Title: Thermal-structure characteristics coupling analysis and optimisation for horizontal CNC machining centre spindle

Authors: Xiaolei Deng; Jianzhong Fu; Zichen Chen

Addresses: College of Mechanical Engineering, Quzhou University, Quzhou 324000, China; The Key Laboratory of Advanced Manufacturing Technology of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310027, China ' The Key Laboratory of Advanced Manufacturing Technology of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310027, China ' The Key Laboratory of Advanced Manufacturing Technology of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310027, China

Abstract: In this paper, the thermal-structural coupling field analysis model of spindle system is established, and the numerical simulation which accounts for the spindle component system's structure, the actual working condition, the influence of heat source and lubrication system condition factors, etc. which are from a machine tool factory, such as ambient temperature, flow velocity of coolant, and the rotating speed of spindle motor, etc., is conducted. It is found that the maximum temperature up to about 38.8°C appears in the spindle where the double row cylinder roller bearing is installed, while the maximum comprehensive deformation of the spindle's front-end reaches 0.93 × 10⁻⁵ m. And the spindle system needs nearly 1 hour to reach thermal equilibrium state when the system uses the L-HM32 lubricant. However, temperature rise, heat deformation and the thermal equilibrium time are reduced by 11.1%, 22.6% and 12%, respectively, when the lubricant of the lubrication system is replaced by Shell-tellus22, and the maximum Von-Mises stress value is 125.6 MPa. The results are beneficial for providing a basis for the requirements of practical manufacture, especially the optimisation of structure, cooling system and compensation system design.

Keywords: machine tool spindles; thermal-structure characteristics; coupling analysis; lubrication; cooling; CNC machining centres; optimisation; horizontal machining centres; numerical simulation; ambient temperature; coolant flow velocity; rotating speed; roller bearings; temperature rise; heat deformation; thermal equilibrium time; Von Mises stress.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMSI.2014.067114

International Journal of Materials and Structural Integrity, 2014 Vol.8 No.4, pp.257 - 272

Published online: 31 Jan 2015 *

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