Dynamic Design of a High-Speed Motorized Spindle-Bearing System

Shuyun Jiang1
e-mail: jiangshy@seu.edu.cn

Shufei Zheng
School of Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China

This technical brief presents a dynamic model based on the traditional transfer matrix method (TMM) and JonesHarris nonlinear rolling bearing model to study the effects of the extended structure parameters on the vibration behavior of a high-speed motorized spindle-bearing system. The rst critical speed and the dynamic stiffness of the high-speed motorized spindle-bearing system are systematically studied. A design sensitivity analysis of the structure parameters is then conducted to identify the main factor to affect the rst critical speed of the spindle-bearing system. The results show that the processing condition, the shaft shoulder, the dimension of motor, and the bearing arrangement are sensitive to the spindle dynamic behavior. The TMM model of the spindlebearing system is veried by measuring the high-speed motorized spindle overall dynamic stiffness. DOI: 10.1115/1.4001109 Keywords: motorized spindle, rotor dynamic, transfer matrix method, rolling bearing analysis theory

of dealing with the system as a whole, the study can start at a certain station and proceed station by station 14. The TMM was generalized by Prohl 15 to include gyroscopic moments, which can be used for the study of free whirling and evaluation of the critical speeds but also for the computation of the unbalance response. The TMM deals with relatively small matrices and is very time-saving for the general program developed. Thus, this technical brief establishes a coupling model of a motorized high-speed spindle supported by angular-contact ball bearings by using the traditional TMM and the JonesHarris rolling bearing model including the centrifugal force and gyroscopic effects. A design sensitivity analysis of the extended design variables is then conducted based on the developed model to investigate their inuence on the rst critical speed of the spindlebearing system, and some valuable optimization strategy has been proposed based on the rule of maximum improvement rst MIF. Finally, the analytical dynamic stiffness of the spindle-bearing system is veried by experiment.

Dynamic Model

Introduction

The spindle system is one of the most important parts of a machine tool since its dynamic properties directly affect the machining productivity and nish quality of the workpieces. Considerable research related to the modeling of machine tool spindlebearing system has been published 113. An early work on the dynamic model for the machine tool spindle was proposed by Al-Shareef and Brandon 4, they used the inuence coefcient method to investigate the effects of design variables on the dynamic performance of spindle-bearing systems, and the variables included bearing stiffness, position of the drive pulley, mass of the workpiece, optimum position for introduction of damping, and the number of steps of the spindle between the bearings. Recently, the nite element method FEM has been widely used to study the dynamic behavior of the high-speed motorized spindle-bearing system511. The effects of the design variables on static and dynamic performance of the spindle-bearing systems were also discussed, which included the preload, journal diameter, span ratio, bearing conguration, bearing stiffness, length of the spindle shaft, material of the spindle shaft, etc. Although the FEM can be used to deal with the dynamics of this spindle-bearing system, it is troublesome or time-consuming to write the stiffness matrix, or, alternatively, the compliance matrix, although the mass and gyroscopic matrices of such systems are easily obtained in a discrete system 14. To avoid such difculty, together with that linked to the solution of large eigenproblems, the transfer matrix method TMM can be applied. Instead
1 Corresponding author. Contributed by the Design Automation Committee of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL DESIGN. Manuscript received April 2, 2009; nal manuscript received December 5, 2009; published online March 1, 2010. Assoc. Editor: Zissimos P. Mourelatos.

Figure 1a shows the rotor schematic of a high-speed motorized grinding spindle-bearing system built by a spindle manufacturer. The spindle is designed to operate at up to 51,000 rpm, where the rotor is supported by two pairs of angular-contact ball bearings with double back-to-back arrangement. The front bearings and the rear bearings are simultaneously preloaded by a series of compressive springs around the perimeter. The bearings are individually cooled by oil/air lubrication. To drive this spindlebearing system, an integral induction motor rated at 12 kW maximum power is located between the front and rear bearings. The grinding tool is mounted at the end of the spindle. The system parameters are summarized in Table 1. Figure 1b shows the simplied dynamic model of the highspeed motorized spindle-bearing system. The rotor is divided into several sections, each section is modeled as a massless elastic shaft with the lumped masses at two ends, the motor rotor and the grinding wheel are modeled as rigid disks with gyroscopic moment considered. Two front bearings and two rear bearings are simplied as both translational and angular springs, as well as the dashpots. The dynamic behavior of this spindle-bearing system including the rst critical speed and the overall dynamic stiffness has been analyzed by using TMM 1216 and the JonesHarris bearing model 17. A computer program is developed by aid of MATLAB tool. In this study, only the rst critical speed is discussed, it is based on the fact that the maximum running speed of the spindle cannot exceed 70% of the rst critical speed; moreover, the critical speeds in higher order are too high to affect the spindle dynamic behavior.

