MET402 Mechatronics

MET402 – MECHATRONICS
MODULE III
 Mechatronics in Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines: Design of modern
CNC machines.

 Mechatronics elements - Machine structure: guide ways, drives. Bearings: anti-friction

bearings, hydrostatic bearing and hydrodynamic bearing. Re-circulating ball screws,
pre-loading methods. Re-circulating roller screws.

 System modeling - Mathematical models and basic building blocks of general

mechanical, electrical, fluid and thermal systems.

MECHATRONICS IN COMPUTER NUMERICAL CONTROL MACHINES

 CNC machine is the best and basic example of application of Mechatronics in

manufacturing automation.
 Efficient operation of conventional machine tools such as Lathes, milling machines, drilling
machine is dependent on operator skill and training. Also a lot of time is consumed in work
piece setting, tool setting and controlling the process parameters viz. feed, speed, depth of
cut. Thus conventional machining is slow and expensive to meet the challenges of
frequently changing product/part shape and size.
 Computer numerical control (CNC) machines are now widely used in small to large scale
industries.
 CNC machine tools are integral part of Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) or
Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) 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. These instructions are converted into electrical pulses of current which the
machine’s motors and controls follow to carry out machining operations on a workpiece.
 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.
 Modern machine tools are now equipped with friction-less drives such as re-circulating ball
screw drives, Linear motors etc.

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.

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 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.
 All components of the machine must remain in correct relative positions to maintain the
geometric accuracy, regardless of the magnitude and direction of these forces.
 The machine structure configuration is also influenced by the considerations of manufacture,
assembly and operation.

Static Load:

 It results from the weights of slides and the workpiece, 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.
 Generally there are two basic configurations of machine tools as shown in figure 4.1

Fig 3.1 Commonly Used Configurations of Machine Tools

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;
o Unbalanced rotating parts
o Improper meshing of gears
o Bearing irregularities
o Interrupted cuts while machining
o The effect of these vibrations can be reduced by;
o Reducing the mass of the structure
o Increasing the stiffness of the structure
o Improving the damping properties

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Thermal Load:

 Some of the local heat sources which set up thermal gradient in machine tools are;
o Electric motor
o Friction in mechanical drives and gear boxes
o Friction in bearings and guideways
o Machining process
o Temperature of surrounding objects
 These heat sources may cause localised deformation, resulting in considerable inaccuracies
in machine performance.
 The following steps are generally followed to reduce thermal deformation;
o External mounting of drives, i.e. motors and gear boxes
o Removing frictional heat from bearings and guideways by a proper lubricating
system.
o Efficient cooling and swarf removal system for the dissipation of heat generated
from the machining process
o Thermo – symmetric designing of the structure.
o 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;
o Control the direction or line of action of the carriage or the table on which a tool
or a workpiece is held.
o 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 (moving part) and the guideway (stationary part) to
the machine base determines the geometric accuracy of the machine.
 Kinematic accuracy depends up on the straightness, flatness and parallelism errors in
guideways.
 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;
o Friction guideways
o Antifriction linear motion (LM) guideways

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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.

Fig 3.2 Coefficient of Friction vs Slide Velocity

 Stick – slip phenomenon – To start the movement, the force to overcome friction has to
be correspondingly high. This force results in the drive mechanism, such as a screw, being
elastically deformed. 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 (PTFE) or Turcite lining at the guideway interface.
 Different types of friction guideways
are; o Vee Guideways
o Flat and Dovetail Guideways
o Cylindrical Guideways

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Vee Guideways

Fig 3.3 Vee Guideway

 The vee or inverted vee is widely used on machine tools, especially on lathe beds.
 One of the advantages of vee or inverted vee 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 the alignment. Jibs are, therefore, not required with the vee
guideway to take up the clearance caused by wear.
 On some machines, the angles of the vee are different so as to reduce the possibility of
uneven wearing of vee sides.
 The majority of lathes have a combination of vee and flat guideways to prevent the carriage
from lifting of the guideway.

