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Development Trends of CNC Systems and CNC Machine Tool Technology
1 Development Trends of CNC Systems
Since the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States developed the first experimental CNC system in 1952, 53 years have passed. CNC systems started with electronic tube types and have gone through the following development stages:
Discrete transistor type — small-scale integrated circuit type — large-scale integrated circuit type — minicomputer type — very large scale integrated circuit — microcomputer type CNC systems. By the 1980s, the overall development trend was: CNC devices evolved from NC to CNC; widely adopting 32-bit CPUs to form multi-microprocessor systems; improving system integration, reducing size, adopting modular structures for easy trimming, expansion, and function upgrades to meet the needs of different types of CNC machine tools; drive devices developed towards AC and digital directions; CNC devices developed towards artificial intelligence; adoption of new automatic programming systems; enhanced communication functions; and continuous improvement in CNC system reliability. In summary, CNC machine tool technology continuously developed, functions became more complete, usage became more convenient, reliability increased, and the performance-price ratio improved. By 1990, global professional CNC system manufacturers produced about 130,000 CNC system sets annually. The overall development trend of foreign CNC system technology is:
● The new generation of CNC systems adopts an open architecture.
Since the 1990s, due to the rapid development of computer technology, CNC machine tool technology has been updated faster. Many CNC system manufacturers worldwide have developed a new generation of CNC systems with open architecture using the rich software and hardware resources of PCs. Open architecture provides CNC systems with better universality, flexibility, adaptability, and scalability, and greatly promotes development towards intelligence and networking. In recent years, many countries have researched and developed such systems, such as the U.S. National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) and the Air Force jointly leading the "Next Generation Workstation/Machine Tool Controller Architecture" (NGC), the European Community's "Open Architecture in Automation Systems" (OSACA), and Japan's OSEC program. The research and development results have been applied, for example, Cincinnati-Milacron began using the open architecture A2100 system in its machining centers, CNC milling machines, and CNC lathes from 1995. Open architecture can extensively use advanced general-purpose microcomputer technologies, such as multimedia technology, to achieve voice-controlled automatic programming and graphic scanning automatic programming. CNC systems continue to develop towards higher integration, with more transistors integrated on each chip, making systems smaller, more compact, and miniaturized. Reliability has greatly improved. Utilizing multi-CPU advantages, automatic fault elimination is realized; communication functions are enhanced, improving input line and networking capabilities. The hardware, software, and bus specifications of the new generation of open architecture CNC systems are open. With abundant software and hardware resources available, not only is system integration by CNC system manufacturers and users strongly supported, but it also greatly facilitates users' secondary development, promoting multi-level and multi-variety CNC system development and widespread application. Various levels of CNC systems can be formed by upgrading or trimming, and different types of CNC machine tools can be configured by expansion, greatly shortening development and production cycles. Such CNC systems can be upgraded with CPU upgrades without structural changes.
● The new generation of CNC systems greatly improves control performance.
CNC systems are developing towards intelligent control performance. With the penetration and development of artificial intelligence in the computer field, CNC systems have introduced control mechanisms such as adaptive control, fuzzy systems, and neural networks. They not only have functions like automatic programming, feedforward control, fuzzy control, learning control, adaptive control, automatic generation of process parameters, 3D tool compensation, and dynamic compensation of motion parameters, but also feature a very user-friendly human-machine interface and a fault diagnosis expert system that makes self-diagnosis and fault monitoring more complete. The intelligent spindle AC drive and intelligent feed servo device of the servo system can automatically recognize loads and optimize parameters automatically. Linear motor drive systems have been put into practical use.
In summary, the technical level of the new generation of CNC systems has greatly improved, promoting CNC machine tool performance towards high precision, high speed, and high flexibility, continuously enhancing the level of flexible automated machining technology.
2 Development Trends of CNC Machine Tools
To meet the needs of the market and scientific and technological development, and to achieve the higher requirements for CNC technology posed by modern manufacturing technology, the current global trends in CNC technology and equipment development are mainly reflected in the following aspects:
(1) High speed, high efficiency, high precision, and high reliability
To improve processing efficiency, cutting and feed speeds must first be increased, and processing time must be shortened; to ensure processing quality, the accuracy of the machine tool component motion trajectory must be improved, while reliability is the fundamental guarantee of these goals. Therefore, high-performance CNC devices are necessary.
