Thermal errors in CNC machine tools,particularly those involving the spindle,significantly affect machining accuracy and performance.These errors,caused by temperature fluctuations in the spindle and surrounding compo...Thermal errors in CNC machine tools,particularly those involving the spindle,significantly affect machining accuracy and performance.These errors,caused by temperature fluctuations in the spindle and surrounding components,result in dimensional deviations that can lead to poor part quality and reduced precision in high-speed manufacturing processes.This paper explores thermal error modeling and compensation methods for the spindle of five-axis CNC machine tools.A detailed analysis of the heat generation,transfer mechanisms,and finite element analysis(FEA)is presented to develop accurate thermal error models.Compensation techniques,such as model-based methods,sensor-based methods,real-time compensation algorithms,and hybrid approaches,are critically reviewed.This study also discusses the challenges in real-time compensation and the integration of thermal error compensation with machine tool control systems.The objective is to provide a comprehensive understanding of thermal error phenomena and their compensation strategies,ultimately contributing to the enhancement of machining accuracy in advanced manufacturing applications.展开更多
Machine tool thermal error is an important reason for poor machining accuracy. Thermal error compensation is a primary technology in accuracy control. To build thermal error model, temperature variables are needed to ...Machine tool thermal error is an important reason for poor machining accuracy. Thermal error compensation is a primary technology in accuracy control. To build thermal error model, temperature variables are needed to be divided into several groups on an appropriate threshold. Currently, group threshold value is mainly determined by researchers experience. Few studies focus on group threshold in temperature variable grouping. Since the threshold is important in error compensation, this paper arms to find out an optimal threshold to realize temperature variable optimization in thermal error modeling. Firstly, correlation coefficient is used to express membership grade of temperature variables, and the theory of fuzzy transitive closure is applied to obtain relational matrix of temperature variables. Concepts as compact degree and separable degree are introduced. Then evaluation model of temperature variable clustering is built. The optimal threshold and the best temperature variable clustering can be obtained by setting the maximum value of evaluation model as the objective. Finally, correlation coefficients between temperature variables and thermal error are calculated in order to find out optimum temperature variables for thermal error modeling. An experiment is conducted on a precise horizontal machining center. In experiment, three displacement sensors are used to measure spindle thermal error and twenty-nine temperature sensors are utilized to detect the machining center temperature. Experimental result shows that the new method of temperature variable optimization on optimal threshold successfully worked out a best threshold value interval and chose seven temperature variables from twenty-nine temperature measuring points. The model residual of z direction is within 3 μm. Obviously, the proposed new variable optimization method has simple computing process and good modeling accuracy, which is quite fit for thermal error compensation.展开更多
Aiming at the problem of low machining accu- racy and uncontrollable thermal errors of NC machine tools, spindle thermal error measurement, modeling and compensation of a two turntable five-axis machine tool are resea...Aiming at the problem of low machining accu- racy and uncontrollable thermal errors of NC machine tools, spindle thermal error measurement, modeling and compensation of a two turntable five-axis machine tool are researched. Measurement experiment of heat sources and thermal errors are carried out, and GRA（grey relational analysis） method is introduced into the selection of tem- perature variables used for thermal error modeling. In order to analyze the influence of different heat sources on spindle thermal errors, an ANN （artificial neural network） model is presented, and ABC（artificial bee colony） algorithm is introduced to train the link weights of ANN, a new ABC- NN（Artificial bee colony-based neural network） modeling method is proposed and used in the prediction of spindle thermal errors. In order to test the prediction performance of ABC-NN model, an experiment system is developed, the prediction results of LSR （least squares regression）, ANN and ABC-NN are compared with the measurement results of spindle thermal errors. Experiment results show that the prediction accuracy of ABC-NN model is higher than LSR and ANN, and the residual error is smaller than 3 pm, the new modeling method is feasible. The proposed research provides instruction to compensate thermal errors and improve machining accuracy of NC machine tools.展开更多
In this paper, eddy current sensors and thermocouple sensors were employed to measure the thermal field and thermal deformation of a spindle of a telescopic CNC boring-milling machine tool, respectively. A linear regr...In this paper, eddy current sensors and thermocouple sensors were employed to measure the thermal field and thermal deformation of a spindle of a telescopic CNC boring-milling machine tool, respectively. A linear regression method was proposed to establish the thermal error model. Furthermore, two compensation methods were implemented based on the SIEMENS 840D system by using the feed shaft of z direction and telescopic spindle respectively. Experimental results showed that the thermal error could be reduced by 73.79% when using the second compensation method, and the thermal error could be eliminated by using the two compensation methods effectively.展开更多
