Design and Analysis of Drum Lathe for Manufacturing Large-scale

Optical Microstructured Surface and Load Characteristics of

Aerostatic Spindle
Dongxu Wu, Zheng Qiao, Bo Wang*, Huiming Wang, Guo Li
Center for Precision Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin , 150001, China
bradywang@hit.edu.cn

ABSTRACT

In this paper, a four-axis ultra-precision lathe for machining large-scale drum mould with microstructured surface is
presented. Firstly, because of the large dimension and weight of drum workpiece, as well as high requirement of
machining accuracy, the design guidelines and component parts of this drum lathe is introduced in detail, including
control system, moving and driving components, position feedback system and so on. Additionally, the weight of drum
workpiece would result in the structural deformation of this lathe, therefore, this paper analyses the effect of structural
deformation on machining accuracy by means of ANSYS. The position change is approximately 16.9nm in the
X-direction(sensitive direction) which could be negligible. Finally, in order to study the impact of bearing parameters on
the load characteristics of aerostatic journal bearing, one of the famous computational fluid dynamics(CFD) software,
FLUENT, is adopted, and a series of simulations are carried out. The result shows that the aerostatic spindle has superior
performance of carrying capacity and stiffness, it is possible for this lathe to bear the weight of drum workpiece up to
1000kg since there are two aerostatic spindles in the headstock and tailstock.

Keywords: ultra-precision lathe, drum mould, microstructured surface, structural deformation, load characteristics,
aerostatic spindle

1. INTRODUCTION

Microstructured surfaces have specially designed textures and unique features, and represent a desired functional
performance[1]. Due to the relationship between surface characteristics and functionality, microstructured surfaces are
universally used in the field of backlight units, concentrating photovoltaic, optical systems, traffic signs, drag reduction
film, etc[2]. There is an increasing demand for structured surface production, hence, the related manufacturing technology
is a research hotspot and the research development is closely tracked by many scholars. Roll-to-roll forming process is
an efficient replication technology to manufacture large-area microstructured surfaces having the advantages of reduced
mould making time, cost reduction and high precision[3]. Ultra-precision manufacturing of drum mould is a key point in
this replication technology, ultra-precision machine tool is able to produce microstructured surface drum mould in a
well-controlled environment. The drum mould is firstly mirror-finished using round nose diamond tooling, and then
large-area microstructured surface is machined using shaped diamond tools. Therefore, in order to finish the drum
manufacturing, ultra-precision drum lathe is designed and analyzed in many related research works.

J. S. Oh et al., designs and analyzes an ultra precision horizontal roll lathe, and this lathe is able to machine large
cylindrical rolls up to φ600 x 2500 mm (pattern length up to 2000 mm), the cooling device is adapted to minimize
thermal deformation in head stock and Z axis, furthermore, structural analysis by means of ANSYS shows that the effect
of structural deformations on the machining accuracy can be maintained less than 1μm[4]. Micro lens array could improve
the brightness and contrast of liquid crystal displays, so it is a required optical component. There is a report of
ultra-precision roll lathe which is equipped an X-Y table and a cutting axis (Z-axis), a piezo-actuated micro cutting unit
is installed on the Z-axis, and it is possible to machine a large number of micro lenses on a molding drum mould for
plastic film with high precision[5]. The motion error of the carriage slide would cause form error of the roll workpiece,
which is a critical issue to influence the form fabrication accuracy. J. C. Lee, W. Gao et al. has carried out some

7th International Symposium on Advanced Optical Manufacturing and Testing Technologies: Design, Manufacturing,
and Testing of Micro- and Nano-Optical Devices and Systems, edited by Tianchun Ye, A. G. Poleshchuk, Song Hu,
Proc. of SPIE Vol. 9283, 92830I · © 2014 SPIE · CCC code: 0277-786X/14/$18 · doi: 10.1117/12.2070005

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 experiments of precision measurement of carriage slide motion error on a drum roll lathe with a travel range of 1700 mm.
After the error compensation based on the measurement results, the carriage slide motion error was reduced to
approximately 0.759 μm(PV), which can meet design requirement for the next-generation drum roll lathe[6].

