Digital measurement twin for CMM inspection based on step-NC

ABSTRACT

The paper presents digital measurement twin (DMT) for CMM based on STEP-NC. DMT is acting as a mirror between the physical and virtual measuring world. In this paper, the measurement system with a 3-axis CMM ZEISS UMM 500 was used as a physical twin, and a virtual machine, generated after modelling and configuring in PTC Creo software of both the machine itself and the prismatic workpiece (PW) and fixture clamps, was employed as a digital twin. STEP-NC file was generated in format P21 by programming the measuring path and simulation of the virtual measurement system operation for two types of tolerances (concentricity and perpendicularity) and three inspection features (IF) (plane, cylinder and truncated cone) in STEP-NC Machine software. Towards double digital twin, using the developed translator for two strategies, STEP-NC and a novel strategy, for obtaining measuring paths, this file is converted to a control data list (CDL), with instructions for the UMM500 axes movement according to a new indirect programming method based on the standard ISO 10303–238. Consequently, the result of this paper is off-line DMT based on STEP-NC by virtue of CDL. Web interface of the DMT based on STEP-NC uses NC.js which deploys Javascript.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital twin
• step-NC
• CMM
• inspection planning
• prismatic workpiece

Acknowledgments

The presented research was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia under Grant No. 451-03-68/2020-14/200105.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).