International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 39 (1999) 10871101

Thermal error analysis for a CNC lathe feed drive system

Won Soo Yuna, Soo Kwang Kimb, Dong Woo Choa,*
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, San 31 Hyoja-dong, Nam-
gu, Pohang, Kyungbuk 790-784, South Korea
b
Group Department of Machine Industry, Pusan Information College, 48-6 Gupo-dong, Buk-gu, Pusan 616-737,
South Korea
Received 31 March 1998; received in revised form 21 September 1998

Abstract
The development of high-speed feed drive systems has been a major issue in the machine tool industry
for the past few decades. The resulting reduction in the time needed for tool changes and the rapid travel
time can enhance productivity. However, a high-speed feed drive system naturally generates more heat
and resultant thermal expansion, which adversely affects the accuracy of machined parts. This paper divides
the feed drive system into two parts: the ball screw and the guide way. The thermal behavior model for
each part is developed separately, in order to estimate the position errors of the feed drive system caused
by thermal expansion. The modified lumped capacitance method (MLCM) and genius education algorithm
(GEA) are used to analyse the linear positioning error of the ball screw. Thermal deformation of the guide
way affects straightness and introduces angular errors, as well as affecting linear positioning. The finite
element method is used to estimate the thermal behavior of the guide way. The effectiveness of the proposed
models is verified through experiments using a laser interferometer. 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All
rights reserved.
Keywords: Angular error; Ball screw; Feed drive system; Guide way; Linear positioning error; Thermal deformation

Nomenclature
Qf(t) heat by friction
Qcl(t),
Qcr(t), heat by conduction
Qcn(t)

* Corresponding author. Tel: 82-562-279-2171; fax: 82-562-279-5899; e-mail: dwcho@postech.ac.kr

0890-6955/99/$ - see front matter 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 8 9 0 - 6 9 5 5 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 0 7 3 - X
1088 W.S. Yun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 39 (1999) 10871101

Qh(t) heat by convection

material density
T temperature
t time
V volume
c specific heat
Kq torque coefficient
i motor current
w rotational velocity
Tmea measured torque
Tana estimated torque
friction coefficient
W distributed load along the nut
r radius of the screw shaft
q heat flux
k conduction coefficient

1. Introduction

The demand for high-speed/high-precision machine tools is rapidly increasing in response to

the development of production technology that requires high-precision parts and high productivity.
Research on high-speed machine tools can be approached from two directions: the main spindle
or the feed drive system. In this research, a high-speed feed drive system was investigated in
order to achieve rapid travel with improved precision. A high-speed feed drive system reduces
non-cutting time and tool replacement time, making production more economical. However, it
also generates more heat through friction at contact areas such as the ball screw and the guide
ways, causing thermal deformation that subsequently degrades the accuracy of the machine tool.
With this in mind, the thermal behavior of a feed drive system was investigated in order to
develop a systematic method of analysis.
It has been reported that thermal errors account for 40 70% of the total errors arising from
various error sources [1]. Research has considered a number of ways of reducing thermal error,
including the thermally symmetric design of a structure, separation of the heat sources from the
main body of the machine tool, cooling of the structure, compensation for the thermal error and
so forth [29]. However, accurate modelling of the heat source is quite difficult because of the
constantly changing characteristics: the thermal inertia, the complexity of the machine tool struc-
ture, etc. The research so far reported has therefore been unable to provide a satisfactory result.
In the course of this research, the finite element method (FEM) and the finite difference method
(FDM) have often been employed to estimate the thermal behavior of machine tools. However,
they also show some significant differences between estimated and experimental results, which
are attributed to the fact that it is difficult to establish the boundary conditions because of the
complex shape of the structure and the varying heat generation rate [10,11]. In the present
research, the thermal error of the feed drive system was estimated by separately modelling the
thermal behaviors of the ball screw and the guide way, and then subsequently evaluating the
 W.S. Yun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 39 (1999) 10871101 1089

eventual thermal deformation of the tool position. The ball screw was modelled by applying the
modified lumped capacitance method (MLCM) [12,13] developed previously to estimate thermal
deformation in real-time. The thermal deformation of the guide way was evaluated using FEM
with boundary conditions obtained experimentally. The developed thermal model was applied to
a CNC lathe to ascertain its effectiveness.

