THERMO-FRIENDLY CONCEPT HELPS CNC MACHINES TAKE THE HEAT0 pages

THERMO-FRIENDLY CONCEPT HELPS
CNC MACHINES TAKE THE HEAT
Typically, machining accuracy varies significantly due to ambient
temperatures around the machine, heat generated by the machine,
and heat generated during machining. Thermo-Friendly Concept
automatically compensates for temperature changes, so high
accuracy can be achieved without interventions from the CNC
machine tool operator. Thus, machine accuracy is increased while
decreasing costs and maximizing profitability for manufacturers.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In a world where manufacturers must deliver perfection (or near perfection)
for every part produced, the process for managing thermal deformation has
historically been highly imperfect. CNC machines must be warmed up, which
wastes time, energy and money. As production is underway, heat generation
is unavoidable and is typically managed by making manual adjustments for
temperature changes. These adjustments produce variations in CNC machine
accuracy over long continuous runs, providing ample opportunity for quality
variation and bad parts.
Thermo-Friendly Concept (one of Okuma’s Intelligent Technologies) combines
control technology with machine design to both minimize the amount of heat
generated and deal with heat that cannot be eliminated. This is possible given
Okuma’s 30-year history of testing and analyzing actual machine data to create
thermal maps. From this, designs for machine castings and spindles have
been optimized for thermal deflection, and CNC control technology (Okuma’s
Thermal Active Stabilizer – TAS) has been developed to manage spindle
temperatures and machine thermal characteristics.
Thermo-Friendly Concept (TFC) is an excellent example of Okuma’s ability
to leverage the mechatronics approach to design, blending mechanical
engineering and electronic control development to assure harmonious
communications between the machine and control – thus maximizing
profitability for manufacturers.