball Screws
 Preloading of Recirculating Ball Screw
► Pre loading is an axial or thrust load applied to a bearing that removes excess
backlash.
► Preloading is the process of applying initial load to the nut which will cause
elastic deformation of the screw threads in the axial direction, thereby
increasing the axial rigidity of the ball screw nut.
► Commonly used preloading techniques are;
► Tension preload
► Compression Preload and
► Oversize preload
Tension Preload
► Tension preload provides the required amount of preload by the insertion of
a spacer of specified width between the two nuts.
► Each nut exerts pressure on its perspective ball, thus forcing the balls away
from each other
Compression preload
► In this case also the preload is achieved through the insertion of a spacer
between the nuts but the pressure is applied in the opposite direction,
squeezing them together and forcing the balls against threads of the screw
shaft.
► The spacer thickness depends on the amount of preload
Oversize Preload
► For single nut ball screws, one type of preload
is accomplished by using balls which are just
slightly larger than the space provided between
the nut and screw shaft.
► This method is best suited to provide
comparatively light preload to the extent of
eliminating axial clearance.
► In oversize ball preload, the balls have 4 point
contact, thereby increasing the operational
efficiency.
Recirculating Roller Screw
► In recirculating type the rollers are not threaded but have circular grooves of
thread form along their length. The rollers are equally spaced around the
shaft and are kept in their circumferential position by a cage. The rollers
move axially relative to the nut at a distance equal to the pitch of the screw
for each rotation of the screw or nut.
► There is an axial recess cut along the inside of the nut. After one rotation of
the drive screw, the rollers pass into this recess and disengage from the
thread on the screw and the nut.
► While they are in the recess, the edge cam on a ring inside the nut causes
them to move back to their starting positions. While one roller is disengaged,
other rollers provide the driving power
► They provide backlash free movement and their efficiency is of the same
order as of ball screws.
► Roller screws are much costlier than the ball screws
 Measuring System for NC Machines
On all the CNC machines, an electronic measuring system is employed on each
controlled axis to monitor the movement and to compare the position of the slide
and the spindle with the desired position. Purpose of measuring system are to;
► Monitor the position of the slide on slideways
► Orienting the spindle/table and
► Measuring the speed of the spindle.
There are rotary (eg. Encoder) and linear measuring system (eg. linear scale). The
measuring system can be classified as;
► Direct measuring system and
► Indirect measuring system
 Direct Measuring System
► In this the linear displacement is measured directly at the slide.
► Since backlash errors in axis drive elements do not affect the
measuring process, a high degree of accuracy is achieved.
► The measuring device is fixed onto the moving machine element which
detect the actual distance travelled by the machine slide.
► include linear scales and inductosyn.
Indirect Measurement System

► Here the slide position is determined by the rotation of ball screw, pinion or
the drive motor.
► This system is more convenient and less costly compared to direct measuring
system.
► But there are errors like backlash and torsional deformation. These errors
can be minimsed by error compensation.
► Ecoders and resolvers are examples of indirect measurement systems.
MATHEMATICAL MODELING

► Mathematical models are simplified representations of certain aspects of

a real system.
► Created using equations to describe the relation between input and
output of the system
► Used to predict the behaviour of a system under specific conditions.
BUILDING BLOCKS
❑ A system model can be made up from a range of
building blocks.
❑ Each building block is considered to have a single
property or function.
MECHANICAL SYSTEM- BUILDING BLOCKS

► Spring
► Dashpot
► Mass
Spring
► The 'stiffness' of a system can be represented
by an ideal spring. For a linear spring, the
extension x is proportional to the applied
extending force F
In the case of a spring the
deflection is proportional to the
applied forces, i.e.
F=kx
where k is a constant. The
bigger the value of k, the
greater the forces have to be to
stretch or compress the spring
and so the greater the stiffness.
Dashpot
The 'damping' of a mechanical system can be
represented by a dashpot. This is a piston moving in a
viscous medium, e.g. oil, in a cylinder. For such a
system, the resistive force F which has to be overcome
is proportional to the velocity of the piston and hence
the rate of change of displacement x with time, i.e.
dy/dt. Thus we can write:
Mass
The mass building block represents the inertia of a system.
The bigger the mass, the greater the force required to give it
a specific acceleration. The relationship between the force F
and the acceleration a is (Newton’s second law) F = ma,
where the constant of proportionality between the force and
the acceleration is the constant called the mass m.
Example 1
A machine mounted on the ground

Net force applied to mass m

ma= F - kx - cv
Example 2

The chassis of a car as a result of a wheel

moving along a road.
Example 3

The driver of a car as it is

driven along a road.
 ROTATIONAL
SYSTEM
For rotational
systems the
basic building
blocks are a
torsion spring, a
rotary damper
and the moment
of inertia
Example
Rotating a mass at the end of a shaft

Physical Situation
Building Block Model
Mathematical Model
Electrical System – Building blocks