The interaction between the heat source location, its intensity, thermal expansion coefficient, the machine system configuration and the running environment creates complex thermal behavior of a machine tool, and also...The interaction between the heat source location, its intensity, thermal expansion coefficient, the machine system configuration and the running environment creates complex thermal behavior of a machine tool, and also makes thermal error prediction difficult. To address this issue, a novel prediction method for machine tool thermal error based on Bayesian networks (BNs) was presented. The method described causal relationships of factors inducing thermal deformation by graph theory and estimated the thermal error by Bayesian statistical techniques. Due to the effective combination of domain knowledge and sampled data, the BN method could adapt to the change of running state of machine, and obtain satisfactory prediction accuracy. Ex- periments on spindle thermal deformation were conducted to evaluate the modeling performance. Experimental results indicate that the BN method performs far better than the least squares (LS) analysis in terms of modeling estimation accuracy.展开更多
The thermal induced errors can account for as much as 70% of the dimensional errors on a workpiece. Accurate modeling of errors is an essential part of error compensation. Base on analyzing the existing approaches of ...The thermal induced errors can account for as much as 70% of the dimensional errors on a workpiece. Accurate modeling of errors is an essential part of error compensation. Base on analyzing the existing approaches of the thermal error modeling for machine tools, a new approach of regression orthogonal design is proposed, which combines the statistic theory with machine structures, surrounding condition, engineering judgements, and experience in modeling. A whole computation and analysis procedure is given. Therefore, the model got from this method are more robust and practical than those got from the present method that depends on the modeling data completely. At last more than 100 applications of CNC turning center with only one thermal error model are given. The cutting diameter variation reduces from more than 35 μm to about 12 μm with the orthogonal regression modeling and compensation of thermal error.展开更多
Aiming at the deficiency of the robustness of thermal error compensation models of CNC machine tools, the mechanism of improving the models＇ robustness is studied by regarding the Leaderway-V450 machining center as t...Aiming at the deficiency of the robustness of thermal error compensation models of CNC machine tools, the mechanism of improving the models＇ robustness is studied by regarding the Leaderway-V450 machining center as the object. Through the analysis of actual spindle air cutting experimental data on Leaderway-V450 machine, it is found that the temperature-sensitive points used for modeling is volatility, and this volatility directly leads to large changes on the collinear degree among modeling independent variables. Thus, the forecasting accuracy of multivariate regression model is severely affected, and the forecasting robustness becomes poor too. To overcome this effect, a modeling method of establishing thermal error models by using single temperature variable under the jamming of temperature-sensitive points＇ volatility is put forward. According to the actual data of thermal error measured in different seasons, it is proved that the single temperature variable model can reduce the loss of fore- casting accuracy resulted from the volatility of tempera- ture-sensitive points, especially for the prediction of cross quarter data, the improvement of forecasting accuracy is about 5 μm or more. The purpose that improving the robustness of the thermal error models is realized, which can provide a reference for selecting the modelingindependent variable in the application of thermal error compensation of CNC machine tools.展开更多
The spherical plain bearing test bench is a necessary detecting equipment in the research process of self?lubricating spherical plain bearings. The varying environmental temperatures cause the thermal deformation of t...The spherical plain bearing test bench is a necessary detecting equipment in the research process of self?lubricating spherical plain bearings. The varying environmental temperatures cause the thermal deformation of the wear?depth detecting system of bearing test benches and then a ect the accuracy of the wear?depth detecting data. However, few researches about the spherical plain bearing test benches can be found with the implementation of the detect?ing error compensation. Based on the self?made modular spherical plain bearing test bench, two main causes of ther?mal errors, the friction heat of bearings and the environmental temperature variation, are analysed. The thermal errors caused by the friction heat of bearings are calculated, and the thermal deformation of the wear?depth detecting sys?tem caused by the varying environmental temperatures is detected. In view of the above results, the environmental temperature variation is the main cause of the two error factors. When the environmental temperatures rise is 10.3 °C, the thermal deformation is approximately 0.01 mm. In addition, the comprehensive compensating model of the thermal error of the wear?depth detecting system is built by multiple linear regression(MLR) and time series analysis. Compared with the detecting data of the thermal errors, the comprehensive compensating model has higher fitting precision, and the maximum residual is only 1 μm. A comprehensive compensating model of the thermal error of the wear?depth detecting system is proposed, which provides a theoretical basis for the improvement of the real?time wear?depth detecting precision of the spherical plain bearing test bench.展开更多