2. Thermal error analysis for the ball screw system

To meet the requirements of high accuracy and great rigidity, applying a preload between
double nuts is used as a way to restrict the backlash of the ball screw [14]. The frictional resistance
between the screw shaft and the nut is increased by this preload. This generates greater heat,
leading to thermal deformation of the ball screw and causing low positioning accuracy. Conse-
quently, the accuracy of the main system, such as a machine tool, is degraded. Therefore, the
thermal deformation of the ball screw is one of the most important things to consider for high-
accuracy, high-speed machine tools [1,15,16].
The present paper reports the development of a model that is able to estimate this thermal
deformation in real-time. The deformation was assumed to occur only in the feed direction, caus-
ing positioning error.

2.1. Modified lumped capacitance method (MLCM)

The thermal deformation of a ball screw can be compensated if the position of the nut can be
accurately measured. However, m order measurement requires expensive equipment such as a
laser interferometer, the actual implementation of which is not easy because of the effects of the
hostile environment such as machine tool vibration and so on. Alternatively, if the temperature
distribution can somehow be obtained, the corresponding thermal deformation can then be calcu-
lated. However, to do so requires that the temperature be measured at all points on the screw
shaft, which is almost impossible because of the structure of ball screws. The following describes
the derivation of a proposed real-time heat transfer model that makes real implementation easier.
The model was named the modified lumped capacitance method (MLCM).
FEM analysis and experiments verified that both the nut and the screw have almost uniform
temperature distribution in a radial direction [12,13]. The real-time model estimates the tempera-
ture of the screw by measuring the temperature only at those locations where sensors can be
mounted even during feed motion, such as at the nut surface, inside the nut and at the support
bearings at both ends. Simplifying the system into a lumped model, as shown in Fig. 1, the
following equation can be derived:
dT
Qf(t) Qcl(t) Qcr(t) Qh(t) Qcn(t) cV (1)
dt

Using the above equation can produce large errors when estimating temperature, because of the
inherent error involved with a lumped model and the inexact heat transfer coefficients. Therefore,
compensation coefficients were introduced and multiplied to each and every term:
1090 W.S. Yun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 39 (1999) 10871101

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram for MLCM model.

sQf(t) lbQflb(t) rbQfrb(t) Qcl(t) Qcr(t) 1bQhs(t) (2)

dT
2bQhm(t) 1Qhs(t) 2Qhm(t) Qcn(t) cV
dt
where s compensates for the inexact conjecture of the ratio of the power consumed by the friction
between the screw and nut to the total motor, and for some unexpected heat generation. lb and
rb are the compensation coefficients for the heat generated at the left and right support bearings,
respectively. 1, 2 were introduced to compensate for environmental/shape factors and the heat
transfer coefficients at the boundary. 1b, 2b represent the compensation coefficients at the support
bearings in the same manner. compensates for the conduction coefficient. Finally, to compensate
for any error due to simplifying the heat transfer between the screw and the nut, was introduced.
Once the frictional heat source (Qf) and MLCM compensation coefficients are determined in Eq.
(2), the temperature distribution on the screw and resulting thermal deformation can be obtained.

2.2. Estimation of frictional heat (Qf) and MLCM compensation coefficient

Motor torque must overcome basic motor torque for rotation, bearing friction and friction
between the screw shaft and nut. Through some preliminary experiments, the portion of the total
motor torque attributable to overcoming ball screw friction was assigned. Since the torque can
be obtained by multiplying the measured motor current by the given torque coefficient, the fric-
tional heat between the screw and the nut can be calculated by
Qf (Kqi)w (3)
Tmeaw

Fig. 2 shows a single axis feed drive system that consists of a ball screw and a feed motor.
The ball screw was of grade C5, the backlash of which is less than 0.005 mm, and the maximum
 W.S. Yun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 39 (1999) 10871101 1091

Fig. 2. Testbed for the thermal behavior analysis of a ball screw system.

feed speed was 18 m/min. Temperatures were measured during motion, with T-type thermocouples
with 0.1 s response characteristics.
After experimentally determining the frictional heat using Eq. (3), the MLCM compensation
coefficients were obtained by fitting the model (Eq. (2)) to the measured temperature data. A new
optimization technique was developed and applied to minimize the error between the model and
the measured data. It was named the genius education algorithm (GEA) [13,17] and was shown
to be able to solve various optimization problems with good speed and reliability. It also excludes
the need for computing derivatives and lessens the difficulty of determining parameter values.
In the present research, the MLCM compensation coefficients were obtained through conducting
experiments on a test bed and applying the GEA. Fig. 3 shows comparisons between the tempera-
tures estimated by the MLCM model and the measured temperatures. The estimation was quite
accurate, with the error bounded within 3%, which validates the proposed schemethe MLCM
model with determining compensation coefficients using GEA.

