220 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CONTROL SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 15, NO.

2, MARCH 2007

Control Approaches to the Suppression of Machining

Chatter Using Active Magnetic Bearings
Min Chen and Carl R. Knospe, Member, IEEE

AbstractSeveral control approaches to the active suppression
of machining chatter, a self-excited vibration that limits metal
removal rate, are examined using a specially constructed turning
experiment. The experiment employs a magnetic bearing for
actuation and mimics the dynamics of a flexible rotor. Control
forces are applied and vibration measurements taken at a location
along this structure that is not collocated with the tool. Three
control approaches are considered: speed-independent control,
speed-specified control, and speed-interval control. Experimental
results with these are compared to those obtained using propor-
tional-integral-derivative (PID) control, a standard approach in
the magnetic bearing industry today. Significant improvements
over PID in machining stability lobes are obtained and the capa-
bility to highly tailor the cutting tool compliance so as to inhibit the
onset of chatter is demonstrated. Cutting tests are also presented
which demonstrate the significant improvements in chatter-free
chip width that may be obtained with advanced control methods.
Index TermsController synthesis, feedback linearization,
machining chatter, machining dynamics, magnetic bearing, robust
control, time delay.
I. INTRODUCTION
ACHINING operations account for an estimated 15% of
M the value of all mechanical parts manufactured world-
wide. In the U. S. alone, expenditures on machining are over
$250 billion per year. Clearly, substantial economic benefits
can result from even minor improvement to the productivity of
machining operations. Such reasoning has spurred increasing
interest over the past 30 years in high-speed machining (HSM).
This technology is viewed as particularly promising for the
aerospace industry where high volumetric metal removal rates
are sought for the manufacture of monolithic aluminum compo-
nents. For the achievement of high-speed machining, progress
along several directions in machine tool technology is critical.
Conventional ball bearings are the source of a number of prob-
lems when employed in high-speed spindles. Primary among
these is the limit on surface speed arising from high centrifugal
forces exerted on the rolling elements. This results in increas-
ingly slender spindles with higher speeds and, therefore, a
greater tendency for tool vibration. Particularly troublesome is
chatter, a self-excited vibration due to instability of the cutting
Manuscript received July 6, 2005. Manuscript received in final form August
9, 2006. Recommended by Associate Editor R. Erwin. This work was supported
by the National Science Foundation under Grant DMI-9713488.
M. Chen was with the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903 USA. He is now with Western
Digital Technology, San Jose, CA 95136 USA.
C. R. Knospe is with the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace En-
gineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903 USA (e-mail:
knospe@virginia.edu).
Color versions of Figs. 4, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14, and 15 are available online at http://
ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TCST.2006.886419
1063-6536/$25.00 2007 IEEE
process. Chatter results in increased tool wear, tool breakage,
and poor workpiece surface finish. Tool vibration problems
strongly impact the benefits in metal removal rate that accrue
from the use of higher spindle speed.
Active magnetic bearings (AMBs) are a very promising tech-
nology for machining applications. These noncontact bearings
use magnetic forces to firmly hold the rotor and maintain sepa-
ration between it and the machines stationary components. For
AMBs, surface speed is limited only by the rotor lamination ma-
terials strength and fracture properties. As such, more than twice
the bearing surface speed of the most advanced rolling element
bearing technology can be achieved by AMBs. For a desired
spindle speed, this allows for rotor diameters greater than twice
that achievable with conventional bearings, resulting in a consid-
erable increase in spindle stiffness. AMBs also offer a means to
provide significantly more damping to spindle modes than rolling
element bearings. This results in greater tool dynamics stiffness
and, consequently, a higher achievablemetal removal rate without
encountering chatter. As active devices, AMBs allow, in prin-
ciple, the tailoring of the spindle dynamics so as to achieve op-
timal metal removal rates for any specific combination of tool
geometry, spindle speed, feedrate, and workpiece. It is this ca-
pability that we investigate in this paper through a simple one
degree-of-freedom (DOF) machining experiment.
Several previous research efforts have targeted the problems
of chatter control and chatter avoidance, either by modifying
the tool dynamics or by changing the cutting conditions. Online
chatter recognition and cutting speed control principles were
introduced in [19] and [20]. These systems detect the ocur-
rence of chatter via sound or vibration sensor, and then auto-
matically choose a new speed for cutting which is less chatter
prone. Several researchers have examined the control of cut-
ting tool motion in turning operations [21][24], with the ac-
tuation provided by piezoelectric actuators. In all these efforts,
actuation and sensing was effectively at the tool location. In
[21], a simple feedback through a phase inverter to a piezovi-
brator was explored and reductions in surface waviness of more
than 35% were achieved. In [22], proportionalintegralderiva-
tive (PID) and repetitive control were examined for control of
a piezoactuated cutting tool; generation of noncircular work-
pieces, rather than chatter stabilization, was the research ob-
jective. A state feedback-observer approach was employed in
[23] with the regenerative (delay) element treated via Pade ap-
proximation. In [24], piezoactuated fast tool servo is employed
along with sliding mode control for following a commanded tra-
jectory. An interesting alternative approach to chatter control is
presented in [25], where active damping of workpiece vibration
is examined. Piezosensors and piezoactuators were attached to a
thin-walled workpiece so as to actively suppress chatter. Chatter
control by using a five-axis magnetic bearing system has been
CHEN AND KNOSPE: CONTROL APPROACHES TO THE SUPPRESSION OF MACHINING CHATTER USING ACTIVE MAGNETIC BEARINGS 221

studied in [26]. The simplicity of the proportional-derivative

(PD) controller used in this study, limits the further improve-
ment in cutting stability and performance.
In this work, robust control techniques are applied to sys-
tematically manipulate the tool dynamics via magnetic bearing
control so as to suppress the onset of chatter. Control strate-
gies are investigated so as to optimize cutting stability for: 1)
all cutting speeds (speed-independent controller); 2) a single
given speed (speed-specified controller); 3) a range of speeds
(speed-interval controller).
Fig. 1. Photograph of the cutting test rig.