● High speed and high efficiency
Machine tools are developing towards high speed to fully utilize the performance of modern cutting tool materials, which not only greatly improves processing efficiency and reduces processing costs but also enhances the surface processing quality and accuracy of parts. Ultra-high-speed machining technology has broad applicability for achieving efficient, high-quality, and low-cost production in manufacturing.
The new generation of CNC machine tools (including machining centers) can only further improve productivity by significantly shortening cutting time through high speed. Ultra-high-speed machining, especially ultra-high-speed milling, is closely related to the development and application of the new generation of high-speed CNC machine tools, especially high-speed machining centers. Since the 1990s, countries in Europe, America, and Japan have competed to develop and apply new generation high-speed CNC machine tools, accelerating the pace of machine tool high-speed development. High-speed spindle units (electric spindles, speeds of 15,000–100,000 rpm), high-speed and high acceleration/deceleration feed motion components (rapid traverse speeds of 60–120 m/min, cutting feed speeds up to 60 m/min), high-performance CNC and servo systems, and CNC tool systems have all made new breakthroughs, reaching new technical levels. With the resolution of key technologies in ultra-high-speed cutting mechanisms, ultra-hard wear-resistant long-life tool materials and abrasives, high-power high-speed electric spindles, high acceleration/deceleration linear motor-driven feed components, high-performance control systems (including monitoring systems), and protective devices, the timely development and application of new generation high-speed CNC machine tools should be pursued.
Relying on fast and accurate digital signal transmission technology for high-performance machine tool execution components to perform high-precision, high-response real-time processing, and using new types of cutting tools, turning and milling cutting speeds have reached 5,000 to 8,000 meters per minute or more; spindle speeds exceed 30,000 rpm (some up to 100,000 rpm); table movement speeds (feed speeds) at 1-micron resolution exceed 100 m/min (some up to 200 m/min), and at 0.1-micron resolution exceed 24 m/min; automatic tool change speeds are within 1 second; small segment interpolation feed speeds reach 12 m/min. Based on high efficiency, mass production demands, and rapid development of electronic drive technology, the promotion and application of high-speed linear motors have led to the development of a batch of high-speed, high-efficiency, high-response CNC machine tools to meet the needs of industries such as automotive and agricultural machinery. Also, due to faster product update cycles, parts processed in industries such as mold, aerospace, and military are not only complex but also increasing in variety.
● High precision
The development from precision machining to ultra-precision machining (ultra-high precision machining) is the direction pursued by industrial powers worldwide. Its accuracy ranges from micron level to submicron level, and even to nanometer level (<10nm), with an increasingly broad range of applications. Ultra-precision machining mainly includes ultra-precision cutting (turning, milling), ultra-precision grinding, ultra-precision polishing, and ultra-precision special processing (three-beam processing, micro-EDM, micro-electrolytic machining, and various composite machining methods). With the advancement of modern science and technology, new demands are continuously placed on ultra-precision machining technology. The emergence of new materials and new parts, as well as higher precision requirements, all necessitate ultra-precision machining processes, the development of new ultra-precision machine tools, and the improvement of modern ultra-precision machining technology to adapt to the development of modern science and technology.
Currently, the high precision requirements for mechanical processing are as follows: ordinary processing accuracy has doubled to 5 microns; precision machining accuracy has improved by two orders of magnitude; ultra-precision machining accuracy has reached the nanometer level (0.001 microns); spindle rotation accuracy requirements are between 0.01~0.05 microns; machining roundness is 0.1 microns; and machining surface roughness Ra=0.003 microns, etc.
Precision is to meet the needs of high-tech development and to improve the performance, quality, and reliability of ordinary electromechanical products, reducing assembly workload and thus improving assembly efficiency. With the development of high technology and the increasing demands for performance and quality of electromechanical products, machine tool users require higher machining accuracy. To meet user needs, over the past decade, the machining accuracy of ordinary CNC machine tools has improved from ±10μm to ±5μm, while the machining accuracy of precision machining centers has increased from ±3~5μm to ±1~1.5μm.
