Gear Cutting Machine Tool Shift Compensation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current gear cutting methods face challenges in achieving high precision due to deviations caused by tool errors, axis misalignment, concentricity issues, and uneven tool heating, which hinder the production of gears with tight tolerances and accurate geometry.
Innovation Solution
A method and control program for a gear cutting machine that compensates for deviations between workpieces by dynamically adjusting the NC axes based on the shift position of the tool, allowing for precise control of the tool's engagement with the workpiece, thereby ensuring consistent gear geometry across multiple identical gears.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Duration of action of stationary object
If the tool is shifted along its axis of rotation to distribute load and minimize wear, then tool life is improved, but deviations from workpiece to workpiece occur due to tool geometry deviations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by determining tool geometry deviations at multiple support points before production, storing these values, and using them to calculate compensating shifts during machining. This pre-characterization of tool geometry allows the system to proactively compensate for deviations that would otherwise occur during tool shifting operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of tool shift position dynamically based on the workpiece being machined. Instead of fixed shift positions, the system calculates optimal shift positions that compensate for tool geometry deviations, thereby maintaining manufacturing precision while still distributing load across the tool width.
2Manufacturing precision
If tight tolerances and high gear accuracy are required, then gear quality is improved, but conventional corrections are no longer sufficient to meet requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by measuring actual gear geometry deviations during or after machining, comparing them against target values, and using this information to adjust subsequent machining operations. This closed-loop approach enables the system to achieve tight tolerances by continuously correcting for deviations caused by tool errors, axis misalignment, and other factors.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary determination of tool geometry deviations at multiple support points before production begins. These pre-determined values are stored and used to calculate compensating shifts, allowing the system to proactively address potential accuracy issues rather than reacting to them during machining.
3Strength
If the tool is shifted to engage different parts of the tool with the workpiece, then load distribution is improved, but tool geometry deviations affect gear geometry
Solution Approach 1:
The patent dynamically changes the tool shift parameter based on which workpiece is being machined. By calculating optimal shift positions that account for tool geometry deviations, the system maintains both good load distribution across the tool and accurate gear geometry, resolving the contradiction between these two requirements.
Data Source
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AI summary
The method involves machining workpieces by a tool (1) e.g. hob. The tool is brought in engagement with a workpiece by controlling numeric control (NC)-axes of a gear cutting machine. Modifications from one workpiece to another workpiece are balanced by differentially controlling one of the NC-axes of the gear cutting machine. Modifications of a tool geometry in a shift-direction and/or influences of a gear cutting geometry are determined relative to a tooth thickness. The tool is shifted along a rotational axis around allowed distance during exchanging between the workpieces. Independent claims are also included for the following: (1) a gear cutting machine for producing a number of identical gearwheels by a machining process (2) a control program for a gear cutting machine comprising instructions for performing a method for producing a number of identical gearwheels.