II. EXPERIMENT
The experiment, shown in Figs. 1 and 2, was developed so as
to investigate various control approaches to the suppression of
machining chatter. This experiment consists of two platforms,
which are constrained by flexures to move along a single axis
aligned with the feed direction of a lathe. One platform holds
a cutting tool (tool platform), while to the other (actuator plat-
form) is affixed the journal of a radial magnetic bearing. The
journal is surrounded by a magnetic bearing stator, which is fas-
tened to the lathe bed. The two platforms are connected by a leaf
spring so that the forces acting on each are transferred to the
other by spring deflection caused by the relative displacement
of the two platforms. This arrangement is intended to mimic
the dynamics of a flexible milling spindle supported on mag-
netic bearings, capturing the inherent compliance that occurs
between the bearing (i.e., sensor and actuator) location and the
cutting tool. The entire test rig is mounted on a lathe such that
Fig. 2. Schematic of experiment.
the tool is fed into the workpiece during a turning operation.
The magnetic bearing actuator used consisted of an eight-pole
radial stator and journal, each manufactured from cobalt-iron 2) To apply significant forces to the tool platform so as to
laminations, with a nominal clearance of 0.25 mm. The stators counteract cutting forces, substantial movement of the ac-
coils are wound into two opposing sets of four poles so as to tuator platform will be necessary. Thus, we can expect that
generate attractive forces in both directions along the feed axis. under any successful control approach, a significant por-
An eddy-current position sensor (Bently Nevada 7200 Prox- tion of the bearing clearance will be used. This is in marked
imity Transducer) is used to measure the motion of the actuator contrast to typical industrial practice with magnetic bear-
platform. The sensor output voltage signal is anti-alias filtered ings where variations in bearing clearance are proportion-
(Dallas Semiconductor MAX297 eigth-order elliptic filter) and ally small (except perhaps during initial levitation).
passed to a dSPACE DS1103 digital control system (sampling 3) The experiment captures three essential attributes of the
rate set nominally to 25 kHz). In response, the control system milling chatter problem: the time-delay nature of the cut-
generates two analog output signals (current commands), which ting process (see Section III); the nonlinearity inherent to
are fed to two Copley 312-2 transconductance power amplifiers. a typical magnetic bearing; and the compliance that ex-
These, in turn, drive coil current in their respective groups of ists between the tool and the bearing locations. Some as-
coils so as to apply control forces to the actuator platform. An pects, however, are not captured. First, in milling, the angle
accelerometer was attached to the tool platform so as to monitor between the feed axis and the cutting force is continu-
its vibration; this signal, however, was not made available to the ally changing due to the rotation of the cutter. Second,
feedback controller as such a signal would not be available in in milling, more than a single tooth of the cutter may be
an actual milling application. engaged in the cut at any time. Finally, tool vibration in
The following should be noted. milling is not restricted to a single axis and the cutting
1) Chatter instability is due to a naturally occurring feedback process may couple these modes.
loop in the cutting process between tool vibration and cut-
ting force. (We will comment on this in greater detail in III. CHATTER AND ITS CONTROL
the Section III.) In the experiment considered, there exists
no means to either directly apply control forces to the cut- A. Chatter
ting tool nor to measure the tools vibration for control pur- The self-excited tool vibration known as chatter is due to time
poses. Both measurement and control of tool vibration can delay in a feedback loop connecting tool vibration to the cutting
only be achieved through deflection of the leaf spring, that force applied to the tool by the workpiece. This force results
is, through relative motion between the two platforms. in further tool vibration, hence, the mechanism is commonly
222 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CONTROL SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 15, NO. 2, MARCH 2007
referred to as regeneration [7]. The essentials of this process are
as follows. When a cutting tool makes a pass removing metal
from the workpiece, its vibration leaves a wavy surface on the
workpiece. On the tools next pass, this residual waviness along
with the present tool vibration dictates a chip thickness that is time
varying as well. The cutting force applied to the tool is directly
proportional to chip thickness and so varies accordingly, resulting
in the case of chatter in increasing levels of vibration and greater
surface waviness. Time delay enters into this process because the
cutting force applied to the tool is dependent on the workpiece
surface waviness, which, in turn, is a record of tool vibration some
previous time. The delay, then, is the time between when a surface
is cut and when it is cut again (in the case of milling the subsequent
cutwillbeperformedbyadifferenttooth of thecutter).Depending
upon the phase relationship between the existing vibration and
that stored in the form of surface waviness, the process may either
be excitatory or dissipative. It should be noted that the delay is
the fundamental mechanism of chatter instability as the process
is otherwise dissipative.
For our experiment, the cutting process may be modeled ac-
curately in a simple fashion. The instantaneous chip thickness
is related to tool vibration via
(1)
where is the nominal chip thickness determined by feed rate,
is the deflection of the tool, delay is the time interval be-
tween successive passes of the tool over a section of the work-
pieces surface, and the delayed vibration signal cap-
tures the wavy surface left by the tools previous passage. The
delay in our turning experiment is the time for one revolution
of the workpiece: , where is the rotating speed in
revolutions per minute.
The cutting force acting upon the tool , can be related to the
chip thickness via a static gain, this factor usually referred to as
cutting stiffness [8], [9]
(2)
In a previous report, we demonstrated that this simple model
was highly accurate for machining with the experiment con-
sidered here [3]. Furthermore, we verified the widely-used as-
sumption that cutting stiffness is a linear function of the chip
width [3]. Chip width (also known as depth of cut) corresponds
to the length of the tool face engaged in cutting. Metal removal
rate, hence, machining productivity, is linearly related to this
quantity. Therefore, from a control viewpoint, we are interested
in synthesizing controllers that maximize the achievable chip
width without encountering instability. Of course, larger chip
width means higher gain (i.e., cutting stiffness) in the machining
process feedback loop. Since this loop contains the delay ele-
ment, increasing its gain is clearly worrisome from a stability
perspective.
The control problem posed by the experiment can be best un-
derstood by referring to Fig. 3. The mechanical structure con-
sisting of the two platforms (with flexures) and the cutting tool
Fig. 3. Block diagram representation of the chatter suppression control problem.
is represented by two-input, two-output linear system
(3)
where is the force applied by the magnetic bearing upon the
actuator platform and is its displacement. Equations (1) and
(2) then describe the cutting process feedback loop from to .
The magnetic force is a static, nonlinear function, denoted , of
bearing displacement and coil perturbation current . The later,
in turn, is produced by transconductance amplifier in response
to control signal . The controller receives position measurement
signal from the position sensor . We wish to design a con-
troller, , such that the system is stable for the largest possible
range of gains . Of course, the controller should also be robust
to modeling errors that will occur in practice.
Three control design problems will be considered here:
speed-independent controller design; speed-specified controller
design; and speed-interval controller design. In speed-indepen-
dent design, a controller is sought such that the closed-loop
system is stable for the largest possible range of cutting
stiffness, independent of speed and, hence, stabilizing in the
presence of the worst case speed. Since rotating speed is related
to delay, speed-independent controller design corresponds to
controller synthesis for the system depicted in Fig. 3 with a
delay-independent stability criterion (i.e., ) [2].
In speed-specified controller design, the rotating speed, and
consequently delay, are known and fixed during synthesis
and the maximum achievable is sought.
In application, such a controller would need to be employed
as part of the gain schedule so as to provide flexibility to the
machinist in setting speeds on the basis of the part and the
cutting operation. Finally, for speed-interval controller design,
a range of operating speeds is given and design seeks a con-
troller that will achieve the highest possible cutting stiffness
while being robust to this delay uncertainty, , with
. This would reduce the number of controllers
needed for gain scheduling as each would be effective over a
wider range of operating speeds.
In all cases, from a practical point of view, controller de-
signs should provide stability not just at large values of cutting
stiffness, but at small values, too. In particular, the closed-loop
system should be stable before the tool begins cutting. Thus, in
controller synthesis, we seek to assure stability for
with the maximum possible .
CHEN AND KNOSPE: CONTROL APPROACHES TO THE SUPPRESSION OF MACHINING CHATTER USING ACTIVE MAGNETIC BEARINGS 223