2.3. Thermal deformation error of the ball screw

The developed algorithm is applied to a two-axis CNC lathe. Thermal deformation analysis is
performed regarding the z-axis only. Fundamental specification is as in Table 1.
Since it is almost impossible to measure the temperatures at the suggested points, the MLCM
compensation coefficients and the frictional heat can not be estimated by measuring the tempera-
ture and motor current as described. However, the main need for the compensation coefficients
is because of the inexactness of the heat transfer coefficients. Since they do not change drastically
for the same type of nut and screw structure, the compensation coefficients, other than the heat
generation term, can be experimentally determined on a test bed.
The frictional heat generation term needs to be evaluated by an analytical model because it
differs for each machine tool. The following equation can be used to obtain the torque and the
frictional heat due to the friction between the screw and the nut:
Tana Wrdx
1092 W.S. Yun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 39 (1999) 10871101

Fig. 3. Comparison with measurement and MLCM analysis (420 rpm, stop time: 1 s).

Table 1
The specification for a ball screw system of a CNC lathe

Screw shaft length 1060 mm

Nut length (one side) 60 mm
Preload 200 kgf
Stroke 400 mm
Nut type Double nut

Qf Tanaw (4)
Wrwdx

The load distribution W varies with respect to the preload given to the nut as well as the
specifications (nut length, ball diameter, screw shaft radius, lead angle, etc.) of the ball screw
system concerned. Hence, the frictional torque and heat can be evaluated by the above equation
after calculating the load distribution [13].
In this paper, s in Eq. (2) was corrected by comparing the calculated frictional heat with that
measured on a test bed. The frictional heat of the machine tool concerned can subsequently be
 W.S. Yun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 39 (1999) 10871101 1093

Fig. 4. Load distribution along the nut.

calculated from the corrected s and the load distribution W along the z-axis of the machine. Fig.
4 shows the load distribution along the z-axis. The preload imposed was 200 kgf. Each nut was
60 mm long and of double nut structure. The total length of the nut was thus 120 mm. Fig. 4
represents the load distribution of the left nut, and because of the symmetry the other nut has
the same distribution. The distribution in Fig. 4 can be substituted in Eq. (4) to determine the
heat generated.
Based on the preceding derivation, thermal analysis of a ball screw system was performed and
the results are illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. The feed conditions used for both the analysis and the
experiment are shown in Table 2.
The figures show the thermal errors within the stroke range, with the errors being represented
relative to the machine origin. Fig. 5 shows the temperature distribution estimated by substituting
the calculated frictional heat and the corrected compensation coefficients in Eq. (2). The tempera-
ture rises by 7.55C after 30 min operation for the z-axis stroke of 400 mm. Fig. 6 shows the
errors due to thermal expansion within the stroke range. The error was measured with respect to
a reference position, which was set to be 10 mm from the machine origin, both in the estimation
and in the experiment. The maximum error, 34.2 m, occurred at the end of the stroke. It was
assumed that the thermal error of the ball screw system consists of only linear axial error.

Fig. 5. Temperature rise at z-axis screw shaft of the CNC lathe.

1094 W.S. Yun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 39 (1999) 10871101

Fig. 6. Thermal deformation of z-axis screw shaft of the CNC lathe.

Table 2
The feeding condition for the analysis and experiment of the CNC lathe

Feeding velocity 12 m/min

Stop time 2s
Feeding time 30 min

3. Thermal error analysis of the guide way

There has been little active research on the thermal behavior of the guide way, since its effect
on a machine tools accuracy has been considered less significant. However, in most cases where
a CNC lathe takes sliding guide ways, the heat generated between the sliding surfaces can signifi-
cantly degrade positioning accuracy.
Furthermore, the thermal error of the guide way causes angular errors such as roll, pitch and
yaw, as well as linear positioning error, subsequently increasing the amount of error at the tool-
tip. In this paper, FEM analysis is applied to estimate the thermal error of guide ways. The heat
sources are estimated from experiments, to be used for FEM [18].

