Feedrate planning for machining with industrial six-axis robots

The authors want to thank Stäubli for providing the necessary information of the controller, Dynalog for its contribution to the experimental validations and X. Helle for its material contributions.Nowadays, the adaptation of industrial robots to carry out high-speed machining operations is strongly required by the manufacturing industry. This new technology machining process demands the improvement of the overall performances of robots to achieve an accuracy level close to that realized by machine-tools. This paper presents a method of trajectory planning adapted for continuous machining by robot. The methodology used is based on a parametric interpolation of the geometry in the operational space. FIR filters properties are exploited to generate the tool feedrate with limited jerk. This planning method is validated experimentally on an industrial robot

Improving the Accuracy of Industrial Robots by offline Compensation of Joints Errors

The use of industrial robots in many fields of industry like prototyping, pre-machining and end milling is limited because of their poor accuracy. Robot joints are mainly responsible for this poor accuracy. The flexibility of robots joints and the kinematic errors in the transmission systems produce a significant error of position in the level of the end-effector. This paper presents these two types of joint errors. Identification methods are presented with experimental validation on a 6 axes industrial robot, STAUBLI RX 170 BH. An offline correction method used to improve the accuracy of this robot is validated experimentally

A new method for aspherical surface fitting with large-volume datasets

In the framework of form characterization of aspherical surfaces, European National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) have been developing ultra-high precision machines having the ability to measure aspherical lenses with an uncertainty of few tens of nanometers. The fitting of the acquired aspherical datasets onto their corresponding theoretical model should be achieved at the same level of precision. In this article, three fitting algorithms are investigated: the Limited memory-Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno (L-BFGS), the Levenberg–Marquardt (LM) and one variant of the Iterative Closest Point (ICP). They are assessed based on their capacities to converge relatively fast to achieve a nanometric level of accuracy, to manage a large volume of data and to be robust to the position of the data with respect to the model. Nev-ertheless, the algorithms are first evaluated on simulated datasets and their performances are studied. The comparison of these algorithms is extended on measured datasets of an aspherical lens. The results validate the newly used method for the fitting of aspherical surfaces and reveal that it is well adapted, faster and less complex than the LM or ICP methods.EMR

Reconstruction of freeform surfaces for metrology

The application of freeform surfaces has increased since their complex shapes closely express a product's functional specifications and their machining is obtained with higher accuracy. In particular, optical surfaces exhibit enhanced performance especially when they take aspheric forms or more complex forms with multi-undulations. This study is mainly focused on the reconstruction of complex shapes such as freeform optical surfaces, and on the characterization of their form. The computer graphics community has proposed various algorithms for constructing a mesh based on the cloud of sample points. The mesh is a piecewise linear approximation of the surface and an interpolation of the point set. The mesh can further be processed for fitting parametric surfaces (Polyworks® or Geomagic®). The metrology community investigates direct fitting approaches. If the surface mathematical model is given, fitting is a straight forward task. Nonetheless, if the surface model is unknown, fitting is only possible through the association of polynomial Spline parametric surfaces. In this paper, a comparative study carried out on methods proposed by the computer graphics community will be presented to elucidate the advantages of these approaches. We stress the importance of the pre-processing phase as well as the significance of initial conditions. We further emphasize the importance of the meshing phase by stating that a proper mesh has two major advantages. First, it organizes the initially unstructured point set and it provides an insight of orientation, neighbourhood and curvature, and infers information on both its geometry and topology. Second, it conveys a better segmentation of the space, leading to a correct patching and association of parametric surfaces.EMR

Concept and architecture of a new apparatus for cylindrical form measurement with a nanometric level of accuracy

In relation to the industrial need and to the progress of technology, Laboratoire National de M´etrologie et d’Essais (LNE) would like to improve the measurement of its primary pressure standards, spherical and flick standards. The spherical and flick standards are, respectively, used to calibrate the spindle motion error and the probe, which equip commercial conventional cylindricity-measuring machines. The primary pressure standards are obtained using pressure balances equipped with rotary pistons. To reach a relative uncertainty of 10−6 in the pressure measurement, it is necessary to know the diameters of both the piston and the cylinder with an uncertainty of 5 nm for a piston diameter of 10 mm. Conventional machines are not able to reach such an uncertainty level. That is why the development of a new machine is necessary. The purpose of this paper is to present the concepts and the architecture adopted in the development of the new equipment dedicated to cylindricity measurement at a nanometric level of a accuracy. The choice of these concepts is based on the analysis of the uncertainty sources encountered in conventional architectures. The architecture of the new ultra-high equipment as well as the associated calibration procedures will be described and detailed.Thèse CIFR

A newly conceived cylinder measuring machine and methods that eliminate the spindle errors

