A newly developed corner smoothing methodology based on clothoid splines for high speed machine tools

Continuous linear commands are widely executed in computer numerical control (CNC) machining. The tangential discontinuity at the junction of consecutive segments restricts the machining efficiency and deteriorates the surface quality. Corners of linear segments have been successfully blended by inserting parametric splines. There still exists challenges when the common methods are employed in the line-segment commands due to part of the following restrictions: (1) the stringent computation for iteratively calculating the arc-length; (2) the unwanted feedrate fluctuation; (3) the oversize contour deviation for separately completing curve fitting and velocity planning. A novel smoothing method based on a clothoid pair to synchronously accomplish planning of geometry blending and speed scheduling is proposed, the spline parameter of which is arc-length-parameterized. The arc-length, curvature extreme, and geometric shape of the transition curve are analytically expressed by the transition length. On these bases, the transition curve and the velocity profile are concurrently constructed based on the predefined approximation error, the reachable velocity, and normal kinematic constraints in the look-ahead stage. Then, a real-time interpolation scheduling is developed to overcome the crossing difficulties between the linear and parametric segments. Compared with existing methods, the proposed method can analytically calculate the length of transition curves for the arc-length-parameterized expression form. Furthermore, the feedrate fluctuation is eliminated in the fine interpolation. Moreover, the overlarge contour derivation produced by corner smoothing is significantly avoided. It is friendlier to the CNC system for the on-line executing smooth motion since more computing resources can be released to handle other tasks, smoother motion can be achieved and higher contour accuracy can be obtained. The experimental results also demonstrate its practicability and reliability.