Dynamic Analysis

3.1 Bearing Stiffness Analysis. Figure 2 shows the change in the radial stiffness, the contact angles, the centrifugal forces, and the gyroscopic moments of the bearings with the rotational speed. It can be seen that the dynamic stiffness of the bearing is apparent

Table 1

Parameters of the high-speed motorized spindle Type of 7005 Type of 7004 Steel 051,000 rpm 500 N 168 mm 44.8 mm 82 mm

Front bearing Rear bearing Material of bearing Rotational speed Initial axial preload Bearing span Inner diameter of motor rotor, d Length of motor rotor, L2

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Fig. 1 a High-speed grinding motorized spindle-bearing system and b the corresponding lumped mass model of TMM

nonlinear. When at a lower rotational speed, the bearing stiffness almost keeps constant, but the bearing stiffness is gradually softened when the rotational speed exceeds a certain speed of 30,000 rpm. From the viewpoint of the rolling bearing analysis theory, this signicant softening phenomenon at high rotational speed is due to the change in bearing contact angles caused by the centrifugal force and the gyroscopic moment.

3.2

Spindle Dynamic Design

3.2.1 Effects of Processing Conditions on the First Critical Speed. For better understanding of the dynamic behavior for the high-speed motorized spindle, the processing conditions of both the rough grinding and the nishing grinding are investigated. By the machine tool industrial standard, the working speed of 28,000

Fig. 2 The change in the dynamic stiffness, contact angles, centrifugal force, and gyroscopic moments of rolling bearings with rotational speed

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Table 2 Dimensions of the grinding wheel and the arbor for two conditions Grinding wheel Arbor

Outer diameter Inner diameter Thickness Diameter Rough grinding Finishing grinding 40 20 16 8 32 20 25 13

rpm is roughly used for the rough grinding for a spindle with a maximum speed of 51,000 rpm. According to High Precision Grinding Spindle Handbook from GMN, the dimensions of the grinding wheel for two conditions are listed in Table 2. The effects of two processing conditions under different preloads on the rst critical speed are shown in Figs. 3a and 3b. It can be seen that the rst critical speeds of both the rough grinding and nishing grinding increase with the increase in axial preload. For the rough grinding, the rst critical speed decreases sharply with the increase in arbor length. However, for the nishing grinding, the rst critical speeds decrease slightly when the arbor length is less than a certain value of 45 mm; however, they will decrease drastically as the arbor length exceeds 45 mm due to the gyroscopic effect of the grinding wheel. As the arbor length increases to a certain degree, the rst critical speeds under all preloads will converge gradually owing to the exibility induced by the arbors. This is consistent with the practical experience in highspeed grinding, for which, in general, long arbor should be avoided to prevent chatter.
Fig. 4 a Effects of shaft shoulder length on the rst critical speed rotational speed, 51,000 rpm; axial preload, 250 N front shaft shoulder and b effects of shaft shoulder length on the rst critical speed rotational speed, 51,000 rpm; axial preload, 250 Nrear shaft shoulder

3.2.2 Effects of Length of Shaft Shoulders on the First Critical Speed. Because of the geometrical constraint of the built-in motor, the bearing spacing can be changed only within a certain limits. In this section, the bearing spacing between the middle lines of front and rear bearing sets is changed by adjusting length of the shaft shoulder between the bearing and the motor. The effect of variations in the front shaft shoulder on the rst critical speed is shown in Fig. 4a. The length of rear shaft shoulder is xed while that the front shaft shoulder varied from 10 mm shortened to 10 mm lengthened. It can be seen that, the rst critical speed increases monotonously with the decrease in the shaft shoulder when the arbor length is less than 40 mm, and increment in critical speed is about 1700 rpm with a 5 mm decrement in shaft shoulder. The same trend holds for the rear shaft shoulder Fig. 4b. It is worth noting that the monotonous variation in rst critical speed with the shaft shoulder is not universal for all types of the motorized spindle. In another case, it is found that there existed a monotonous increase with the rear shaft shoulder shortened, while a monotonous decrease with the front shaft shoulder shortened 18. 3.2.3 Effects of the Dimension of Motor on the First Critical Speed. Figures 5a and 5b illustrate the effects of the variations in the inner diameter and the rotor length of the motor on the rst critical speed. The results in Fig. 5a shows that the rst critical speed increases monotonously with the increase in the inner diameter, in detail, when the arbor length is less than 45 mm, the rst critical speed increases about 3000 rpm with a 2 mm increment in the inner diameter. The reason is simple: the larger the rotor inner diameter of the motor, the larger the bending rigidity to MARCH 2010, Vol. 132 / 034501-3