Thermal error is one of the main factors that influence the machining accuracy of computer numerical control(CNC)machine tools.It is usually reduced by thermal error compensation.Temperature field monitoring and key t...Thermal error is one of the main factors that influence the machining accuracy of computer numerical control(CNC)machine tools.It is usually reduced by thermal error compensation.Temperature field monitoring and key temperature measurement point(TMP)selection are the bases of thermal error modeling and compensation for CNC machine tools.Compared with small-and medium-sized CNC machine tools,heavy-duty CNC machine tools require the use of more temperature sensors to measure their temperature comprehensively because of their larger size and more complex heat sources.However,the presence of many TMPs counteracts the movement of CNC machine tools due to sensor cables,and too many temperature variables may adversely influence thermal error modeling.Novel temperature sensors based on fiber Bragg grating(FBG)are developed in this study.A total of 128 FBG temperature sensors that are connected in series through a thin optical fiber are mounted on a heavy-duty CNC machine tool to monitor its temperature field.Key TMPs are selected using these large-scale FBG temperature sensors by using the density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise algorithm to reduce the calculation workload and avoid problems in the coupling of TMPs for thermal error modeling.Back propagation neural network thermal error prediction models are established to verify the performance of the proposed TMP selection method.Results show that the number of TMPs is reduced from 128 to 5,and the developed model demonstrates good prediction effects and strong robustness under different working conditions of the heavy-duty CNC machine tool.展开更多
A method for improving accuracy of CNC machine tools through compensation for the thermal errors is studied. The thermal errors are obtained by 1 D ball array and characterized by an auto regressive model based on sp...A method for improving accuracy of CNC machine tools through compensation for the thermal errors is studied. The thermal errors are obtained by 1 D ball array and characterized by an auto regressive model based on spindle rotation speed. By revising the workpiece NC machining program, the thermal errors can be compensated before machining. The experiments on a vertical machining center show that the effectiveness of compensation is good.展开更多
The paper submits a method to calculate thermal deformation and manufacture error in surface grinding. The author established a simplified temperature field model, and derived the thermal deformation of the ground wor...The paper submits a method to calculate thermal deformation and manufacture error in surface grinding. The author established a simplified temperature field model, and derived the thermal deformation of the ground workpiece. It is found that there exists not only a upwarp thermal deformation, but also a parallel expansion thermal deformation. A upwarp thermal deformation causes a concave shape error on the profile of the workpiece, and a parallel expansion thermal deformation causes a dimension error in height. The calculations of examples are given and compared with presented experiment data.展开更多
Thermal deformation error is one of the most important factors affecting the CNCs’ accuracy, so research is conducted on the temperature errors affecting CNCs’ machining accuracy;on the basis of analyzing the unpred...Thermal deformation error is one of the most important factors affecting the CNCs’ accuracy, so research is conducted on the temperature errors affecting CNCs’ machining accuracy;on the basis of analyzing the unpredictability and pre-maturing of the results of the genetic algorithm, as well as the slow speed of the training speed of the particle algorithm, a kind of Mind Evolutionary Algorithm optimized BP neural network featuring extremely strong global search capacity was proposed;type KVC850MA/2 five-axis CNC of Changzheng Lathe Factory was used as the research subject, and the Mind Evolutionary Algorithm optimized BP neural network algorithm was used for the establishment of the compensation model between temperature changes and the CNCs’ thermal deformation errors, as well as the realization method on hardware. The simulation results indicated that this method featured extremely high practical value.展开更多
