Computer Numerical Control

Lecture 6
Engineering Analysis of NC
Positioning Systems

Dr Ibrahim Al-Adwan
Engineering Analysis of NC Positioning Systems

The NC positioning system converts the coordinate axis values in the NC part program
into relative positions of the tool and workpart during processing.
Consider the simple positioning system shown in the following figure.

Motor and leadscrew arrangement in an NC positioning system.

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The system consists of a cutting tool and a worktable on which a
workpart is fixtured. The table is designed to move the part
relative to the tool. The worktable moves linearly by means of a
rotating leadscrew, which is driven by a stepping motor or
servomotor. The leadscrew has a certain pitch p (in/thread,
mm/thread). Thus, the table moves a distance equal to the pitch
for each revolution. The velocity of the worktable, which
corresponds to the feed rate in a machining operation, is
determined by the rotational speed of the leadscrew.

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Types of NC Positioning Systems

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Open-Loop Positioning Systems
An open-loop positioning system typically uses a stepping motor to rotate the
leadscrew. A stepping motor is driven by a series of electrical pulses, which are
generated by the MCU in an NC system. Each pulse causes the motor to rotate a
fraction of one revolution, called the step angle. The possible step angles must be
consistent with the following relationship:

360

ns
where   step angle (degree/pulse), andn  the number of step angles for the
s

motor (pulses), which must be an integer. The angle through which the motor
shaft rotates is given by
Am  n p

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Open-Loop Positioning Systems

where A  angle of motor shaft rotation (degrees), n  number of pulses received by

m p

the motor, and  step angle (degrees/pulse). The motor shaft is generally connected to
the leadscrew through a gear box, which reduces the angular rotation of the leadscrew.
The angle of the leadscrew rotation must take the gear ratio into account as follows:

n p
A
rg
where angle of leadscrew rotation (degrees), and =gear ratio, defined as the
numberAofturns of the motor for each single turn of the rleadscrew. That is,
g

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Open-Loop Positioning Systems

Am N m
rg  
A N
Where N m  rotational speed of the motor (rev/min), and N rotational speed of the
leadscrew (rev/min).

The linear movement of the worktable is given by the number of full and partial
rotations of the leadscrew multiplied by its pitch:

pA
x
360

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Open-Loop Positioning Systems
where x x  axis
position relative to the starting position (mm, inch),
p . pitch of the leadscrew (mm/rev,A / 360 
in/rev), and
number of leadscrew revolutions. The number of pulses required to achieve a
specified position increment in a point-to-point system can be found by
combining the two preceding equations as follows:
360 xrg n s xrg
np  or
p p
where the second expression on the right-hand side is obtained by substituting forn s
. /
360
Control pulses are transmitted from the pulse generator at a certain frequency,
which drives the worktable at a corresponding velocity or feed rate in the direction
of the leadscrew axis. The rotational speed of the leadscrew depends on the
frequency of the pulse train as follows:

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Open-Loop Positioning Systems
Control pulses are transmitted from the pulse generator at a certain frequency, which
drives the worktable at a corresponding velocity or feed rate in the direction of the
leadscrew axis. The rotational speed of the leadscrew depends on the frequency of the
pulse train as follows:

60 f p
N
n s rg
where N  leadscrew rotational speed (rev/min), f pulse train frequency (Hz,
p

pulses/sec), and n = steps per revolution or pulses per revolution.

s

The table travel speed in the direction of leadscrew axis is determined by the
rotational speed as follows:

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Open-Loop Positioning Systems

vt  f r  Np
where vt  table travel speed (mm/min, in/min), f r  table feed rate (mm/min,
in/min), N  leadscrew rotational speed (rev/min), and p  leadscrew pitch
(mm/rev, in/rev).

The required pulse train frequency to drive the table at a specified linear travel rate
can be obtained by combining the last two equations and rearranging to solve for f p:

vt n s rg f r n s rg
fp  or
60 p 60 p

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Example NC Open-Loop Positioning
The worktable of a positioning system is driven by a leadscrew whose pitch = 6.0mm.
The leadscrew is connected to the output shaft of a stepping motor through a gearbox
whose ration is 5:1 (5 turns of the motor to one turn of the leadscrew). The stepping
motor has 48 step angles. The table must move a distance of 250mm from its present
position at a linear velocity=500 mm/min. Determine (a) how many pulses are
required to move the table the specified distance and (b) the required motor speed and
pulse rate to achieve the desired table velocity.