● High Reliability
This means that the reliability of the CNC system should be at least one order of magnitude higher than that of the controlled equipment, but higher reliability is not always better; it should be moderate reliability because it is a commercial product constrained by performance-to-price ratio. For an unmanned factory operating two shifts daily, if continuous normal operation is required within 16 hours with a failure-free rate P(t) ≥ 99%, then the CNC machine tool's mean time between failures (MTBF) must be greater than 3000 hours. An MTBF greater than 3000 hours varies significantly depending on the number of CNC machine tools in the unmanned factory. For a single CNC machine tool, if the failure rate ratio of the main machine to the CNC system is 10:1 (CNC reliability is one order of magnitude higher than the main machine), then the CNC system's MTBF must be greater than 33,333.3 hours, and the MTBF of the CNC device, spindle, and drive must be greater than 100,000 hours.
Currently, the MTBF of foreign CNC devices has reached over 6000 hours, and that of drive devices has exceeded 30,000 hours.
⑵ Modularization, Intelligence, Flexibility, and Integration
● Modularization, Specialization, and Personalization
Machine tool structure modularization, CNC function specialization, significantly improved and accelerated optimization of machine tool performance-to-price ratio. To adapt to the characteristics of CNC machine tools with multiple varieties and small batches, machine tool structure modularization and CNC function specialization significantly improve and accelerate the optimization of machine tool performance-to-price ratio. Personalization has been a particularly obvious development trend in recent years.
● Intelligence
The content of intelligence includes various aspects within the CNC system:
— Intelligence aimed at improving machining efficiency and quality, such as adaptive control and automatic generation of process parameters;
— Intelligence aimed at improving drive performance and ease of connection, such as feedforward control, adaptive calculation of motor parameters, automatic load recognition and model selection, self-tuning, etc.;
— Intelligence aimed at simplifying programming and operation, such as intelligent automatic programming and intelligent human-machine interfaces;
— Intelligent diagnostics and intelligent monitoring, facilitating system diagnosis and maintenance.
● Flexibility and Integration
The trend of CNC machine tools developing towards flexible automation systems is: from points (CNC single machines, machining centers, and CNC composite machine tools), lines (FMC, FMS, FTL, FML) to planes (independent manufacturing islands in workshop sections, FA), and bodies (CIMS, distributed network integrated manufacturing systems). On the other hand, it is developing towards application and economic focus. Flexible automation technology is the main means for manufacturing industries to adapt to dynamic market demands and rapid product updates. It is the mainstream trend in manufacturing development worldwide and the foundational technology in advanced manufacturing. Its focus is on improving system reliability and practicality, aiming for easy networking and integration; emphasizing the development and improvement of unit technologies; CNC single machines developing towards high precision, high speed, and high flexibility; CNC machine tools and their flexible manufacturing systems can easily connect with CAD, CAM, CAPP, MTS, developing towards information integration; network systems developing towards openness, integration, and intelligence.
⑶ Openness
To adapt to the requirements of CNC input, networking, popular personalized, multi-variety, small batch, flexibility, and rapid CNC development, the most important development trend is the openness of system architecture, designing and producing open CNC systems, such as the plans for open CNC development in the United States, the European Community, and Japan.
⑷ Emergence of a New Generation of CNC Machining Processes and Equipment
— To adapt to the development of manufacturing automation, providing basic equipment for FMC, FMS, and CIMS, requiring digital control manufacturing systems not only to complete usual machining functions but also to have automatic measurement, automatic loading and unloading, automatic tool changing, automatic spindle head replacement (sometimes with coordinate transformation), automatic error compensation, automatic diagnostics, input and networking functions, and extensive use of robots and logistics systems;
— FMC, FMS Web-based manufacturing and paperless manufacturing technology;
— Breakthroughs successively achieved in CNC technology and manufacturing process technology in rapid prototyping, parallel mechanism machine tools, robotic machine tools, multifunctional machine tools, and unit technologies such as high-speed electric spindles, linear motors, and software compensation accuracy. Practical application of new CNC machine tools with parallel rod structures. This virtual axis CNC machine tool replaces the complexity of traditional machine tool mechanisms with software complexity, opening a new field for CNC machine tool development;
— Manufacturing information support technology and intelligent decision systems based on computer-aided management, engineering databases, and the Internet. Storing and real-time processing of massive information in mechanical processing. Applying digital network technology to make the entire mechanical processing system tend towards reasonable resource allocation and efficient application.
— Due to the adoption of neural network control technology, fuzzy control technology, and digital network technology, mechanical processing is developing towards virtual manufacturing.
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