The grouping and optimization approach to identify the key thermal points on machine tools is studied.To solve the difficulty in grouping because of the high correlated variables from distinct groups,the variables gro...The grouping and optimization approach to identify the key thermal points on machine tools is studied.To solve the difficulty in grouping because of the high correlated variables from distinct groups,the variables grouping technique is improved.Temperature variables are sorted according to their relativities with the thermal errors.The representative temperature variables are determined by analyzing the variable correlation in sort order and removing the other variables in the same group.Considering the diverse effect of importing the different variables on thermal error model,the method of variable combination optimization is improved.Regression models made up of different combination of representative temperature variables are evaluated by the index of both the determined coefficient and the average residual squares to select the combination of the temperature variables.For the machine tools with complicated structures which need more initial temperature measuring points the improvement is demanded.The improved approach is applied to a precision horizontal machining center to identify the key thermal points.Experimental results show that the proposed approach is capable of avoiding the high correlation among the different groups' variables,effectively reducing the number of the key thermal points without depressing the prediction accuracy of the thermal error model for machine tools.展开更多
文摘Thermal errors in CNC machine tools,particularly those involving the spindle,significantly affect machining accuracy and performance.These errors,caused by temperature fluctuations in the spindle and surrounding components,result in dimensional deviations that can lead to poor part quality and reduced precision in high-speed manufacturing processes.This paper explores thermal error modeling and compensation methods for the spindle of five-axis CNC machine tools.A detailed analysis of the heat generation,transfer mechanisms,and finite element analysis(FEA)is presented to develop accurate thermal error models.Compensation techniques,such as model-based methods,sensor-based methods,real-time compensation algorithms,and hybrid approaches,are critically reviewed.This study also discusses the challenges in real-time compensation and the integration of thermal error compensation with machine tool control systems.The objective is to provide a comprehensive understanding of thermal error phenomena and their compensation strategies,ultimately contributing to the enhancement of machining accuracy in advanced manufacturing applications.
基金supported by Jiangsu Provincial Prospective Joint Research Foundation for Industry-University-Research of China (Grant No. BY2009102)Henan Provincial Major Scientific and Technological Projects of China (Grant No. 102102210050)
文摘Machine tool thermal error is an important reason for poor machining accuracy. Thermal error compensation is a primary technology in accuracy control. To build thermal error model, temperature variables are needed to be divided into several groups on an appropriate threshold. Currently, group threshold value is mainly determined by researchers experience. Few studies focus on group threshold in temperature variable grouping. Since the threshold is important in error compensation, this paper arms to find out an optimal threshold to realize temperature variable optimization in thermal error modeling. Firstly, correlation coefficient is used to express membership grade of temperature variables, and the theory of fuzzy transitive closure is applied to obtain relational matrix of temperature variables. Concepts as compact degree and separable degree are introduced. Then evaluation model of temperature variable clustering is built. The optimal threshold and the best temperature variable clustering can be obtained by setting the maximum value of evaluation model as the objective. Finally, correlation coefficients between temperature variables and thermal error are calculated in order to find out optimum temperature variables for thermal error modeling. An experiment is conducted on a precise horizontal machining center. In experiment, three displacement sensors are used to measure spindle thermal error and twenty-nine temperature sensors are utilized to detect the machining center temperature. Experimental result shows that the new method of temperature variable optimization on optimal threshold successfully worked out a best threshold value interval and chose seven temperature variables from twenty-nine temperature measuring points. The model residual of z direction is within 3 μm. Obviously, the proposed new variable optimization method has simple computing process and good modeling accuracy, which is quite fit for thermal error compensation.
基金Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.51305244)Shandong Provincal Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.ZR2013EEL015)
文摘Aiming at the problem of low machining accu- racy and uncontrollable thermal errors of NC machine tools, spindle thermal error measurement, modeling and compensation of a two turntable five-axis machine tool are researched. Measurement experiment of heat sources and thermal errors are carried out, and GRA（grey relational analysis） method is introduced into the selection of tem- perature variables used for thermal error modeling. In order to analyze the influence of different heat sources on spindle thermal errors, an ANN （artificial neural network） model is presented, and ABC（artificial bee colony） algorithm is introduced to train the link weights of ANN, a new ABC- NN（Artificial bee colony-based neural network） modeling method is proposed and used in the prediction of spindle thermal errors. In order to test the prediction performance of ABC-NN model, an experiment system is developed, the prediction results of LSR （least squares regression）, ANN and ABC-NN are compared with the measurement results of spindle thermal errors. Experiment results show that the prediction accuracy of ABC-NN model is higher than LSR and ANN, and the residual error is smaller than 3 pm, the new modeling method is feasible. The proposed research provides instruction to compensate thermal errors and improve machining accuracy of NC machine tools.