B. Speed-Independent Stability Condition (4) in combination with this result yields

To further our discussion of chatter, we will draw con-
nections between control theoretic results and those in the
machining literature for the speed independent case. Stability
of machining independent of speed corresponds to delay-inde-
pendent stability. For the case of a scalar delay element, the
feedback interconnection of a linear time-invariant system
with a delay is uniformly stable independent of delay [2] if and
only if the following are true:
1) is stable;
2) ;
3) either
a) ;
b) .
Consider Fig. 3 and assume for now that the controller com-
pensates for the bearing nonlinearity so as to render the closed-
loop system shown to act linearly from signal to . De-
noting the system relating cutting force to tool vibration by
, the delay-independent stability conditions translate to
(4)
(5)
To simplify the discussion, we have ignored the technical pos-
sibility of 3b) as it seems unlikely that a stabilizing controller
design for plant would achieve such a phase relationship
between force applied to the tool and its deflection. Of course,
conditions (4) and (5) may be equivalently expressed as
(7)
Recalling that is stable, this result in combination with
condition (4) provides the following conclusion. If stable cut-
ting is achieved independent of operating speed for a particular
value of cutting stiffness (hence, chip width) then stable cutting
will also be achieved at every speed for any smaller value of cut-
ting stiffness (equivalently, chip width). Thus, condition (6) is
equivalent to
It is important to recognize that without the speed-indepen-
dent stipulation, stable cutting for a cutting stiffness does
not imply stable cutting when the cutting stiffness is smaller.
Thus, when a controller is designed for suppresion of chatter at
a specific speed (rather than all speeds), the experiment may be
stable for cutting with large chip width but not so with small chip
width. In such cases, instability of the magnetic suspension may
occur whenever the tool is not engaged in cutting, a highly unde-
sirable situation when one considers that a spindle will need to
be successfully levitated and spun-up prior to cutting. This issue
will be returned to later. We note that condition (6) is satisfied if
and only if the system formed by the feedback interconnection
of and a norm-bounded single-input single-output (SISO) LTI
uncertainty , with , is robustly stable.
Finally, we draw attention to an interesting alternative form
of condition (5) that was previously obtained, namely

(6)

and note that . Since the system which may be rewritten as

is stable in the presence of no delay (i.e., ), it must also
be stable when the cutting stiffness is zero ( is stable), this (8)
corresponding to stable magnetic levitation in the absence of
cutting. This last statement is the well-known chatter-free condition
Let us now consider how a controller designed such that con- from the machining literature [7], which specifies that stable
dition (6) was satisfied, would perform when a lower value of cutting occurs when the plot of the (complex) frequency re-
cutting stiffness was present . From condition sponse of the tool (similar to a Nyquist plot) does not intersect
(5), we have the closed-half plane to the left of .