The basic elements of electrical systems are the pure components of

resistor, inductor and capacitor.
Inductor
For an inductor the potential difference v across it
at any instant depends on the rate of change of
current (di/dt) through i

where L is the inductance. The direction of the

potential difference is in the opposite direction to
the potential difference used to drive the current
through the inductor, hence the term back e.m.f.
The equation can be rearranged to give
Capacitor
For a capacitor, the potential difference across it
depends on the charge q on the capacitor plates at the
instant concerned:

where C is the capacitance. Since the current i to or

from the capacitor is the rate at which charge moves to
or from the capacitor plates, i.e. i = dq/dt, then the
total charge q on the plates is given by:
So,
Resistor

For a resistor, the potential difference v across it at any instant depends on

the current i through it
v = Ri
where R is the resistance
Building up a model for an electrical
system
The equations describing how the electrical building blocks can be combined
are Kirchhoff ’s laws:
► Law 1: The total current flowing towards a junction is equal to the total
current flowing from that junction, i.e. the algebraic sum of the currents
at the junction is zero.
► Law 2: in a closed circuit or loop, the algebraic sum of the potential
differences across each part of the circuit is equal to the applied e.m.f.
 Resistor Inductor Capacitor System

If Kirchhoff’s second law is applied to this circuit

loop,
v =vR + vL + vC
Since there is just a single loop,
the current i will be the same
through all circuit elements. If
the output from the circuit is
the potential difference across
the capacitor, vC, then since vR
= iR and vL = L(di/dt)
Fluid System – Building Blocks

► Fluid systems can be considered to fall into

two categories:
► hydraulic, where the fluid is a liquid and is deemed to be incompressible;
► and pneumatic, where it is a gas which can be compressed and consequently
shows a density change.
Hydraulic Resistance

► Hydraulic resistance is the resistance to flow which

occurs as a result of a liquid flowing through valves or
changes in a pipe diameter. The relationship between
the volume rate of flow of liquid q through the
resistance element and the resulting pressure
difference (p1 - p2 ) is
p1 - p2 = Rq
where R is a constant called the
hydraulic resistance.
 Hydraulic Capacitance
► Hydraulic capacitance is the term used to describe
energy storage with a liquid where it is stored in the
form of potential energy. A height of liquid in a
container is one form of such a storage. For such a
capacitance, the rate of change of volume V in the
container, i.e. dV/dt, is equal to the difference
between the volumetric rate at which liquid enters the
container q1 and the rate at which it leaves q2,

Since, p= hρg

Defining Hydraulic Capacitance

C as
Thus
Hydraulic Inertance

► Hydraulic inertance is the equivalent of inductance in

electrical systems or a spring in mechanical systems.
To accelerate a fluid and so increase its velocity, a
force is required. Consider a block of liquid of mass m.
The net force acting on the liquid is
Pneumatic System

With pneumatic systems the three basic building

blocks are, as with hydraulic systems, resistance,
capacitance and inertance. However, gases differ
from liquids in being compressible, i.e. a change
in pressure causes a change in volume and hence
density.
Pneumatic resistance R is defined in terms of the
mass rate of flow dm/dt and the pressure
difference ( p1 - p2 ) as:
Pneumatic Capacitance

►
Pneumatic Capacitance

Where C1 is defined as the pneumatic capacitance due to the change in

volume of the container and C2 is defined as the pneumatic capacitance
due to the compressibility of the gas
Pneumatic Inertance

► Pneumatic inertance is due to the pressure drop

necessary to accelerate a block of gas. According to
Newton’s second law, the net force is ma = d(mv )/dt.
Since the force is provided by the pressure difference
(p1 - p2), then if A is the cross-sectional area of the
block of gas being accelerated

with the pneumatic inertance I being

I = L/A.
Thermal System - Building Blocks

► The basic building blocks for thermal systems are :

resistance and capacitance. There is a net flow of heat
between two points if there is a temperature
difference between them. A relationship similar to
electrical resistance can be used to define thermal
resistance R. If q is the rate of flow of heat and (T1 – T2
) the temperature difference, then
Thermal Capacitance
► Thermal capacitance is a measure of the store of
internal energy in a system. Thus, if the rate of flow of
heat into a system is q1 and the rate of flow out is q2,
then rate of change of internal energy = q1 - q2
► An increase in internal energy means an increase in
temperature.
Since internal energy change =mc x change in
temperature
where m is the mass and c the specific heat capacity,
then
rate of change of internal energy = mc x rate of change of
temperature

Where C=mc is the thermal Capacitance

Analogy
Mechanical Electrical Fluid Thermal
Mass Capacitor Capacitor Capacitor
Spring Inductor Inertance None
Dashpot Resistor Resistance Resistance
 Important Questions
► Explain the design considerations of machine structure in a CNC machine.
► Explain about guideways used in a CNC machine tools
► Compare hydrostatic and hydrodynamic journal bearings.
► Explain about preloading of recirculating ball screw.
► Explain the construction and advantages of recirculating ball screw
► Explain about direct and indirect measuring systems in a CNC machine.
► Explain about the basic building blocks of mechanical systems in mathematical
modeling.
► Explain about the basic building blocks of mechanical systems in mathematical
modeling.