文摘In this paper, eddy current sensors and thermocouple sensors were employed to measure the thermal field and thermal deformation of a spindle of a telescopic CNC boring-milling machine tool, respectively. A linear regression method was proposed to establish the thermal error model. Furthermore, two compensation methods were implemented based on the SIEMENS 840D system by using the feed shaft of z direction and telescopic spindle respectively. Experimental results showed that the thermal error could be reduced by 73.79% when using the second compensation method, and the thermal error could be eliminated by using the two compensation methods effectively.
基金Project supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(No. 50675199)the Science and Technology Project of Zhejiang Province (No. 2006C11067), China
文摘The interaction between the heat source location, its intensity, thermal expansion coefficient, the machine system configuration and the running environment creates complex thermal behavior of a machine tool, and also makes thermal error prediction difficult. To address this issue, a novel prediction method for machine tool thermal error based on Bayesian networks (BNs) was presented. The method described causal relationships of factors inducing thermal deformation by graph theory and estimated the thermal error by Bayesian statistical techniques. Due to the effective combination of domain knowledge and sampled data, the BN method could adapt to the change of running state of machine, and obtain satisfactory prediction accuracy. Ex- periments on spindle thermal deformation were conducted to evaluate the modeling performance. Experimental results indicate that the BN method performs far better than the least squares (LS) analysis in terms of modeling estimation accuracy.
文摘The thermal induced errors can account for as much as 70% of the dimensional errors on a workpiece. Accurate modeling of errors is an essential part of error compensation. Base on analyzing the existing approaches of the thermal error modeling for machine tools, a new approach of regression orthogonal design is proposed, which combines the statistic theory with machine structures, surrounding condition, engineering judgements, and experience in modeling. A whole computation and analysis procedure is given. Therefore, the model got from this method are more robust and practical than those got from the present method that depends on the modeling data completely. At last more than 100 applications of CNC turning center with only one thermal error model are given. The cutting diameter variation reduces from more than 35 μm to about 12 μm with the orthogonal regression modeling and compensation of thermal error.
基金Supported by Key Project of National Natural Science Fund of China(Grant No.51490660/51490661)National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.51175142)
文摘Aiming at the deficiency of the robustness of thermal error compensation models of CNC machine tools, the mechanism of improving the models＇ robustness is studied by regarding the Leaderway-V450 machining center as the object. Through the analysis of actual spindle air cutting experimental data on Leaderway-V450 machine, it is found that the temperature-sensitive points used for modeling is volatility, and this volatility directly leads to large changes on the collinear degree among modeling independent variables. Thus, the forecasting accuracy of multivariate regression model is severely affected, and the forecasting robustness becomes poor too. To overcome this effect, a modeling method of establishing thermal error models by using single temperature variable under the jamming of temperature-sensitive points＇ volatility is put forward. According to the actual data of thermal error measured in different seasons, it is proved that the single temperature variable model can reduce the loss of fore- casting accuracy resulted from the volatility of tempera- ture-sensitive points, especially for the prediction of cross quarter data, the improvement of forecasting accuracy is about 5 μm or more. The purpose that improving the robustness of the thermal error models is realized, which can provide a reference for selecting the modelingindependent variable in the application of thermal error compensation of CNC machine tools.
基金Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.51405422)Hebei Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.E2015203113)Technological Innovation Fund of Aviation Industry of China(Grant No.2014E00468R)
文摘The spherical plain bearing test bench is a necessary detecting equipment in the research process of self?lubricating spherical plain bearings. The varying environmental temperatures cause the thermal deformation of the wear?depth detecting system of bearing test benches and then a ect the accuracy of the wear?depth detecting data. However, few researches about the spherical plain bearing test benches can be found with the implementation of the detect?ing error compensation. Based on the self?made modular spherical plain bearing test bench, two main causes of ther?mal errors, the friction heat of bearings and the environmental temperature variation, are analysed. The thermal errors caused by the friction heat of bearings are calculated, and the thermal deformation of the wear?depth detecting sys?tem caused by the varying environmental temperatures is detected. In view of the above results, the environmental temperature variation is the main cause of the two error factors. When the environmental temperatures rise is 10.3 °C, the thermal deformation is approximately 0.01 mm. In addition, the comprehensive compensating model of the thermal error of the wear?depth detecting system is built by multiple linear regression(MLR) and time series analysis. Compared with the detecting data of the thermal errors, the comprehensive compensating model has higher fitting precision, and the maximum residual is only 1 μm. A comprehensive compensating model of the thermal error of the wear?depth detecting system is proposed, which provides a theoretical basis for the improvement of the real?time wear?depth detecting precision of the spherical plain bearing test bench.