C. Stability Lobes
To close this discussion of chatter, we now consider the well-
known stability lobes of machining. The characteristic equation
of the system is given by

If the system is stable in the absence of cutting, the maximum

cutting stiffness for which the system remains stable for all
lower values of cutting stiffness , may be deter-
mined as a function of delay (equivalently, rotating speed) via
the Nyquist stability criterion. Therefore, for any experimen-
tally-determined tool frequency response, a plot may be gen-
erated called a stability lobe diagram which shows the regions
of stable and unstable cutting conditions in the parameter space
224 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CONTROL SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 15, NO. 2, MARCH 2007

of rotating speed and cutting stiffness [7]. Inequality (8) estab-

lishes that stable cutting will occur for all speeds whenever

(9)

and, thus, guarantees stability for one region of cutting param-

eter space.

IV. AMB FEEDBACK LINEARIZATION AND SYSTEM MODELING

A. Feedback Linearization
To achieve a linear plant conducive to synthesis methods yet
accurate over the full range of journal motion, feedback lin-
earization was employed. This approach has been studied for
AMB applications by several authors [10][14]. Experimental
implementation of feedback linearization has been primarily
confined to simple magnetic levitation systems consisting of
one or two electromagnets [10][12]. For multiple-pole radial
magnetic bearings common to industry, investigation has largely
been theoretical or simulation-based [15], [16]. Key to the suc-
cess of feedback linearization for multiple-pole AMBs is the
development of simple yet accurate models of their nonlinear
behavior, not an easy task from either an experimental or mod-
eling approach.
For a laminated magnetic bearing operating with a transcon-
ductance (current-mode) amplifier, electromagnetic force can
be expressed as a static nonlinear function of the controlled
coil current and the journal displacement from the center
position

Choosing the controlled current as the inverse function of

with respect to a desired control force Fig. 4. Error comparison between the fifth-order nonlinear model (top) and the
Jacobian linear models (bottom).

results, in principle, in the cancellation of the nonlinearity.
Toward this end, we determined the nonlinear function by fit-
ting experimental data. For calibration, we used a stiff spring to
generate a test force on the actuator platform by pulling it along
(or opposite to) the feed direction. A PID controller was de-
signed to stabilize the actuator platform at any specified air gap.
The spring force, air gap, and bearing current were measured
by a load cell, position sensor, and current monitors, respec-
tively. The calibration was carried out in the following manner.
With a known spring force applied (measured by the load cell)
and a specified position offset on the actuator platform, the PID
controller regulated the AMBs current to generate the proper
electromagnetic force to balance the external force acting on
the platform , where is the static stiffness
of the actuator platform flexures, and is the measured spring
force. The calculated electromagnetic force, the specified po-
sition offset, and the corresponding measured input current to-
gether constitute one calibration data point. Such data was taken
for different positions over the entire clearance, and at different
coil current ranging from 1 to 1 A, over 1000 points in all.
During the calibration, the AMB was degaussed frequently to
reduce the effect of hysteresis. The resulting data was fit with
a fifth-order multivariable polynomial in and . A compar-
ison of the errors for this model and that of a first-order fit (i.e.,
Jacobian linearization) is shown in Fig. 4.
The appropriate current , to apply so as to achieve a desired
force , is the solution of the equation .
Using the polynomial fit found, this may be solved offline for
. Although there will be multiple solutions due to the high
order of the model, the appropriate solution may be easily
chosen by satisfying two conditions: and A
(the bias current). The linearizing current was calculated in
this manner for actuator platform displacements from
to 250 m, with 5- m increments, and forces from 1000
to 1000 N, with 10-N increments. The results were stored
in a 2-D look-up-table (LUT) to be employed as the inverse
function . For inputs not in the table, the LUT
uses either linear interpolation or extrapolation. The LUT is a
computational efficient solution that is easy to implement on
the dSPACE hardware used.
Ideally, the measured position signal employed by the LUT
is equal to the actual displacement. Unfortunately, the later
signal is colored by the dynamics of the position sensor and
anti-aliasing filter. Furthermore, the perturbation current signal
CHEN AND KNOSPE: CONTROL APPROACHES TO THE SUPPRESSION OF MACHINING CHATTER USING ACTIVE MAGNETIC BEARINGS 225

TABLE I
SUMMARY OF SYNTHESIS MODEL

Fig. 5. Block diagram of experiment for synthesis.

