In most sectors of today’s industry, there is the requirement to manufacture work pieces with accuracy in micron range. However, maintaining this accuracy can be considerably impeded by thermally induced displacements which arise in the production process. Thermally induced errors cause large parts of residual machining errors on modern machine tools. Using climate control systems for whole workshops can counteract these errors. Yet, this method is extremely cost and energy intensive. To increase machine accuracy and meet the industrial demands in a more efficient way, research offers various methods to minimize this error. These methods differ greatly in their approaches and requirements. Some intervene in the machine structure, while others are based on thermomechanical models and need to be integrated into the software of the control system as correction algorithms. Since machine tools also vary in their kinematic structure and complexity, it is difficult for potential users to select suitable solutions and estimate the effort required to implement them with the available resources. This paper presents a systematization and taxonomy of such methods, which was elaborated based on solutions developed in the project CRC/TR 96. By conducting semi-structured expert interviews, the functional principle, prerequisites and resources required for the application of each solution were recorded, categorized and evaluated in terms of their effort. Based on the presented systematization, it is possible to compare these different methods and evaluate them regarding their implementation effort and flexibility. This is the first step towards a user-specific evaluation of these methods in the future and towards facilitating the transfer of this fundamental research into industrial application.
Science Journal 