Flat and Dovetail Guideways

Fig 3.4 Flat and Dovetail Guideway

 Flat or dovetail forms are commonly used in CNC machine tools. The flat guideways have
better load – bearing capabilities than the other guideways.
 Jibs are used to ensure accurate fitting of the slide to both the flat and dovetail guideways.
The jibs are tapered and can be adjusted to reduce excessive clearance caused by wear.
 The metal to metal contact on the vee, flat and dovetail types of guideway is normally cast
iron to cast iron. The cast iron may be heat treated to increase its hardness and the surfaces
ground to obtain the required accuracy.

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Cylindrical Guideways

Fig 3.5 Cylindrical Guideway

 In cylindrical guideways, the bore in the carriage housing provides support all around the
guideway.
 For relatively short traverse and light loads, cylindrical guideways are very efficient.
 A limitation on the use of these guideways for long traverse is that if the guide bar is
supported only at each end, it may sag or bend in the centre of the span under a load.

ANTIFRICTION LINEAR MOTION (LM) GUIDEWAYS

 These are used on CNC machine tools to;

o Reduce the amount of wear
o Improve the smoothness of the movement
o Reduce friction
o Reduce heat generation
 Antifriction guideways are used to overcome the relatively high coefficient of friction in
metal to metal contacts and the resulting limitations addressed in the above list.
 They use rolling elements in between the moving and stationary elements of the machine.

TYPES OF ANTIFRICTION GUIDEWAYS

 Linear bearing with balls.

 Linear bearing with rollers

Linear bearing with balls:

Fig 3.6 Linear Bearing with Balls

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 A linear ball bush uses recirculating balls within a bush type of bearing.
 These are designed to run along precision ground shafts and offer frictionless movement
over varying strokes of length with high linear precision.

Linear bearing with rollers:

Fig 3.7 Linear Bearings with Rollers

 The recirculating linear roller bearings are used for movement along a flat plane.
 Their main characteristic feature is that there is continuous roller circulation which allows
unlimited linear movement.
 It consists of hardened and precision ground supporting elements and a number of
cylindrical rollers. As in the case of roller bearings, the rollers are guided between shoulders
of the supporting elements with very close tolerances.
 The grinding element prevents the rollers from falling out and sliding against each other.
Also the guiding element assists in smooth return of the rollers to the loading zone.
 The rollers are in constact with guideway machined on the bed of the machine. This
arrangement provides smooth and easy movement but the machine bed has to be machined
to an accurate form. Also the machine bed surfaces coming in contact with the rollers have
to be hardened.
 These bearings can be mounted horizontally for load carrying applications such as machine
tool table or they can be mounted vertically to provide support, guidance and motion for the
vertical elements of the machine tool.

Advantages:

 Low frictional resistance

 No stick – slip
 Ease of assembly
 Commercially available in ready to fit condition
 High load carrying capacity
 Heavier preloading possibility high traverse speed

Disadvantages:

 Lower damping capacity

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OTHER TYPES OF GUIDE WAYS

Hydrostatic Guideways

 The surface of the slide is separated from the guideway by a very thin film of fluid supplied
at pressures as high as 300bar.
 Frictional wear and stick slip are entirely eliminated.
 A high degree of dynamic stiffness and damping is obtained with these guideways.
 Their application is limited due to high cost and difficulty in assembly.

Aerostatic Guideways

 The slide is raised on a cushion of compressed air which entirely separates the slide and the
guideway surfaces.
 The major limitation is the lower stiffness, which limits their application to positioning only
( Eg. Coordinate Measuring Machine)

DRIVES

 Basic function of a CNC machine is to provide automatic and precise motion control to its
elements such work table, tool spindle etc. Drives are used to provide such kinds of
controlled motion to the elements of a CNC machine tool.
 A drive system consists of drive motors and ball lead-screws.
 The control unit sends the amplified control signals to actuate drive motors which in turn
rotate the ball lead-screws to position the machine table or cause rotation of the spindle.
 Drives used in an automated system or in CNC system are of different types such as
electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic.

Electrical drives:

 These are direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC) servo motors. They are small in
size and are easy to control.

