Method and system for controlling a machine tool such as a turning machine

Abstract

A method and system (10) for controlling radial movement of a machine tool, such as a turning machine, relative to a workpiece (11), is characterized by a digital filter (70, 72, 74) which produces a filtered final control signal which is a function of both radial position and velocity of a cutting tool (24) of the turning machine. The method and system (10) utilizes a tool position feedback signal which is compared with an initial control signal to produce a signal which is then digitally filtered to, in turn, provide the resulting final control signal. The surface geometry of the workpiece (11), such as a piston, is determined by a data matrix of angular, axial and radial position coordinants of the tool. An angular position signal representative of the angular position of the workpiece (11) and an axial position signal representative of the axial position of the cutting tool (24) relative to the workpiece (11) are both generated. The angular and axial position signals are correlated with the data matrix to generate the initial control signal. The control loop of the system (10) is closed within the software portion of the system (10) for increased reliability. Also, there is no need for velocity loop feedback with a velocity transducer. Feed forward compensation is performed in the software portion of the system (10). The digital filter (70, 72 74) is preferably implemented with a digital algorithm on a digital signal processing microprocessor of an axis control board (38).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.