Compensation of Thermal Displacements of High-Speed Precision Machine Tools

In order to manufacture high quality products the accuracy of machine tools must be increased. The accuracy of high-speed precision machine tools is mainly determined by errors caused by thermal displacements. Hence it is necessary to compensate thermal errors in real time, using a volumetric error model. The paper discusses problems relating to the modelling and compensation of thermal errors, using as an example the high-speed machining centre. Attention is drawn to the conditions in which investigations aimed at identifying and preparing input data for a volumetric error model should be conducted. The accuracy of thermal error reproduction and the effectiveness of real-time compensation of the high-speed machining centre's thermal errors are analyzed.