commanded by the LUT is not equivalent to the actual coil

current signal as the former is colored by the amplifier and D/A
converter dynamics. In both cases, these neglected dynamics
can degrade the performance of the feedback linearization.
To compensate for these dynamics, carefully designed digital
corrective filters were connected to the input and output of the
LUT. The goal in each case was to remove the effect of these
dynamics up to 1 kHz. An alternative approach would be to
include these dynamics into the feedback linearization itself
(i.e., a dynamics feedback linearization as opposed to the static
approach taken heresee [11] for example). However, this
technically rigorous approach would prove to be very difficult
to carry out considering the complexity of the actuator dynamic
behavior. The effectiveness of the approach advocated here was
previously experimentally investigated [17] and results indicate
that the feedback linearization was considerably improved.
Fig. 6. Treatment of the cutting process in the synthesis model for (a) speed-
B. Uncertainty Structure independent, (b) speed-specified, and (c) speed-interval controller design.
As there are discrepancies between the behavior of the model
employed for synthesis and that of the plant, robust design was
performed via the inclusion of norm-bounded uncertainties in of these terms, the controller gain will be approximately con-
the synthesis model. Fig. 5 contains a block diagram of the ex- strained by at each frequency. The synthesis model
periment model with the uncertainty blocks used. In this de- is summarized in Table I.
scription, blocks and represent, respectively, the tool Enclosed within the dashed line in Fig. 5 is the controlled
platform and the actuator platform nominal models; and tool compliance ( should be set to zero in this case, to
is the stiffness of the leaf spring connecting the platforms. Nom- be precise). Depending on the controller design objective (e.g.,
inal models and spring stiffness were each determined from in- speed-specified design), additional uncertainties associated with
dividual component tests. The blocks and are the nor- the cutting process will be introduced. These are discussed in the
malized tool platform model uncertainty (multiplicative form) sequel.
and its weighting function; and are the normalized actu-
ator platform model uncertainty and its weighting function. This V. CONTROLLER DESIGN APPROACHES
later uncertainty accounts for both the unmodeled actuator plat-
form dynamics and the feedback linearization errors. The feed- A. Speed Independent Controllers
back form used for this uncertainty was chosen as it closely re- With the bearing nonlinearity handled via feedback lineariza-
flects the structure of the linearization errors. The magnitude of tion, a feedback controller may be synthesized such that condi-
weighting functions and were chosen based on the mag- tion (6) is satisfied for the largest possible value of cutting stiff-
nitude of the frequency response mismatch between the nominal ness (hence, the highest metal removal rate) by repeated
models and impact test results. design. However, since the plant model is not entirely accurate,
Experience with magnetic suspension systems has shown that its uncertainties must be taken into account in synthesis. To this
it is critical in controller synthesis to limit feedback gain and end, -synthesis via D-K iteration [1] may be employed with the
bandwidth so as to avoid amplifier slew-rate limiting as well synthesis model discussed previously (Fig. 5) augmented with
as the spillover of unmodeled high frequency modes. To this that shown in Fig. 6(a) so as to guarantee delay-independent
end, the fictional complex scalar-valued uncertainty , and its stability. To find a robustly stabilizing controller for high metal
weighting function , are used to limit the controller gain. removal rate, -synthesis may be employed within a bisection
For the synthesis model to attain robust stability in the presence algorithm on so that is achieved in synthesis.
226 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CONTROL SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 15, NO. 2, MARCH 2007

B. Speed-Specified Controllers
When the cutting speed is known, synthesizing a controller
using a speed-independent approach may be overly conserva-
tive, unnecessarily sacrificing performance. Unfortunately, low-
conservatism techniques for controller synthesis are not avail-
able for systems with known time delay. To circumvent this, we
propose an ad hoc approach in which the infinite-dimensional
time-delay element is replaced by a finite-dimensional system,
a diagonal Pad approximation of , denoted . While this
is known to not be a rigorous approach, we nevertheless adopt
it for synthesis, with the knowledge that we may validate any
controller design via a posteriori analysis and experimentation.
Some comfort in this approach may be taken by considering the
theoretical comparison system results of [6], where it was shown
that suitably high-order approximations of this kind are neces-
sary conditions for stability when delay is confined to an interval Fig. 7. Value set of interval delay and value set of covering G (s)+W (s)1 .