基金The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.51475347 and 51475343)the International Science and Technology Cooperation Program of China(Grant No.2015DFA70340)The contributions of all collaborators in the mentioned projects are also well-appreciated.
文摘Thermal error is one of the main factors that influence the machining accuracy of computer numerical control(CNC)machine tools.It is usually reduced by thermal error compensation.Temperature field monitoring and key temperature measurement point(TMP)selection are the bases of thermal error modeling and compensation for CNC machine tools.Compared with small-and medium-sized CNC machine tools,heavy-duty CNC machine tools require the use of more temperature sensors to measure their temperature comprehensively because of their larger size and more complex heat sources.However,the presence of many TMPs counteracts the movement of CNC machine tools due to sensor cables,and too many temperature variables may adversely influence thermal error modeling.Novel temperature sensors based on fiber Bragg grating(FBG)are developed in this study.A total of 128 FBG temperature sensors that are connected in series through a thin optical fiber are mounted on a heavy-duty CNC machine tool to monitor its temperature field.Key TMPs are selected using these large-scale FBG temperature sensors by using the density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise algorithm to reduce the calculation workload and avoid problems in the coupling of TMPs for thermal error modeling.Back propagation neural network thermal error prediction models are established to verify the performance of the proposed TMP selection method.Results show that the number of TMPs is reduced from 128 to 5,and the developed model demonstrates good prediction effects and strong robustness under different working conditions of the heavy-duty CNC machine tool.
文摘A method for improving accuracy of CNC machine tools through compensation for the thermal errors is studied. The thermal errors are obtained by 1 D ball array and characterized by an auto regressive model based on spindle rotation speed. By revising the workpiece NC machining program, the thermal errors can be compensated before machining. The experiments on a vertical machining center show that the effectiveness of compensation is good.
文摘The paper submits a method to calculate thermal deformation and manufacture error in surface grinding. The author established a simplified temperature field model, and derived the thermal deformation of the ground workpiece. It is found that there exists not only a upwarp thermal deformation, but also a parallel expansion thermal deformation. A upwarp thermal deformation causes a concave shape error on the profile of the workpiece, and a parallel expansion thermal deformation causes a dimension error in height. The calculations of examples are given and compared with presented experiment data.
文摘Thermal deformation error is one of the most important factors affecting the CNCs’ accuracy, so research is conducted on the temperature errors affecting CNCs’ machining accuracy;on the basis of analyzing the unpredictability and pre-maturing of the results of the genetic algorithm, as well as the slow speed of the training speed of the particle algorithm, a kind of Mind Evolutionary Algorithm optimized BP neural network featuring extremely strong global search capacity was proposed;type KVC850MA/2 five-axis CNC of Changzheng Lathe Factory was used as the research subject, and the Mind Evolutionary Algorithm optimized BP neural network algorithm was used for the establishment of the compensation model between temperature changes and the CNCs’ thermal deformation errors, as well as the realization method on hardware. The simulation results indicated that this method featured extremely high practical value.
基金Sponsored by the Special Fund for Scientific and Technological Achievement Transformation of Jiangsu Provincethe Basic Scientific Research Professional Expense of NUAA for Special Project
文摘The grouping and optimization approach to identify the key thermal points on machine tools is studied.To solve the difficulty in grouping because of the high correlated variables from distinct groups,the variables grouping technique is improved.Temperature variables are sorted according to their relativities with the thermal errors.The representative temperature variables are determined by analyzing the variable correlation in sort order and removing the other variables in the same group.Considering the diverse effect of importing the different variables on thermal error model,the method of variable combination optimization is improved.Regression models made up of different combination of representative temperature variables are evaluated by the index of both the determined coefficient and the average residual squares to select the combination of the temperature variables.For the machine tools with complicated structures which need more initial temperature measuring points the improvement is demanded.The improved approach is applied to a precision horizontal machining center to identify the key thermal points.Experimental results show that the proposed approach is capable of avoiding the high correlation among the different groups' variables,effectively reducing the number of the key thermal points without depressing the prediction accuracy of the thermal error model for machine tools.