Fig. 3 a Effects of processing conditions on the rst critical speednishing grinding and b effects of processing conditions on the rst critical speedrough grinding

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Fig. 6 Effects of the bearing arrangement on the rst critical speed rotational speed, 51,000 rpm; axial preload, 250 N

ance mass is installed at the nose of the spindle to apply excitation. A series of unbalance masses have been prepared, and the suitable one is selected by the test speed. The displacement of the spindle nose is detected by an eddy current sensor and the displacement signal is sampled by a signal acquisition unit AZ308R, then the sampled signal is analyzed by the CRAS V7.0 software and the out-of-balance response at the spindle nose for different rotational speed is obtained. The dynamic stiffness at the spindle nose is as follows:
Fig. 5 a Effects of dimension of motor rotor on the rst critical speed rotational speed, 51,000 rpm; axial preload, 250 N inner diameter and b effects of dimension of motor rotor on the rst critical speed rotational speed, 51,000 rpm; axial preload, 250 Nlength of motor

K=

me2 x

spindle; the larger the rotor inner diameter of the motor, the lower the mass effect to the spindle. Figure 5b shows clearly that the rst critical speed increases with the decrease in the rotor length of the motor because the longer rotor contributes more to the mass effect rather than the bending rigidity introduced into the spindle. 3.2.4 Effects of Bearing Arrangement on the First Critical Speed. Traditionally, the design strategy of the bearing arrangement for a motorized spindle is that the rear bearing size is smaller than that of the front bearing by one grade. For this spindle, the original bearing arrangement is type 7005 for the front bearings and 7004 for the rear bearings. The effect of the three arrangement modes of the bearings on the rst critical speeds are studied, the results are shown in Fig. 6. Limited by the DN the product of the bearing pitch diameter dm and the rotational speed n value of the bearing, the maximum type of the front bearing is 7005; the rear bearing changes from 7003 to 7005. It can be seen that the spindle with a bearing arrangement of 70057003 appears the excellent dynamic behavior. The explanation is that a larger size bearing can bring in not only a high supporting stiffness but also an added mass into the spindle, in this case, the larger rear bearing contributes more to mass effect rather than the rigidity of the system.

where m is the mass of the unbalanced mass and x is the amplitude of the displacement at the spindle nose. The simulated and experimental overall dynamic stiffness at the spindle nose is illustrated in Fig. 8. It can be seen that the simulated result is nearly consistent with the experimental measurement within the whole range of the running speed. The dynamic stiffness is softened as the rotational speed increases; it can result from both the softening of the bearing and the centrifugal effects of the shaft.

Conclusion

This technical brief establishes a dynamic model of the highspeed motorized spindle-bearing system by using the traditional TMM and the JonesHarris bearing analysis theory. A design sensitivity analysis of the design parameters is then conducted based on the integrated model to investigate their inuence on the natural frequencies of the spindle system; nally, the proposed model

Experimental Verication of the Model

To verify the TMM model of the high-speed motorized spindlebearing system, a measuring method of the spindle overall dynamic stiffness is proposed by detecting the amplitude-frequency characteristic of the spindle nose. A test system was developed, as shown in Fig. 7. A highly precision-machined disk with an unbal034501-4 / Vol. 132, MARCH 2010

Fig. 7 Test system for measuring the overall dynamic stiffness of the spindle

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Acknowledgment
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation through Grant Nos. 5047507 and 50775036, and Jiangsu Science and Technology Project through Grant Nos. BG2006035 and BK2009612.