Advanced manufacturing processes require improving dimensional metrology applications to reach a nanometric accuracy level. Such measurements may be carried out using conventional highly accurate roundness measuring machines. On these machines, the metrology loop goes through the probing and the mechanical guiding elements. Hence, external forces, strain and thermal expansion are transmitted to the metrological structure through the supporting structure, thereby reducing measurement quality. The obtained measurement also combines both the motion error of the guiding system and the form error of the artifact. Detailed uncertainty budgeting might be improved, using error separation methods (multi-step, reversal and multi-probe error separation methods, etc), enabling identification of the systematic (synchronous or repeatable) guiding system motion errors as well as form error of the artifact. Nevertheless, the performance of this kind of machine is limited by the repeatability level of the mechanical guiding elements, which usually exceeds 25 nm (in the case of an air bearing spindle and a linear bearing). In order to guarantee a 5 nm measurement uncertainty level, LNE is currently developing an original machine dedicated to form measurement on cylindrical and spherical artifacts with an ultra-high level of accuracy. The architecture of this machine is based on the ‘dissociated metrological technique’ principle and contains reference probes and cylinder. The form errors of both cylindrical artifact and reference cylinder are obtained after a mathematical combination between the information given by the probe sensing the artifact and the information given by the probe sensing the reference cylinder by applying the modified multi-step separation method.Thèse CIFR

Impact du passage aux normes IFRS pour le secteur des assurances : Cas de la Réévaluation de l’actif de placement d’une compagnie d’assurance Tunisienne

La transition attendue du secteur des assurances en Tunisie vers les normes International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), annoncée depuis 2018 par le conseil national de comptabilité, nécessite la préparation d’une feuille de route pour être à la hauteur des enjeux multiples et importants non seulement au niveau du reporting mais également sur les plans opérationnels, organisationnels et stratégiques. Ce travail vise à déterminer l’impact de la réévaluation de l’actif de placement selon les normes IFRS sur les résultats d’une compagnie d’assurance tunisienne en passant d’une évaluation basée sur le principe du « coût historique » à une évaluation basée sur la « valeur économique » des actifs. Il vise également à étudier l’impact de l’écart de réévaluation « IFRS-coût historique » sur les ratios en relation avec l’actif de placement de cette compagnie. Les résultats de la présente étude sont d’une grande utilité pratique pour les compagnies d’assurance tunisiennes. Ils ont montré l’existence des écarts de réévaluation touchant les différentes lignes réévaluées ce qui implique principalement qu’une réallocation stratégique et tactique de l’actif de placement de la compagnie devrait être engagée préalablement à la transition afin d’éviter les impacts susceptibles de peser lourdement sur l’équilibre financier de la compagnie

Fast B-Spline 2D Curve Fitting for unorganized Noisy Datasets

In the context of coordinate metrology and reverse engineering, freeform curve reconstruction from unorganized data points still offers ways for improvement. Geometric convection is the process of fitting a closed shape, generally represented in the form of a periodic B-Spline model, to data points [WPL06]. This process should be robust to freeform shapes and convergence should be assured even in the presence of noise. The convection's starting point is a periodic B-Spline polygon defined by a finite number of control points that are distributed around the data points. The minimization of the sum of the squared distances separating the B-Spline curve and the points is done and translates into an adaptation of the shape of the curve, meaning that the control points are either inserted, removed or delocalized automatically depending on the accuracy of the fit. Computing distances is a computationally expensive step in which finding the projection of each of the data points requires the determination of location parameters along the curve. Zheng et al [ZBLW12] propose a minimization process in which location parameters and control points are calculated simultaneously. We propose a method in which we do not need to estimate location parameters, but rather compute topological distances that can be assimilated to the Hausdorff distances using a two-step association procedure. Instead of using the continuous representation of the B-Spline curve and having to solve for footpoints, we set the problem in discrete form by applying subdivision of the control polygon. This generates a discretization of the curve and establishes the link between the discrete point-to-curve distances and the position of the control points. The first step of the association process associates BSpline discrete points to data points and a segmentation of the cloud of points is done. The second step uses this segmentation to associate to each data point the nearest discrete BSpline segment. Results are presented for the fitting of turbine blades profiles and a thorough comparison between our approach and the existing methods is given [ZBLW12, WPL06, SKH98]

Implementation of Printed Small Size Dual Frequency Antenna in MHz range

This paper presents a printed dual band monopole antenna working below 250 MHz using meander line and an added stub. Meander line approach is used to reduce the size of the low frequency monopole. The proposed antenna is fed by microstrip line and printed on FR-4 substrate with an overall size of 290 x 83 mm2. The added stub tuned dual band operation at 114 MHz and 221 MHz with measured reflection coefficient of -19 dB at both bands. The antenna has omni-directional characteristics with efficiency greater than 90% and gain of 1.87, 1.7 dBi at both bands respectively. The antenna design is optimized through a detailed parametric study. This study includes varying stub, Meander, feed and ground dimensions. The antenna has been fabricated and measured where dual band operation in the MHz range is verified

Implementation of Printed Small Size Dual Frequency Antenna in MHz range

This paper presents a printed dual band monopole antenna working below 250 MHz using meander line and an added stub. Meander line approach is used to reduce the size of the low frequency monopole. The proposed antenna is fed by microstrip line and printed on FR-4 substrate with an overall size of 290 x 83 mm2. The added stub tuned dual band operation at 114 MHz and 221 MHz with measured reflection coefficient of -19 dB at both bands. The antenna has omni-directional characteristics with efficiency greater than 90% and gain of 1.87, 1.7 dBi at both bands respectively. The antenna design is optimized through a detailed parametric study. This study includes varying stub, Meander, feed and ground dimensions. The antenna has been fabricated and measured where dual band operation in the MHz range is verified