THE MCU AND OTHER COMPONENTS OF THE NC SYSTEM

The machine control unit is the NC controller that reads the program and runs the processing equipment
(e.g., the machine tool). In this section some of the operating details of the MCU and other components
of an NC system are discussed. It should be noted that nearly all modern controls for NC systems are
designed around microprocessors. The term computer numerical control (CNC) is used to identify these
systems, as opposed to conventional numerical control (NC). We describe CNC in Chapter 10; our
comments in the present section deal with numerical control operating features that relate both to
conventional NC and CNC.
Tape reader
The tape reader is an electrical-mechanical device for winding and reading the punched tape containing
the program of instructions. The punched tape format consists of eight parallel tracks of holes along its
length. The presence or absence of a hole in a certain position represents bit information, and the entire
collection of holes constitutes the NC program. The programming aspects of numerical control are
presented in Chapter 9.
There are several techniques used in NC tape readers to sense the hole pattern in the tape. These
techniques include :
* Photoelectric cells. The reading head shines light at the tape as it is fed through the mechanism,
and photoelectric cells behind the tape are activated by the presence of holes in the tape. The
arrangement of photoelectric cells corresponds to the hole tracks in the tape.
* Electrical contact fingers. In this technique, the reading head consists of a series of eight
mechanical fingers or brushes that protrude through the holes in the punched tape. Each finger
completes an electrical contact on the opposite side of the tape when a hole is present. In this manner,
bit information is read into the MCU.
* Vacuum method. In this method, the reading head consists of a series of vacuum sensors that
indicate the presence or absence of holes in the tape track positions. The vacuum method derives from
the technique used on old player pianos to read the punched paper rolls.
Of the three methods, the use of photoelectric cells has come into dominance. The other methods are
slower and less reliable compared to the photoelectric cell technique.
Position and motion control in an NC system
The data read into the MCU through the tape reader define machine table positions corresponding to
the axes of the machine tool. Each axis is equipped with a drive unit, such as a dc servomotor, stepping
motor, or hydraulic actuator. Using either the dc motor or stepping motor to illustrate, the drive unit is
connected to the table by means of a lead screw, as shown in Figure 8.9. Rotation of the motor causes
the lead screw to turn, which results in linear movement of the table. The pitch of the lead screw (i.e.,
distance between successive threads) determines the distance traveled by the table on each revolution
of the motor.
 The axis positioning system may be designed as either
an open-loop or a closed-loop system. The difference between the two is in the absence or presence of
feedback measurements to verify the axis positions of the machine tool table. Schematic diagrams of
the two types are illustrated in Figure 8.10.

As shown in the figure

An open-loop NC system is one that does not use feedback signals to indicate the table position to the
controller unit. Open-loop NC systems typically make use of stepping motors. The stepping motor is a
motor that is driven and controlled by an electrical pulse train generated by the MCU (or other digital
device). Each pulse drives the stepping motor by a fraction of one revolution, called the step angle. The
allowable step angles on a stepping motor are determined by the relation

where the number of step angles n, on a stepping

motor must be an integer value. The angle of rotation of the stepping motor in response to a pulse train
is equal to the number of pulses multiplied by the step angle :
where P is the number of pulses received by the
motor. An alternative way of expressing this relationship is
where fp is the pulse rate (frequency of the pulse
train) and t is the duration of the pulse train.
The rotational speed of the motor can be determined by the following equation :

where S is the rotational speed of the stepping motor.

By controlling the number and rate of pulses to the motor, the position of the table is controlled without
the need for feedback sensors. One of the disadvantages of the stepping motor as the drive unit for an
NC system is the possible loss of one or more pulses when the motor is operating under load. This
results in a loss in accuracy of the table position. Accordingly, stepping motors are used on NC systems
in which the load is relatively small. Point-to-point drilling and most of the non machining applications of
NC are cases where stepping motors can be used to good advantage.
EXAMPLE 8.1
To illustrate the operation of an NC positioning system, let us suppose that the shaft of a stepping motor
is connected directly to the x-axis lead screw of the machine table. The pitch of the lead screw is 3.0
mm. The number of step angles on the stepping motor is 200.
(a) Determine how closely the position of the table can be controlled, assuming that there are no
mechanical errors in the positioning system.
(b) What is the required frequency of the pulse train and the corresponding rotational speed of the
stepping motor in order to drive the table at a travel rate of 100 mm/min ?
Solution :
(a) The motor position can be controlled to 200 increments corresponding to the number of step angles.
One revolution of the motor provides a table movement of 3.0 mm, which corresponds to the pitch of
the lead screw. Therefore, the table position can be controlled in increments of

