Rotary-Linear Hybrid Axes for Meso-Scale Machining

本研究将开发新型混合机床轴，作为新型中尺度零件制造机床的关键部件。混合意味着机器的一些运动轴在单个部件中复合。中尺度零件被定义为具有在毫米到厘米的分数量级上的尺寸，因此落在微加工和标准加工之间。在规模较小的一端，这些部件包括微机械装置；规模较大的是诸如牙齿修复和涡轮叶片等元素。项目参与者将设计和建造一个有前途的混合轴，其中圆柱形元件在旋转和线性平移中都被驱动。这种杂交允许最小化机器惯性，从而优化加速度，以便快速准确地生产零件。这种混合轴可以形成制造中尺度零件的新型机器的核心，从而促进此类设备制造基础设施的发展。在开发这个轴的过程中，项目参与者将设计、制作原型，并测试设备的机械驱动、传感和控制元件。一个具有挑战性的中尺度应用是金属和陶瓷牙齿修复体的切割或研磨。一个项目的目标是使快速生产这些元素的复杂几何形状成为可能，使用包含两个拟议的混合轴的五轴机床，一个携带零件，另一个携带刀具。我们将对这台机器进行详细的设计，并对选定的部件进行制造和测试，以验证所开发概念的价值。项目参与者将与机床和牙科领域的研究人员和制造商合作，以便看到开发的概念在实际设备中得到应用，从而对这些和其他行业产生重大影响。

This research will develop novel hybrid machine tool axes as key components of new manufacturing machines for meso-scale parts. Hybrid means that some of the axes of motion of the machine are compounded within a single component. Meso-scale parts are defined as having a size on the order of fractions of a millimeter up to centimeters, and thus falling between the domains of microfabrication and standard machining. On the small end of the scale, such parts include micromechanical devices; on the large end of the scale are elements such as dental restorations and turbine blades. The project participants will design and build a promising hybrid axis in which a cylindrical element is driven in both rotation and linear translation. This hybridization allows the minimization of machine inertias and thereby the optimization of acceleration in order to produce parts rapidly and accurately. Such a hybrid axis can form the core of novel machines for fabricating meso-scale parts and thus catalyze the development of the manufacturing infrastructure for such devices. In developing this axis, the project participants will design, prototype, and test the mechanical actuation, sensing, and control elements of the device.One challenging meso-scale application is the cutting or grinding of metal and ceramic dental restorations. A project objective is to make it possible to rapidly produce the complex geometries of these elements with a 5-axis machine incorporating two of the proposed hybrid axes, one carrying the part, the other carrying the cutting tool. This proposed machine will be designed in detail, and selected components fabricated and tested in order to verify the value of the developed concepts. The project participants will work with researchers and manufacturers in the machine tool and dental fields in order to see the developed concepts utilized in practical devices and thereby have a significant impact on these and other industries.