Software compensation is state-of-the-art technology used to reduce CNC machine tool thermal errors, and it belongs to a key intelligent functions of modern machine tools. However, a pretrained and nonadaptive model may not be accurate and robust enough for long-term application. This research presents a transfer function based thermal error compensation model updated via on-machine measurement. A mathematical model is implemented into the machine management software of a large horizontal machining centre to compensate for thermal errors in real time using C#/C++ programming language. The results show that after the thermal error compensation model is updated via on-machine measurement, the prediction accuracy, measured as peak-to-peak values, and the normalized root mean squared error are significantly improved. The prediction accuracy of the compensation model updated via on-machine measurement strongly depends on the sampling interval of the on machine measurements.
Science Journal 