(b) To drive the table at 100 mm/min (about 3.94 in./min),

there must be 100/3.0 = 33.333 rotations of the lead screw per minute. The pulse rate must therefore
be

Owing to the direct connection between the motor

and the lead screw, the rotational speed of the stepping motor is equal to the rev/min rate of the lead
screw, which is 33.333 rev/min. Let us check this with Eq. (8.4):

As illustrated in Fig. 8.10 (b), a closed loop system

uses position sensors attached to the machine tool table to measure its position relative to the input
value for the axis. Any difference between the input value and the measured value is used to drive the
system toward a zero difference. The analysis of closed loop systems (also called feedback control
systems) is discussed in Chapter 19.
The function of the feedback loop in a numerical control system is to assure that the table and work part
have been properly located with respect to the tool. Closed-loop NC systems generally use dc
servomotors or hydraulic actuators, although hydraulic actuators are becoming less common in machine
tool drive systems. Various feedback sensor devices are used in NC. One common type is the optical
encoder, which is also used as a component for position feedback in an industrial robot. The operation
of an optical encoder is illustrated in Figure 8.11. The basic device consists of a light source, a photo
detector, and a disk that is connected (usually through a gear reduction box) to the rotating shaft whose
angular position is to be measured. The light source and the photo detector are located on opposite
sides of the disk. The disk has a series of openings through which the light source can be seen by the
photo sensor. As the disk rotates, the openings cause the light source to be seen as a series of flashes,
the number of flashes per revolution corresponding to the number of openings in the disk. The photo
detector emits an electrical signal equal to the number of flashes, which are in turn counted by the
MCU. It should be noted that some optical encoders are more sophisticated than the one we describe
here.
We can define relationships for the optical encoder which are similar to those used for the stepping
motor. The angle between the openings in the disk is given by

where nd represents the number of openings in the

encoder disk. The angle of rotation measured by the encoder is equal to the number of light pulses
(converted to electrical pulses) sensed through the rotating disk. This can be summarized as
This measured angle of rotation can be used to
determine the linear position of an NC machine table axis by taking into account the pitch of the lead
screw driving the table and the gear reduction between the encoder shaft and the lead screw. The feed
rate of the table can also be determined using an equation similar to Eq. (8.4).

The series of pulses that are generated by the optical

encoder is compared with the input position command, and the error is used to control a dc
servomotor, which in turn drives the machine table. A digital-to-analog converter (DAC) is required to
convert the digital signal used in the typical MCU into a continuous analog power signal to the drive
motor. Closed-loop NC systems are generally more appropriate for processes that generate a significant
load during operation. Most metal-cutting machine tool applications such as milling and turning are in
this category.
Accuracy and repeatability
Two of the important features of a numerical control system are its accuracy and repeatability. The
accuracy of an NC system is related to its control resolution. The term control resolution refers to the
MCU’s capability to divide the range of a given axis movement into closely spaced points that can be
identified by the controller. This is a function of factors such as the controller’s bit storage capacity, the
NC drive system (e.g., the number of step angles for a stepping motor), and the capability of the
feedback sensor (e.g., the number of pulses generated per revolution by an optical encoder). Let us
consider the case where the bit storage capacity is the determining factor in the control resolution. If n
represents the number of bits for an axis, the number of control points is given by

The control resolution is therefore defined as the

distance between adjacent control points, and can be determined by
 Accuracy is a measure of the control system’s capacity
to position the machine table at a desired location, which is defined by a set of axis coordinate values. If
we consider only one axis for clarity of explanation, a worst-case situation would be for the desired
location to lie directly between two adjacent control points. The definition of accuracy assumes this
worst-case situation and adds the mechanical errors that result from gear backlash, lead screw play,
deflection of machine components, and similar inaccuracies in the mechanical positioning system. It is
appropriate to consider the mechanical errors as forming a statistical distribution about a particular
control point. For a linear axis such as a machine tool slide, we will assume that the distribution is
normal with a constant variance over the range of the axis movement. If this is the case, we can picture
the control resolution and mechanical errors as shown in Figure 8.12. Nearly all (99.74%) of the error is
included within ±3.0 standard deviations of the normal distribution. Hence, we can establish the
following definition of accuracy :

The definition of accuracy is pictured in Figure 8.12.