In this paper, an ultra precision lathe for manufacturing large-scale drum mould with microstructured surface is
introduced, the design guidelines, layout and component parts of this drum lathe is described in detail. By means of
simulation software, ANSYS is adopted to study the structural distortion of drum lathe which is attributed to weight of
drum workpiece. In the design of drum lathe, load characteristics of the aerostatic spindle is one of the most important
design issues since heavy roll workpiece up to 1000kg should be loaded. In order to analyze the carrying capacity and
stiffness of aerostatic spindle, one of the computational fluid dynamics(CFD) software, FLUENT, is adopted, and s series
of simulations are carried out.

2. DESIGN OF FOUR-AXIS ULTRA-PRECISION ROLL LATHE

Ultra-precision drum lathe for manufacturing large-scale drum mould is to machine different types of microstructures on
the cylindrical surface. Some strict requirements should be met in a machine design phase, firstly, control system and
motion components of the lathe should have these features, such as high accuracy, fast response time, high resolution.
Secondly, due to the heavy and large-scale roll workpiece, the spindle system is a significant issue that should meet these
requirements of superior load characteristics, high rotating accuracy, less heat generation. Thirdly, minimizing vibration
and thermal drift influences on the machining accuracy should be taken into account in the structural design of the lathe.
Figure 1 shows the structural layout of four-axis ultra-precision drum lathe. To minimize a structural distortion caused by
heavy roll, the drum lathe is designed as symmetric as possible. This lathe consists of two rotary axes(C&B) and two
linear axes (X&Z), there are two aerostatic spindles assembled in the headstock and tailstock for C axis, and torque
motor is installed on the headstock spindle. The B axis is also equipped with high precision aerostatic bearing and torque
motor. Natural granite is chosen as the machine tool bed providing exceptional long term machine tool stability and
superb thermal stability. For linear axes, Overlapping type is adopted, the X axis slide carriage overlaps on the Z axis
slide carriage, implementing the linear movement of X and Z directions, and cutting tool and B axis are installed on the
X axis slide carriage. Due to good stiffness and damping performance, hydrostatic guideway is used in the linear axis,
and linear motor provides fast response speed and convenience to control for linear axis. Some specifications of this ultra
precision machine tool are listed in Table 1.

, r r/

Figure 1: Structural layout of four-axis ultra-precision drum lathe

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 Table 1: Specifications of four-axis ultra precision drum lathe
Terms Specification
Max. speed 600RPM
C axis
Resolution 0.036 arcsec
Max. speed 45mm/s
Z axis Resolution 5nm
Stroke 1500mm
Max. speed 45mm/s
X axis Resolution 5nm
Stroke 240mm
Max. speed 100 RPM
B axis Resolution 0.13 arcsec
Rotation error ≤ 0.05 μm
Max. weight 1000kg
Drum mould Max. length 1400mm
Max. diameter 400mm

3. STATIC STRUCTURAL DISTORTION OF THE DRUM LATHE

Due to the heavy weight of roll workpiece, the static structural distortion of the drum lathe should be considered which
can affect the machining accuracy. In order to analyze the static structural distortion, ANSYS is adopted to study the
static structural distortion of drum lathe. The meshed model of drum lathe for simulation analysis is shown in Figure 2,
and hexahedral element is used to mesh the model. Figure 3 shows the position change between tool and workpiece after
the static structural distortion occurs, the position change can be calculated by the equation (1) below:
X = R − R 2 − h2 (1)
where R is the diameter of roll workpiece, h is the vertical deflection of roll workpiece and X is the horizontal deflection
of roll workpiece.

Figure 4 shows the simulation result that the deflection of the large-scale roll workpiece is approximately 82.3μm in the
Y-direction (vertical direction). The static structural distortion is mainly focused on the four-jaw chuck and transition
piece, which is the weak rigidity link. The influence of the deflection in the X direction (sensitive direction) could be
negligible because the deflection is corresponding to a position change of 16.9nm.