Hydraulic drives:

 These drives have large power to size ratio and provide step less motion with great
accuracy. But these are difficult to maintain and are bulky.
 Generally they employ petroleum based hydraulic oil which may have fire hazards at
upper level of working temperatures.
 Also hydraulic elements need special treatment to protect them against corrosion.
Pneumatic drives:

 This drives use air as working medium which is available in abundant and is fire proof.
 They are simple in construction and are cheaper.
 However these drives generate low power, have less positioning accuracy and are noisy.

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The various drives used in CNC machines can be classified as:

 Spindle drives to provide the main spindle power for cutting action
 Feed drives to drive the axis

SPINDLE DRIVES

Fig 3.8 Schematic of Spindle Drive

 The spindle drives are used to provide angular motion to the workpiece or a cutting tool.
 These drives are essentially required to maintain the speed accurately within a power band
which will enable machining of a variety of materials with variations in material hardness.
 The speed ranges can be from 10 to 20,000 rpm.
 The machine tools mostly employ DC spindle drives. But as of late, the AC drives are
preferred to DC drives due to the advent of microprocessor-based AC frequency inverter.
 High overload capacity is also needed for unintended overloads on the spindle due to an
inappropriate feed. It is desirous to have a compact drive with highly smooth operation.

FEED DRIVES

Fig 3.9 Schematic of Feed Drive

 These are used to drive the slide or a table.

 The requirements of an ideal feed drive are as follows.
o The feed motor needs to operate with constant torque characteristics to overcome
friction and working forces.
o The drive speed should be extremely variable with a speed range of about 1: 20000,
which means it should have a maximum speed of around 2000 rpm and at a minimum
speed of 0.1 rpm.
o The feed motor must run smoothly.
o The drive should have extremely small positioning resolution.
o Other requirements include high torque to weight ratio, low rotor inertia and quick
response in case of contouring operation where several feed drives have to work
simultaneously.

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 Variable speed DC drives are used as feed drives in CNC machine tools. However now-a-
days AC feed drives are being used.

ELECTRICAL DRIVES (Refer Module V Notes)

Fig 3.10 Classification of Electrical Drives

SPINDLE BEARINGS

 The rotational accuracy of the spindle is dependent on the quality and design of the bearings
used and the preloading.
 The bearings should support the spindle radially and axially.
 The accuracy and the quality of the work produced depends directly on the geometrical
accuracy, running accuracy and stiffness of the spindle assembly.
 Various types of spindle bearings used in the design of a spindle for machine tools are;
o Hydrodynamic bearings
o Hydrostatic bearings
o Antifriction bearings
HYDRODYNAMIC BEARINGS

 Hydrodynamic bearings are journal bearings with a thin film of oil between the spindle and
journal.
 These are used where the load carrying capacities are low and frequent starting and stopping
of the spindle is not required.
 The essential features are;
o Simplicity
o Good damping properties
o Good running accuracy.
 The pressure of the oil is created within the bearings by the rotation of the spindle. As the
spindle rotates, the oil in contact with the spindle is carried into wedge shaped cavities
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between the spindle and the bearing . the oil pressure is increased as the oil is forced through
the small clearances between the bearing and the spindle.

Fig 3.11 Principle of Hydrodynamic bearing

 The main limitation of hydrodynamic bearing is that a definite clearance (50μm to 200μm)
must be provided for the oil flim to be maintained between the spindle and the bearing. This
clearance may result in the centre of a spindle in the bearing to change its position owing to
variation in the applied force.

HYDROSTATIC BEARINGS

Fig 3.12 Principle of Hydrostatic Bearings

 The spindle is supported by a relatively thick film of oil supplied under pressure.
 The oil is pressurized by a pump external to the bearing.
 The load carrying capacity of this type of bearing is independent of the rotational speed.
 These are used only where temperature effects cause problems in the part accuracy as in the
case of grinding machines and fine boring machines.
 They are very expensive.
 Advantages are;
o High damping properties
o High running accuracy
o High wear resistance

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ANTIFRICTION BEARINGS

 These are suitable for high speeds and high loads.