3.1. Estimation of the heat source and the boundary condition for FEM

The guide ways of the object CNC lathe are modelled as shown in Fig. 7, in order to estimate
the temperature rise and the subsequent thermal deformation generated by the friction of sliding.
The turret is placed on the x-axis carriage but is excluded from the FEM analysis due to its
complex fixing condition and structure. Each element was a cube with eight nodes, a node on
each corner of the cube. The number of nodes and elements was 3670 and 2376, respectively.
The following assumptions were made to perform thermal analysis by FEM:
1. Machining is not performed, thus the chip effect is not considered.
2. Heat conduction from the motors is replaced by heat fluxes.
3. Heat generated between the sliding surfaces is replaced by heat fluxes directed to the surfaces
of the sliding surface elements.
 W.S. Yun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 39 (1999) 10871101 1095

Fig. 7. Geometry model for the structure of the CNC lathe guide way.

4. There is no thermal deformation in x-, y-, or z-direction on the bottom of the machine.
According to the above assumptions, the heat sources of the guide ways were divided as fol-
lows:
1. Heat generated between the carriage and the guide block.
2. Heat conducted from the feed drive motors.
3. Heat conducted from the ball screw.
The first of the above is the biggest heat source for the guide way, and changes as the feed
velocity changes. Exact estimation of the heat generated imposes many difficulties. Therefore,
the boundary conditions for FEM were replaced by the heat fluxes, which were calculated from
the measured temperatures. Temperatures were measured at points 1 and 2 in Fig. 7 while the
machine was running under the conditions in Table 2. The difference in the temperature rise
between the two points was almost constant at 0.173C, and the temperature rise at point 3 and
at point 4 was measured to be 0.8C and 1.53C, respectively. For commercial machine tools, it
is almost impossible to measure the temperatures at any other points on the guide way. The
approximate heat flux can be estimated by using the following equation, along with the measured
temperature values of points 1 and 2:
dT
q k (5)
dx

The heat flux estimated above was assumed to be conducted to the carriage, and the heat flux
to the sliding surfaces of the guide block was determined according to the duration of contact.
1096 W.S. Yun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 39 (1999) 10871101

Fig. 8. Temperature distribution of the CNC lathe guide way after 30 min heat up.

3.2. Thermal deformation error of the guide way

The results of the FEM analysis are shown in Fig. 8. The figure describes the thermal distri-
bution of the guide way structure after the z-axis was run for 30 min with the feeding conditions
in Table 2. The maximum temperature rise was around 3.4C. Table 3 compares the FEM results
with the values measured at the specified four locations. The thermal deformation at each node
on the sliding surfaces A and B (Fig. 7) can be evaluated using the results in Fig. 8. The six
error components (one linear positioning error, two straightness errors, three angular errors) asso-
ciated with one axis of a machine tool can subsequently be identified.
Fig. 9 represents the temperature distribution of the two slide surfaces (A and B) of the guide
block along the z-axis. As can be seen in the figure, the two distributions differ, causing angular
errors while feeding along the z-axis. Fig. 10 shows the respective thermal deformations. In the
machine tool concerned, the contact area of slide surface B is greater than that of A, and the
machine tool itself is not a symmetrical structure. Some difference therefore appears, as might
be expected, between the thermal expansion of slide surface A and slide surface B. The defor-
mation that is in the direction of feed can be interpreted as the linear positioning error.

Table 3
Comparison of temperature rise with measured and calculated values

After 30 min heat up Measured value Calculated value

(C) (C)

Temperature difference of point 1, 2 0.173 0.12

Temperature rise of point 3 0.8 1.06
Temperature rise of point 4 1.53 1.83
 W.S. Yun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 39 (1999) 10871101 1097

Fig. 9. Temperature rise of two slide surface of the guide way system.

Fig. 10. Z direction thermal deformation of two slide surface of the guide way system.