.
While a diagonal Pad approximation will be unity gain at all is slow (10 Hz) and the vibratory modes of the mechanical
frequencies, its phase is only an accurate representation of that structure are fast (200 Hz). This results in the required order
of the delay at low frequencies. Therefore, in order to achieve an for the parameter-dependent filter to be quite high, resulting in
adequate approximation over the typical frequency range of in- computational intractability.
terest, the order of the Pad approximation should be quite high. An alternate approach is considered here for the speed in-
For example, to obtain a good approximation of a 20-ms delay terval controller design problem. First note that for arbitrary
(corresponding to 3000 r/min) up to a frequency of 400 Hz, the frequency , the value set of for all between and
order of the Pad approximation should be greater than 30. can be represented in the complex plane as a circular arc ex-
As discussed previously, a speed-specified controller synthe- tending along the unit circle from an angle , to an angle of
sized for a particular cutting stiffness may be unstable for . Choose any stable functions and such that
smaller values of cutting stiffness, unlike for speed independent the value set of covers that of the interval
controller designs. To avoid this, we propose treating the cutting delay element, as shown in Fig. 7. Then, robust stability will
stiffness in synthesis as an uncertain parameter. Toward this end, be achieved for the original system with an interval of delay if
define a scalar real uncertainty set , . The the system obtained by replacing the delay element by
cutting stiffness in the model (Fig. 3) may then be replaced by is robustly stable. To reduce conservatism of this ap-
, ensuring that robust controllers designed for the proach, we wish to choose and such that at each
resulting uncertain plant, Fig. 5 augmented with that in Fig. 6(b), frequency 1) the arc length of unit circle covered by the value
will provide stable cutting over an interval of cutting stiffness set disk is nearly that of the delay element and 2) the area of the
values . As before, -synthesis is included within a bi- value set disk lying outside the unit circle is minimized.
section routine so as to find the maximum value of , denoted Toward this goal, let us define and .
, such that robust stability is achieved . The center of the value set disk should ideally be on
the bisector from the origin to the center of the delay value set
C. Speed-Interval Controller Design arc . For small frequency, the delay value set arc length
A controller designed for a specific speed may be highly sen- is small and the radius of the covering disk employed
sitive in practice to variations in speed that may occur; this can may also be small. Therefore, for low frequencies
complicate the employment of such controllers in any subse- the center of the covering disk should be close to the
quent gain schedule. Furthermore, controllers designed in the arc center . With increasing frequency, the delay value
manner advocated are not necessarily robustly stabilizing due set arc length will increase and, consequently, so will the cov-
to the replacement of the delay element by its Pad approxima- ering disk radius. So, as to minimize the area of the value set
tion. We now consider a rigorous approach to the design of a disk lying outside the unit circle, the center of the disk should
controller which will be robustly stabilizing over an interval of move toward the origin along the bisector. When the frequency
speed, or equivalently, on an interval of delay . reaches , the center of the disk should be at the origin as
Recently, one of the authors has developed a comparison the delay value set arc now extends to half of the unit circle and
system framework for this problem by which the delay is no other covering disk exists with smaller radius and less area
replaced by parameter-dependent filters [6]. The resulting outside the unit circle.
stability analysis condition is sufficient and its conservatism To achieve the desired behavior, a stable filter should
is bounded by a known function dependent on the order of be chosen such that the following conditions are satisfied:
the filter employed. As the order increases, the conservatism a) ;
reduces rapidly. Unfortunately, this approach is not feasible for b) ;
the experiment considered here as the delay is quite large for c) ;
the controller bandwidth necessary, that is, the rotational speed d) .
CHEN AND KNOSPE: CONTROL APPROACHES TO THE SUPPRESSION OF MACHINING CHATTER USING ACTIVE MAGNETIC BEARINGS
Of course, condition d) cannot be achieved by a causal system
according to PaleyWiener Theorem [5]. Condition c) cannot
be achieved by any finite dimensional system. To proceed, we
relax these desired properties to the following:
c1) ; inspected for the telltale wavy surface finish associated with
d1) . chatter. The cutting conditions used are summarized in
Consider a diagonal Pad approximation to , , with
its order choosen sufficiently high such that
. Denote its numerator and denominator
polynmomial via . Since
is an all pass filter, its zeros are as mirror images in the
right-half plane of its poles within the left-half plane and
. One approach for developing
filter is reflect the zeros of about the imaginary
axis, forming the filter by
(10)
in which case . Clearly, such a filter sat-
isfies conditions a), b), c1), and d1), provided that the order
is chosen sufficiently high. With so determined, the re-
quired magnitude of the function for coverage of the
delay value set arc may be calculated as
(11)
An appropriate filter satisfying this requirement may be found
by fitting the magnitude with a stable minimum phase transfer
function. Of course, not all the zeros need to be reflected in
developing filter ; this allows some freedom in controlling
the roll off.
As done with the speed-specified design, the cutting stiff-
ness is treated as uncertain by employing in
the synthesis model so as to guarantee chatter-free cutting for
small chip width. Therefore, the synthesis model consists of the
system shown in Fig. 5 augmented with that in Fig. 6(c). To
maximize achievable metal removal rate, -synthesis may be
performed within a bisection algorithm so as to find the largest
such that robust stability is achieved (i.e., ).
VI. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
A. Introduction
To provide a benchmark for evaluating the performance of the
-synthesized controllers, a PID controller was designed via an
exhaustive search over the PID gain values for that combina-
tion which maximized . Such a design max-
imizes the cutting stiffness (equivalently, chip width) achievable
without chatter occurring at any speed (see inequality (9) and
note that ).
Two types of experimental results are presented herein: (1)
stability lobe diagrams generated from the frequency response
of the controlled tool as determined by impact testing; and (2)
chip widths at which chatter onset occurred as determined from
cutting tests. The set-up for the later tests was as follows. Con-
ical workpieces were employed so that chip width would con-
tinuously increase as the tool is fed along the workpiece. Tool
227
vibration was monitored by the attached accelerometer. Chatter
onset was indicated by a large and sudden increase in vibra-
tion level. Upon onset, the test was stopped and the critical
chip width recorded. The workpiece surface was also visually
The lathe employed in the experiment does not permit
turning over 700 r/min. At this speed, the delay is sufficiently
large in comparison to the period of the mechanical modes
that speed-specified and speed-interval controllers cannot be
practically designed because of the very large filter orders
required. A speed-specified controller, for example, would
require a Pad approximation of well over 100 states; the
resulting controllers, the authors found, could not be reduced
in state order sufficiently so that they could be implemented
in real time on the controller hardware used. Therefore, only
PID and speed-independent controllers were tested in cutting.
Speed-interval and speed-specified controllers were designed
for a higher operating speed, beyond the turning capabilities
of the lathe used, and implemented on the experiment without
cutting. Tool frequency responses with these controllers were
then measured and stability lobe diagrams were generated
from this data. Our experience with lower speed cutting tests
provides confidence that the stability lobes calculated from the
experimental data will accurately portray the cutting behavior
at speeds beyond 700 r/min. This view is in agreement with
industry practice. Finally, it should be underscored that the
delay in high-speed machining will be much shorter than that
in the experiment considered, making the speed-specified and
speed-interval control approaches feasible in that instance.
B. Speed-Independent Controller
A speed-independent controller was synthesized using D-K
iteration and its order reduced from 18 to 6 states via a balance-
and-truncate algorithm without a notable loss of predicted sta-
bility robustness. With this controller, the synthesis model was
robustly stable for cutting stiffness values from 0 to 1.44 N m.
(The nominal system model will be stable for a larger variation.)
The controller satisfied the gain/bandwidth constraints specified
by control weighting . Fig. 8 shows the magnitude of the con-
troller frequency response and the control constraint .
The frequency response of the PID controller is also provided
for comparison.
Fig. 9 shows the closed-loop tool compliance , as
measured by impact testing, for the PID and speed-independent
controllers. Both the compliance magnitude as a function of fre-
quency (left) and the complex gain (right) are depicted. Recall
that for the speed-independent case, the maximum chatter-free
cutting stiffness is related to the minimum real part of the tool
compliance, (see Inequality 9). The complex gain plot shows that
the minimum real tool compliances with the speed-independent
and PID controllers are and m/N, respectively.
Therefore, the impact test data predicts that the speed-indepen-
dent controller should achieve significantly higher ( 90%) metal
removal rate at its worst case speed than the PID controller can
achieve at the speed for which it is most chatter prone. This is
confirmed in the stability lobe diagrams for the two controllers,
each calculated from experimental tool compliance and shown
228 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CONTROL SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 15, NO. 2, MARCH 2007

Fig. 8. Speed-independent and PID controllersfrequency response magni-

tude and control constraint used in synthesis.

in Fig. 10. Below each curve in the figure is the region of stable
cutting conditions (i.e., combinations of cutting stiffness and ro-
tating speed). Since cutting stiffness is a linear function of chip
width, the increases in allowable cutting stiffness predicted for the
speed-independent controllerwould correspondto higher achiev-
able metal removal rate. If gain-scheduling on speed were not to
be employed, the controller developed via -synthesis would pro-
vide superior overall performance for turning in comparison to
the PID controller. It should be pointed out, however, that there
are certain speeds where the PID controlled system is less sus-
ceptible to chatter than the system with the speed-independent
controller, as an examination of Fig. 10 indicates.