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Example NC Open-Loop Positioning
Solution:
The leadscrew rotation angle corresponding to a distance x  250mm,

360 x 360(250)
A   15,000 o
p 6.0
With 50 step angles, each step angle is:
360
  7.5 o
48

Thus, the number of pulses to move the table 250mm is

360 xrg Arg15000(5)
np     10,000
p  7 .5
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Example NC Open-Loop Positioning
Solution:
(b) The rotational speed of the leadscrew corresponding to a table speed of 500
mm/min can be determined as:

vt 500
N   83.333 rev/min
The motor speed: p 6
N m  rg N  5( 83.333 )  416.667 rev/min

The applied pulse rate to drive the table is given by:

vt ns rg 500( 48 )( 5 )
fp    333.333 Hz
60 p 60( 6 )

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Closed-Loop Positioning Systems
A closed-loop NC system uses servomotors and feedback measurements to ensure that
the worktable is moved to the desired position. A common feedback sensor used for
NC is the optical encoder, shown in the following figure.

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In the basic optical encoder, the angle between slots in the disk must satisfy the
following requirement:
360

ns
Where   angle between slots (degrees/slot), and ns the number of slots in the
disk (slots/rev). For a certain angular rotation of the encoder shaft, the number of
pulses sensed by the encoder is given by:
Ae
np 

Where n p pulse count emitted by the encoder, Ae  angle of rotation of the encoder
shaft (degrees), and  between
angle  slots, which converts to degrees per pulse.

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Closed-Loop Positioning Systems
The pulse count can be used to determine the linear x-axis position of the worktable
by factoring in the leadscrew pitch and the gear reduction between the encoder shaft
and the leadscrew. Thus:
pn p
x
n s rge
Where n p and n sare defined above, p leadscrew pitch (mm/rev, in/rev), and
.rge gear reduction between the encoder and the leadscrew, defined as the number
of turns of the encoder shaft for each single turn of the leadscrew.
That is,
Ae N e
rge  
A N

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Closed-Loop Positioning Systems
where Ae  encoder shaft angle (degrees), A  leadscrew angle (degrees), N e 
rotational speed of encoder shaft (rev/min), and N  rotational speed of leadscrew
(rev/min).
The velocity of the worktable, which is normally the feed rate in machining operation,
is obtained from the frequency of the pulse train as follows:
60 pf p
vt  f r 
n s rge

where vt  worktable velocity (mm/min, in/min), f r  feed rate (mm/min,

in/min), f p  frequency of the pulse train emitted by the optical encoder (Hz,
pulse/sec), and the constant 60 converts worktable velocity and feed rate from mm/sec
(in/sec) to mm/min (in/min).

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Example NC Closed-Loop Positioning
An NC worktable operates by closed-loop positioning. The system
consists of a servomotor, leadscrew, and optical encoder. The
leadscrew has a pitch=6.0mm and is coupled to the motor shaft
with a gear ratio of 5:1 (5 turns of the drive motor for each turn of
the leadscrew). The optical encoder generates 48 pulses/rev of its
output shaft. The encoder output shaft is coupled to the leadscrew
with a 4:1 reduction (4 turns of the encoder shaft for each turn of
the leadscrew). The table has been programmed to move a distance
of 250mm at a feed rate =500 mm/min. Determine (a) how many
pulses should be received by the control system to verify that the
table has moved exactly 250 mm, (b) the pulse rate of the encoder,
and (c) the drive motor speed that correspond to the specified feed
rate.

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Example NC Closed-Loop Positioning
Solution:
xn s rge 250(48)( 4)
np    8000 pulses
(a) p 6.0

(b) The pulse rate corresponding to 500 mm/min:

fr n s rge 500(48)( 4)
fp    2666.667 Hz
60 p 60(6.0)

(c) Motor speed = table velocity (feed rate) divided by leadscrew pitch, corrected for
gear ratio:
rg f r 5(500)
Nm    416.667 rev/min
p 6.0

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Precision in NC Positioning
For accurate machining or other processing performed by an NC system, the
positioning system must possess a high degree of precision. Three measures
of precision can be defined for an NC positioning system: (1) control
resolution, (2) accuracy, and (3) repeatability.
These terms are most readily explained by considering a single axis of the
positioning system, as shown in the following figure.

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Engineering Analysis of NC Positioning Systems

A portion of a linear positioning system axis, with definition of control resolution, accuracy,
and repeatability.