Figs. 11 and 12 represent the thermal deformation errors on the slide surfaces A and B in the
x- and y-axis, respectively. The results show that x- and y-axis straightness errors occur due to
thermal deformation during motion in the z-axis.
Pitch error is also induced by the thermal deformation, as shown in Fig. 13. The bottom surface

Fig. 11. X direction thermal deformation of two slide surface of the guide way system.
1098 W.S. Yun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 39 (1999) 10871101

Fig. 12. Y direction thermal deformation of two slide surface of the guide way system.

Fig. 13. X axis angular error in the YZ plane (pitch angle error).

of the guide way was assumed to be not deformable, so that it could be used as a reference for
pitch error.
Fig. 14 illustrates the total amount of error, together with the individual error components, of
a ball screw and guide way of a feed drive system. Fig. 14(a) shows the estimated tool tip error

Fig. 14. Z axis linear positioning error due to the thermal deformation of the feed drive system.
 W.S. Yun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 39 (1999) 10871101 1099

induced by the pitch angle error of the guide way. It was viewed that a guide block simply guides
the carriage block without constraints. Therefore, thermal expansion of the guide block does not
give rise to linear positioning error of the tool-tip, whereas pitch angle error does, as in Fig.
14(a). The tool-tip is located 300 mm from the guide block along the y-axis, and is thus signifi-
cantly affected by pitch angle error. Fig. 14 shows that the maximum tool-tip thermal error at
the end of the stroke is 10.04 m. The remaining angle errors, such as roll and yaw errors, appear
to be negligibly small. The results are not shown in this paper.

4. Thermal deformation error of the feed drive system

To predict the linear positioning error of a tool (cutting point) in a CNC lathe, the thermal
expansion of the ball screw and of the guide way should be added together. Fig. 14(c) represents
the total tool-tip error caused by the thermal deformation of the feed drive system, which was
obtained by summing the individual errors: the error due to ball screw expansion (Fig. 14(b)) and
the pitch angle error due to guide way deformation (Fig. 14(a)). The resulting maximum linear
positioning error due to thermal deformation was 44.24 m.
The linear positioning error during z-axis feeding was measured in the CNC lathe concerned
using a laser interferometer, for comparison with the calculated results. The measured values of
the linear positioning error are shown in Fig. 15. The positioning error was measured immediately
after the machine was turned on and again after 30 min movement, under the conditions in Table
2. The former was subtracted from the latter and this difference was taken as the error due to
thermal deformation. As can be seen in the figure, the z-axis stroke was 400 mm and the error was
measured every 20 mm. The maximum thermal error within a stroke turned out to be 40.45 m.
Fig. 16 compares the experimental and the estimated thermal errors during z-axis feeding. The
proposed scheme of analysis, which combines the individual errors of the ball screw and the
guide way in the aforementioned manner, estimates the errors caused by the thermal deformation
of the feed drive system with surprising accuracy.
Through estimation and experiment, it was shown that the thermal error due to the pitch angle

Fig. 15. Experimental results using the laser interferometer.

1100 W.S. Yun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 39 (1999) 10871101

Fig. 16. Comparison between the estimated and experiment results.

error of the guide way accounted for 22.7% of the total thermal error. The guide way should
therefore be taken into account to estimate thermal error accurately.

5. Conclusions

This paper proposes a method of estimating the tool-tip error caused by the thermal errors of
a feed drive system. The approach first individually models and calculates the thermal errors of
the ball screw and the guide way structures using MLCM/GEA and FEM, respectively, and then
adds them together. The ball screw gives rise to only linear positioning errors, whereas the guide
way causes angular errors as well as linear positioning and straightness errors. Of all the angular
errors, it is the pitch angle error that most affects the linear positioning error at the tool-tip. For
better thermal analysis of a feed drive system, the guide way as well as the ball screw should be
taken into account.
Using the proposed scheme, the thermal error of a ball screw system can be found with only
its specifications, and the heat flux of the guide way system can easily be obtained by experiment
and then used for FEM analysis.
The effectiveness of the proposed models was proven through experiments, with an accuracy
of 3.79 m at the end of the stroke.

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Machine Tool Division of Daewoo Heavy Industries Ltd., and
many of the experiments were conducted using their machine tools in their plant. The authors
are sincerely grateful to the persons concerned.

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