Motion control systems for machine tools - a mechatronic approach by means of simulation

Tuning the control parameters of the feed drives for existing state of the art CNC machine tools, or retrofitting obsolete machine tools requires a close understanding of the position control process. The use of a mathematical model of the feed drive, combined with a computer simulation process is needed in order to fulfill the above mentioned tasks. In this paper some simulation tools for studying the CNC motion control systems are presented. Both single axis positioning regime and biaxial linear and circular interpolation regime were taken into consideration. The main goal of the research was to offer a handson integrated simulation tools compatible and able to use for improving the performances of both the existing industrial CNC controllers and also the PC-based controllers for retrofitted machine tools.