C. Cutting Tests
Cutting tests were performed on the experiment to assess the
efficacy of the PID and speed-independent controller in chatter
suppression. Fig. 11 shows the results obtained with cutting con-
ditions as described in Table II, the top plot indicating the instan-
taneous chip width during cutting while the lower plot displays
the tool accelerations measured. During the test, the instanta-
neous chip width increases as the tool is fed toward the work-
piece due to the workpieces conical shape. The onset of chatter
can be clearly seen in the abrupt increase in tool vibration. The
maximum chatter-free chip width for the PID controlled system
was 2.7 mm. The speed-independent controller achieved a sig-
nificantly larger chip width without chatter. Chatter onset in this
case occurred at a 4.4-mm chip width, a 63% increase over that
achieved with the optimized PID controller. This degree of im-
provement in chatter suppression is in agreement with that pre-
dicted by the stability lobes at 700 r/min, which indicate approx-
imately 80% improvement (see Fig. 10).
D. Speed-Specified Controller
A speed-specified controller was designed for a lathe speed
of 2800 r/min s . A 30th-order Pad approxima-
tion of was employed which was accurate up to 400 Hz
Fig. 9. Tools compliance for speed-independent (thick) and PID controller
(thin)magnitude as a function of frequency (top) and complex gain (bottom);
the later indicates significantly improved cutting stability for the speed-inde-
pendent controller.
(phase errors less than 10 ). As synthesis of mixed -controllers
is quite difficult, typically leads to very large order controllers,
and has shown little benefit in previous application to AMB
controller design [18], we have opted instead to treat the uncer-
tainty in cutting stiffness used in the cutting process model
[see Fig. 6(b)] as complex. This will, of course,
introduce additional conservatism into the controller design.
Synthesis via D-K iteration generated a 58th-order con-
troller, which was reduced via balance-and-truncate to 25th
order without the loss of stability robustness .
The value of cutting stiffness used for this final controller
design was 2.1 N/ m, which was considerably larger than that
achieved (over all speeds) by the speed-independent controller
N m . From the controller frequency response
CHEN AND KNOSPE: CONTROL APPROACHES TO THE SUPPRESSION OF MACHINING CHATTER USING ACTIVE MAGNETIC BEARINGS
Fig. 10. Stability lobes as calculated from experimentally obtained tool com-
pliance with: 1) PID controller; 2) speed-independent controller; 3) speed-spec-
ified controller; and 4) speed-interval controller. Areas below each curve are
predicted to be stable operating conditions.
Fig. 11. Cutting results for optimized PID and speed-independent controllers.
shown in Fig. 12, it can be shown that its gain and phase are
highly tailored so as to achieve the desired performance. Also
shown, is the controller gain constraint which has
been modified in this instance to suppress control effort at
800 Hz. A previous controller design synthesized without this
modification was not stabilizing when implemented on the
experiment due to an unmodeled plant mode at this frequency.
The speed-specified controller was implemented on the ex-
periment. Fig. 13 shows the measured closed-loop tool compli-
ance as well as the theoretical prediction of this from
the nominal system model. The reader will notice that the speed-
specified controller actively manipulates the tool dynamics of
the experiment so as to resemble that of a flexible structure with
resonance frequencies equal to that of the specified lathe rota-
tional frequency (47 Hz) and its harmonics. This phenomenon
229
TABLE II
SUMMARY OF CUTTING TEST CONDITIONS
Fig. 12. Frequency response of the speed-specified controller (solid line) and
its weighting function (dashed line).
is in agreement with an empirical rule of machining operations:
if the tools natural frequency is equal to the tooth passing fre-
quency, cutting will be highly stable at this spindle speed [4]. Es-
sentially, this arrangement of tool resonances results in the chip
thickness being constant even when the tool is vibrating. When
the chip thickness is constant, cutting force will not vary and,
therefore, not promote further vibration, breaking the self-ex-
citation loop. Note that this precise arrangement of tool reso-
nances is achieved through control of the actuator platform. The
experimental and theoretical frequency responses are in good
agreement indicating the accuracy of the nominal system model
and, to a lesser extent, the efficacy of the feedback linearization.
The stability lobe diagram for the speed-specified controller,
as calculated from the experimentally obtained tool compliance
is shown in Fig. 10. While the system would be very prone to
chatter at off-design speeds, it should tolerate a much higher cut-
ting stiffness (over 3 N/ m) than the PID or speed-independent
controllers at the design speed of 2800 r/min.
230 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CONTROL SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 15, NO. 2, MARCH 2007

Fig. 13. Measured closed-loop tool frequency response (solid line) and the the-
oretical response (dashed line) for the speed-specified controller.