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Engineering Analysis of NC Positioning Systems
A number of electromechanical factors affect control resolution, including
leadscrew pitch, gear ration in the drive system, and the step angle in a
stepping motor for an open-loop system or the angle between slots in an
encoder disk for a closed-loop system. For an open-loop positioning
system driven by a stepper motor, these factors can be combined into an
expression that defines the control resolution as follows:
p
CR1 
n s rg
where CR1  control resolution of the electromechanical components
(mm, in), p  leadscrew pitch (mm/rev, in/rev), number of steps per
revolution, and rg  gear ratio between the motor shaft and the leadscrew.
ns 

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Engineering Analysis of NC Positioning Systems
A similar expression can be developed for a closed-loop positioning
system, except that the gear reduction between the leadscrew and the
encoder shaft must be included:
p
CR1 
n s rg rge
The second factor that limits control resolution is the number of bits used
by the MCU to specify the axis coordinate value. For example, this
limitation may be imposed by the bit storage capacity of the controller. If
B= the number of bits in the storage register for the axis, then the number
of control points into which the axis range can be divided = 2B. Assuming
that the control points are separated equally within the range, then

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Engineering Analysis of NC Positioning Systems

L
CR2  B
2 1
where CR2 control resolution of the computer control system (mm, in), and
L range (mm, in). The control resolution of the positioning system is
axis
the maximum of the two values; that is,

CR  Max CR1 ,CR2 

A desirable criterion is for CR2  CR1, meaning that the electromechanical
system is the limiting factor that determines control resolution. The bit
storage capacity of a modern computer controller is sufficient to satisfy this
criterion except in unusual situations. Resolutions of 0.0025 mm (0.0001
in) are within the current state of NC technology.

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Engineering Analysis of NC Positioning Systems
The capability of a positioning system to move the worktable to the exact
location defined by a given addressable point is limited by mechanical
errors that are due to various imperfections in the mechanical system.
These imperfections include play between the leadscrew and the worktable,
backlash in the gears, and deflection of machine components.
We assume that the mechanical errors form an unbiased normal statistical
distribution about the control point whose mean . We further assume that
the standard deviation of the distribution is constant over the range of the
axis under consideration. Given these assumptions, then nearly all of the
mechanical errors (99.74%) are contained within   of the control point,
as shown in the previous figure for a portion of the axis range that includes
two control points.

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Engineering Analysis of NC Positioning Systems
The accuracy of any given axis of a positioning system is the maximum
possible error that can occur between the desired target point and the actual
position taken by the system; in equation form,

CR
Accuracy   3
2
Where CR  control resolution (mm, in), and   standard deviation of
the error distribution. Accuracies in machine tools are generally expressed
for a certain range of table travel, for example, . 0.0004 mm for 250
mm (  0in.01
for 10 in) of table travel.

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Engineering Analysis of NC Positioning Systems
Repeatability refers to the capability of the positioning system to return to
a given addressable point that has been previously programmed. This
capability can be measured in terms of the location errors encountered
when the system attempts to position itself at the addressable point.
Location errors are a manifestation of the mechanical errors of the
positioning system, which follow a normal distribution, as assumed
previously. Thus, the repeatability of any given axis of a positioning
system is standard deviations of the mechanical error distribution
associated with the axis. This can be written:

Repeatabil ity  3

The repeatability of a modern NC machine tool is around  0.0025mm (
 0.0001in).

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Engineering Analysis of NC Positioning Systems
Example Control Resolution, Accuracy, and Repeatability in NC
Suppose the mechanical inaccuracies in the open-loop positioning system
discussed above are described by a normal distribution with standard
deviation   0.005 mm. The range of the worktable axis is 1000 mm,
and there are 16 bits in the binary register used by the digital controller to
store the programmed position. Other parameters are: p  pitch 6.0mm,
rg 
gear ratio between motor shaft  leadscrew 5.0, and number of step
n s and
angles in the stepping motor 48. Determine (a) the control resolution,
(b) the accuracy, and (c) the repeatability for the positioning system.

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 Engineering Analysis of NC Positioning Systems
Solution:
(a) Control resolution is the greater of CR1 and CR2:

p 6.0
CR1    0.025mm
n s rg 48(5.0)

1000 1000
CR2  16   0.01526mm
2  1 65,535
CR  Max 0.025,0.01526  0.025mm

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Engineering Analysis of NC Positioning Systems
Solution:
(b) Accuracy

Accuracy  0.5(0.025)  3(0.005)  0.0275mm

(c) Repeatability

Repeatabil ity  3( 0.005 )  0.015 mm

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