A reconfigurable parallel kinematic drilling machine and its motion planning

Abstract

A new reconfigurable high-speed drilling machine which is based on a planar parallel kinematic mechanism is developed and studied. The mechanism has two degrees of freedom and is driven by two linear motors which can provide both a high-speed feed rate for drilling and fast point-to-point positioning. The location and orientation of the spindle is reconfigurable for drilling different parts in a part family. The paper first introduces the schematic mechanical structure, possible configurations and functionalities of the parallel kinematic machine (PKM). Then the paper focuses on the input motion planning for ideal drilling operation, input motion planning for fast and accurate point-to-point positioning. The results are useful for improving the dynamic performance of the machine. A cycle time comparison is made between the PKM machine and a conventional machine tool.

Keywords:

• Parallel kinematics
• Drilling machine
• Motion planning
• Reconfigurable machine tool

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the NSF Engineering Research Center for Reconfigurable Machining Systems (US NSF Grant EEC95-92125) at the University of Michigan and the valuable input from the Center's industrial partners.