ANSYS
R14.5

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-......
,
,411,1114.1*44.00011., :,,,,,,.,,t,,r440
4 40014htopp(07;01100000
io 000.4,1 Position after
defection
000
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000
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to
Figure 3: Position change between
Figure 2: The meshed model of drum lathe
tool and roll workpiece

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 NODAL SOLUTION AN
MAY 29 2013
19:31:39

.183E -04 .366E -04 .549E -04 .732E -04

.915E -05 .274E -04 .457E -04 .640E -04 .823E -04

Figure4: The static structural deformation of drum lathe

4. LOAD CHARACTERISTICS OF AEROSTATIC SPINDLE

In the design of drum lathe, load characteristics of the spindle is one of the most important design issues since heavy roll
workpiece up to 1000kg should be loaded. Under the premise of satisfying the carrying capacity and stiffness, this drum
lathe is equipped with aerostatic spindle. In order to analyze the effect of bearing parameters on carrying capacity and
stiffness of aerostatic journal bearing, one of the computational fluid dynamics(CFD) software, FLUENT, is adopted,
and s series of simulations are carried out. Because of symmetrical structure, a half model of aerostatic journal bearing is
created. The air supply pressure is 0.5MPa, figure 5 shows the pressure distribution in the internal flow field of aerostatic
journal bearing, due to the eccentricity, the pressure distribution in the upper part and the lower part of the internal flow
field is different, which makes aerostatic journal bearing to have carrying capacity and stiffness. Figure 6 shows the
effect of eccentricity ratio on the carrying capacity and stiffness of aerostatic journal bearing at the different rotating
speed. When the air supply pressure is 0.5MPa, the carrying capacity and stiffness could reach up to 9464.5N and
1370.2N/μm. Because there are two aerostatic spindles in the headstock and tailstock, it is possible for this lathe to bear
the weight of roll workpiece up to 1000kg.

5000+05
4150+05
4500+05
425e+05
4000+05
3_75e+05
3500+05
325e+05
3000+05
2150+05
2500+05
225e+05
2000+05
1/5e+05
1500+05
125e+05
1000+05
]500+04
5000+04
2500+04
-2170-01
Y-
Contours of Static Pressure (pascal) Apr 02. 2014
FLUENT 6.3 (3d dp pbns. lam)
Figure 5: Pressure distribution in the internal flow field of aerostatic journal bearing

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 10000 1500
Air supply pressure=0.5MPa

Carrying capacity(N)
8000

Stiffness(N/μm)
1000
6000

4000
500
2000
Air supply pressure=0.5MPa
0 0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4
Eccentricity ratio Eccentricity ratio
a) Carrying capacity b) Stiffness
Figure 6: Load characteristics of aerostatic journal bearing

5. CONCLUSIONS

This paper presents a four-axis ultra-precision lathe for machining large-scale drum mould with microstructured surface,
the design guidelines and component parts of this drum lathe is introduced in detail, including control system, moving
and driving components, position feedback system and so on. To minimize a structural distortion caused by heavy roll,
the drum lathe is designed as symmetric as possible. The weight of roll workpiece would result in the structural
deformation of this lathe, the effect of structural deformation on machining accuracy is analyzed by means of ANSYS.
The simulation result shows that deflection of the roll workpiece is 82.3μm along Y-direction, and the position change is
approximately 16.9nm in the X-direction(sensitive direction), which could be negligible.

In the design of drum lathe, load capacity and stiffness of the aerostatic spindle is one of the most important design
issues due to the heavy roll workpiece. In order to study the impact of bearing parameters on the load characteristics of
aerostatic journal bearing, a series of simulations are carried out using FLUENT. The result shows that when the air
supply pressure is 0.5MPa, the carrying capacity and stiffness could reach up to 9464.5N and 1370.2N/μm. Because
there are two aerostatic spindles in the headstock and tailstock, it is possible for this ultra- precision lathe to bear the
weight of roll workpiece up to 1000kg.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The research is supported by National Science and Technology Major Project of High-end CNC Machine Tools and
Basic Manufacturing Equipment of China (Project nos.: 2011ZX04004-021) and the Aviation Science Foundation
Project (Project nos.: 20110877007).

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