Repeatability is defined in terms of the ability of the

control system to return to a given location that was previously programmed into the controller.
Repeatability affects the capacity of the NC machine tool to produce parts that do not vary in machined
dimensions from one part to the next. Repeatability errors have as their principal source the mechanical
errors mentioned earlier. We can therefore define

Our definition of repeatability is illustrated in Figure

8.12. Because its structure is very rigid, a machine tool can be built to achieve very high repeatability,
well under 0.001 in.
EXAMPLE 8.2
A two-axis NC control system used as an x – y positioning table has a bit storage capacity of 12 bits for
each axis. Both x and y axes have a range of 15 in. The mechanical accuracy of the machine table can be
characterized by a normal distribution with standard deviation = 0.0003 in. for both axes. Determine (a)
the control resolution, (b) the accuracy, and (c) the repeatability of die NC system.
Solution :
(a) The control resolution is determined by

(b) The accuracy is defined as

 (c) The repeatability, by our definition, is
Interpolation schemes
Our discussion thus far has focused on control issues related to point-to-point positioning. Let us
consider one of the important aspects of contouring: interpolation. The cutter paths that a contouring-
type NC system is required to generate involve circular arcs and other smooth nonlinear shapes. Some
of these shapes can be defined mathematically by relatively simple geometric formulas (e.g., the
equation for a circle); others cannot be defined mathematically except by approximation. In any case, a
fundamental problem in generating these shapes with NC is that they are continuous while NC is digital.
To cut along a circular path, the circle must be divided into a series of straight-line segments as
explained in Section 8.3, if the programmer were required to specify the end points for each of the line
segments, the programming task would be extremely tedious and fraught with errors. Also, the punched
tape would be extremely long because of the large number of points in the program. To ease the
burden, interpolation routines have been developed that calculate the intermediate points the cutter
must follow in order to generate a particular mathematically defined or approximated path.
There are a number of interpolation schemes that have been developed to deal with the various
problems that are encountered in generating a smooth continuous path with a contouring-type NC
system. They include :
1. Linear interpolation
2. Circular interpolation
3. Helical interpolation
4. Parabolic interpolation
5. Cubic interpolation
Each of these interpolation procedures permits the programmer (or operator) to generate machine
instructions for linear or curvilinear paths, using a relatively few input parameters. The interpolation
module in the MCU performs the calculations and directs the tool along the path.
Linear interpolation is the most basic and is used when a straight-line path is to be generated in
continuous-path NC. Two-axis and three-axis linear interpolation routines are sometimes distinguished
in practice, but conceptually they are the same. The programmer is required to specify the beginning
point and end point of the straight line, and the feed rate that is to be followed along the straight line.
The interpolator computes the feed rates for each of the two (or three) axes in order to achieve the
specified feed rate.
Linear interpolation for creating a circular path would be quite inappropriate because the programmer
would be required to specify the line segments and their respective end points that are to be used to
approximate the circle. Circular interpolation schemes have been developed that permit the
programming of a path consisting of a circular arc by specifying the following parameters of the arc: the
coordinates of its end points, the coordinates of its center, its radius, and the direction of the cutter
along the arc. The tool path that is created consists of a series of straight-line segments, but the
segments are calculated by the interpolation module rather than the programmer. The cutter is directed
to move along each line segment one by one in order to generate the smooth circular path. A limitation
of circular interpolation is that the plane in which the circular arc exists must be a plane defined by two
axes of the NC system.
Helical interpolation combines the circular interpolation scheme for two axes described above with
linear movement of a third axis. This permits the definition of a helical path in three dimensional space.
Parabolic and cubic interpolation routines are used to provide approximations of free-form curves using
higher-order equations. They generally require considerable computational power and are not as
common as linear and circular interpolation. Their applications are concentrated in the automobile
industry for fabricating dies for car body panels styled with free-form designs that cannot accurately arid
conveniently be approx imated by combining linear and circular interpolations.