 For efficient service, it is essential that all the components of the ball and roller bearings,
particularly the rolling elements, and the inner and outer bearing tracks are of the highest
accuracy. An error in one component can affect the quality of the work produced.
 The selection of a particular type of bearing for the spindle depends on the requirements of
the particular machines like speed of operation, accuracy of the spindle and stiffness of the
spindle.

Fig 3.13 Deep Groove Ball Bearings

 Different types of ball and roller bearings used in CNC machines

are; o Ball bearings
o Deep groove ball bearings
o Angular contact ball bearings
o Roller bearings
o Cylindrical roller bearings
o Cylindrical roller bearings (double row) with taperd bore
o Tapered roller bearings

Advantages:

 Low friction
 Moderate dimensions
 Lesser liability to suffer from wear or incorrect adjustment
 Ease of replacement
 High reliability.

RECIRCULATING ROLLER SCREWS

 They provide backlash free movement and their efficiency is of the same order as of ball
screws.
 Generally two types of roller screws are used:
o Planetary
o Recirculating
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 They will provide more accurate positional control.

 Roller screws are much costlier than the ball screws

PLANETARY ROLLER SCREW

 In planetary roller screw the rollers are threaded and gear teeth are cut on each end of the
rollers. The gear teeth mesh with an internally toothed ring on the nut which drives the roller
to provide a rolling motion between the nut and the screw.
 Rollers are equally spaced and positioned using spigots which engage themselves in the
locating rings at each end of the nut.
 There is no axial movement of the rollers relative to the nut.
 They are capable of transmitting high loads at fast speeds.

Fig 3.14 Planetary Roller Screw

RECIRCULATING ROLLER SCREW

 In recircuating 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.

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 They are slower in operation than the planetary type, but are capable of taking high loads
with greater accuracy.

Fig 3.15 Recirculating Roller Screw

RECIRCULATING BALL SCREWS

 In ball screws, the sliding friction encountered in conventional screws and nuts is replaced
by rolling friction in a manner analogous to the replacement of simple journal bearings by
ball bearings.
 Two types of thread forms are used on these screws. They are gothic arc and circular arc.

Fig 3.16 Thread Forms Used in Recirculating Ball Screws

 The efficiency of the recirculating ball screw is of the order of 90% and is obtained by the
balls providing rolling motion between the screw and the nut.
 The mounting arrangement of ball screw depends on its required speed, length and size.

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Fig 3.17 Recirculating Ball Screw

Recirculating arrangements:

 The balls rotate between the screw and the nut, and at some point are returned to the start of
the thread in the nut. Two types of arrangements are there;
 Recirculation through an external tube – the balls at the end of the thread will be picked
up by a return tube which recirculates the balls to the beginning of the load zone by
providing continuous rolling motion
 Recirculation through an insert channel – the balls are returned to the start through a
channel inside the nut.

Advantages:

o Low frictional resistance

o Low drive power requirement
o Little temperature rise
o Less wear and longer life
o No stick – slip effect
o High traverse speed
o High efficiency

PRELOADING

 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.
 Preloading of ball screws may be classified as follows;
o Constant pressure preload ballscrews
 Belleville spring
 Coil spring
o Constant position preload ballscrews
 Double nut type preload
 Tension preload type
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 Compression preload type

 Single nut type preload
 Integral preload type
 Oversize ball preload type

Tension preload

Fig 3.18 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

Fig 3.19 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 nit 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.

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Fig 3.20 Oversize Preload

Integral Preload

Fig 3.21 Integral Preload

 The integral preload ball screws, in outward appearance, appear the same as single nut
oversize ball or non – preloaded ball screws, however there is a dimensional allowance in
the nut internal rotating element which provides the proper amount of preload.
 The nut dimensions can be made shorter compared with the double nut type.

Constant pressure preload

Fig 3.22 Constant Pressure Preload

 In this method of preloading a coil spring or Belleville spring is inserted between the two
nuts to provide a constant pressure preload.
 Overloading should be avoided otherwise the balls may get jammed resulting in stoppage of
the motion
 By this method transmission efficiency as high as 90% can be achieved.

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