E. Speed-Interval Controller
A speed-interval controller was synthesized in the manner
previously described to maximize the range of stable cutting
stiffness for lathe rotational speeds from 2727 to 2857 r/min,
corresponding to ( and
s). To approximate the phase of up to frequency
of rad/s (500 Hz), a 24th-order Pad approxi-
mation was employed to construct filter , see (10). The fre-
quency response of and are shown in Fig. 14(a). It Fig. 14. (a) Frequency response of G (thick line) and e (thin line). (b)
should be noted that above 500 Hz the magnitude of Frequency response of the weighting function W .
is very small, as desired. A fourth-order weighing function
was developed in the manner previously described using ; its
frequency response magnitude is shown in Fig. 14(b). (4548 Hz) by synthesis, however, the harmonic resonances
The uncertainty in cutting stiffness was treated as com- are not present in this case. An additional resonance at 32 Hz
plex in synthesis, as in the speed-specified case. Synthesis with is also present. From examination of the frequency response of
D-K iteration yielded an 82nd-order controller, which was re- the systems loop gain (not shown), it is conjectured that this
duced to the 14th order without the loss of stability robust- is an artifact of placing the resonance near the rotational speed
ness. The value of cutting stiffness used for this final con- in a fashion that is robust to the speed variation. Examination
troller design was 1.68 N/ m, which was greater (17%) than of the stability lobe diagram for the speed-interval controller,
that achieved (over all speeds) by the speed-independent con- shown in Fig. 10, provides evidence that the robustness of the
troller N m , yet considerably less than that for controller to speed variation can be improved over that of the
the speed-specified controller N m . Fig. 15 shows speed-specified controller, but at the price of a lower achievable
the magnitude of the controller frequency response and the con- chatter-free chip width. It should be noted that the lobe peak
trol constraint. around 2800 r/min is much wider (24003000 r/min) than that
The speed-interval controller was implemented on the exper- specified in design (27272857 r/min). This increased robust-
iment; the tool compliance frequency response obtained from ness to delay is due to two factors: 1) the phase uncertainty
impact testing and the corresponding theoretical results are implicit in employing a complex block, rather than real, for the
shown in Fig. 16. As with the speed-specified controller, a reso- variation in cutting stiffness and 2) the overbounding of the
nance in tool response has been placed near the rotational speed delay value set arc by . It should be noted
CHEN AND KNOSPE: CONTROL APPROACHES TO THE SUPPRESSION OF MACHINING CHATTER USING ACTIVE MAGNETIC BEARINGS
Fig. 15. Frequency response magnitude of the speed-interval controller (solid
line) and control constraint used in synthesis W (dashed line).
that when controllers were synthesized for the speed-interval
case without cutting stiffness uncertainty or with a small
amount of uncertainty in the model, the resulting controllers
did not stabilize the system in the event of low cutting stiffness.
VII. CONCLUSION
Experimental results using a single-axis turning experiment
demonstrate that machining chatter may be actively suppressed
via magnetic bearings. Control of the instability was achieved
with sensing and actuation noncolocated with the cutting tool.
One key to success was the employment of feedback lineariza-
tion to allow the magnetic bearing/amplifier to be accurately
treated as a source of force commands in spite of the large
journal displacements that may be necessary to transmit forces
to the tool. Another key was the development of an accurate
model for synthesis along with an uncertainty characterization
for this model.
Three control design approaches were considered: speed-in-
dependent, speed-specified, and speed-interval. Due to limita-
tions on lathe rotating speeds, only the first of these, along with
an optimized PID controller, were tested in cutting. Experi-
ments demonstrate a 63% improvement over PID in achievable
chatter-free chip width by the speed-independent controller.
Tool compliance for the system with each of the controllers was
obtained by impact testing; this was used to develop stability
lobe diagrams so that the chatter tendency of each controller
could be evaluated at higher lathe speeds, unrealizable with
the current setup. The tool compliance data and the stability
lobes demonstrated that the tools response to cutting loads
can be highly manipulated by noncolocated control so as to
improve cutting stability. Using the speed-specified controller,
the cutting stiffness could be nearly tripled at the design speed
over that achievable with PID without loss of stability. Experi-
mental results were also provided indicating that stability lobes
231
Fig. 16. Closed-loop tool frequency response for the speed-interval con-
trollermeasurement (solid line) versus theoretical prediction (dashed line).
could be widened via speed-interval approach but with some
appreciable loss in the predicted rate of metal removal.
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Min Chen received the B.Eng. degree and the
M.Eng. degree in mechanical engineering from
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 1996 and
1999, respectively. He is currently pursuing the
Ph.D. degree in mechanical and aerospace engi-
neering at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
He has been with the Advanced Servo Group,
Western Digital Corporation, San Jose, CA, since
2004. His research interests include robust control,
signal process, control of dynamic system with de-
lays, and servo control technologies for disk drives.
Carl R. Knospe (M96) received the B.S. degree in
aerospace engineering and Ph.D. degree in mechan-
ical and aerospace engineering from the University
of Virginia, Charlotteville, in 1984 and 1989, respec-
tively.
He joined the faculty of the Department of Me-
chanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of
Virginia in 1989 as a Research Assistant Professor
and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1997.
His work has focused on the development and appli-
cation of control theory to a variety of mechatronic
systems, with a focus on magnetic levitation and vibration control. Much of
his recent work has focused on the analysis and control of infinite dimensional
systems that arise in engineering application, primarily due to delays resulting
from the movement of materials and information within. He is the author of
over 40 archival papers. He has taught several short courses in North America
and Europe, most recently Practical Techniques for Control Engineering at
the American Control Conference.
Dr. Knospe was the editor of Special Issue on Magnetic Bearing Control in the
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CONTROL SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY. He is an Associate
Editor for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CONTROL SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY and
for the IEEE Control Systems Magazine.
Dr. Knospe was a recipient of numerous awards including the Best Paper
Award at both the 5th and 6th International Symposia on Magnetic Bearings.