Improving Contour Accuracy of Machine Tools Using an Integral-Gain Scheduler

Abstract In high-precision machine tools, contour error at axis reversal can significantly reduce the quality of products. Resulting from non-linear friction behaviour, the reversal error is traditionally handled by the velocity controller, which highly relies on a high-performance current servo. However, the widely employed pulse width modulation (PWM) inverter in the power stage of the current servo operates with a severe non-linearity known as deadband. The deadband effect degrades the current-loop tracking performance and consequently hinders the velocity controller in responding to friction disturbances. The result is a significant and oscillatory tracking error, or contour error in a multiaxis system. Unlike other approaches where the deadband is compensated via measurement or estimation, a control system approach is proposed in this paper where the deadband is treated as a voltage perturbation in the current loop. The proposed scheme incorporates a feedforward signal from the current command and schedules the integral action in the current controller accordingly. The proposed scheme was implemented in digital servo drives of a commercial grinding machine. Experiments show that the proposed scheme is an effective and practical solution for this type of problem.