References
1 Chen, C. H., Wang, K. W., and Shin, Y. C., 1994, An Integrated Approach Toward the Dynamic Analysis of High-Speed Spindles, Part I: System Model, ASME J. Vibr. Acoust., 116, pp. 506513. 2 Alfares, M., and Elsharkawy, A., 2000, Effect of Grinding Forces on the Vibration of Grinding Machine Spindle System, Int. J. Mach. Tools Manuf., 40, pp. 20032030. 3 Jorgensen, B. R., and Shin, Y. C., 1998, Dynamics of Spindle-Bearing Systems at High Speeds Including Cutting Load Effects, ASME J. Manuf. Sci. Eng., 120, pp. 387394. 4 Al-Shareef, K. J. H., and Brandon, J. A., 1990, On the Effects of Variations in the Design Parameters on the Dynamic Performance of Machine Tool SpindleBearing Systems, Int. J. Mach. Tools Manuf., 303, pp. 431445. 5 Nelson, H. D., and McVaugh, J. M., 1976, The Dynamics of Rotor-Bearing Systems Using Finite Elements, ASME J. Mech. Des., 93, pp. 593600. 6 Nelson, H. D., 1980, A Finite Rotating Shaft Element Using Timoshenko Beam Theory, ASME J. Mech. Des., 102, pp. 793803. 7 Lin, C. W., Tu, J. F., and Kamman, J., 2003, An Integrated ThermoMechanical-Dynamic Model to Characterize Motorized Machine Tool Spindles During Very High Speed Rotation, Int. J. Mach. Tools Manuf., 43, pp. 10351050. 8 Cao, Y. Z., and Altintas, Y., 2004, A General Method for the Modeling of Spindle-Bearing Systems, ASME J. Mech. Des., 126, pp. 10891104. 9 Lin, C. W., and Tu, J. F., 2007, Model-Based Design of Motorized Spindle Systems to Improve Dynamic Performance at High Speeds, J. Manuf. Process., 92, pp. 94108. 10 Kang, Y., Chang, Y. P., Tsai, J. W., Chen, S. C., and Yang, L. K., 2001, Integrated CAE Strategies for the Design of Machine Tool Spindle-Bearing Systems, Finite Elem. Anal. Design, 37, pp. 485511. 11 Cao, Y. Z., and Altintas, Y., 2007, Modeling of Spindle-Bearing and Machine Tool Systems for Virtual Simulation of Milling Operations, Int. J. Mach. Tools Manuf., 47, pp. 13421350. 12 Jiang, S. Y., and Zheng, S. F., 2010, A Modeling Approach for Analysis and Improvement of Spindle-Drawbar-Bearing Assembly Dynamics, Int. J. Mach. Tools Manuf., 50, pp. 131142. 13 Jiang, S. Y., and Mao, H. B., 2010, Investigation of Variable Optimum Preload for a Machine Tool Spindle, Int. J. Mach. Tools Manuf., 50, pp. 1928. 14 Genta, G., 2005, Dynamics of Rotating Systems, Springer, New York. 15 Prohl, M. A., 1945, A General Method for Calculating Critical Speeds of Flexible Rotors, ASME J. Appl. Mech., 12, pp. 142148. 16 Rao, J. S., 1983, Rotor Dynamics, Wiley, New York. 17 Harris, T. A., 1984, Rolling Bearing Analysis, Wiley, New York. 18 Qian, M., and Jiang, S. Y., 2005, Dynamic Optimization of a High Speed Motorized Spindle, China Mechanical Engineering, 1610, pp. 864868.

Fig. 8 Simulated and experimental overall dynamic stiffness of the spindle

was veried experimentally by measuring the overall dynamic stiffness at the spindle nose. Based on the results, the following conclusions are presented. The rst critical speeds of both the rough grinding and nishing grinding increase with the increase in axial preload, and decrease and converge with the increase in arbor length. For the rough grinding, the rst critical speed is sensitive to the arbor in all length, while the rst critical speed for nishing grinding decreases slightly when the arbor length is less than a certain value. The rst critical speed increases with the increase in the inner diameter, while decreases with the increase in the rotor length of the motor. The rst critical speeds increase monotonously with the decreases in the shaft and the rear shoulders. It is worth noting that the monotonous variation in rst critical speed with the shaft shoulder is not universal for all types of the motorized spindle. In another case, it is found that there existed a monotonous increase with the rear shaft shoulder shortened, while a monotonous decrease with the front shaft shoulder shortened. The appropriate bearing arrangement for the motorized spindle is that the rear bearing size is smaller than that of the front bearing by two grades.

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