A Synchronization Approach for the Minimization of Contouring Errors of CNC Machine Tools

This paper presents a synchronization control approach for the minimization of contouring errors of multi-axis CNC machine tools. The contouring errors are presented by the position synchronization errors that are defined as differential position errors between each axis and its adjacent ones. Using cross-coupling concept, a decentralized tracking controller is developed with feedback of both position and synchronization errors, formed with a combination of feedforward, feedback and a saturation control. It is proven that this controller can asymptotically stabilize both position and synchronization errors to zero. The proposed controller does not require significant use of the system dynamic models. Experiments performed on a multi-axis machine tool demonstrate improved performance especially in the contouring error minimization.