Increase of Process Stability with Innovative Spindle Drives

Especially in High Speed Cutting (HSC), the potential of machine tools often cannot be exploited as vibrations at the main spindle limit the productivity. At the Institute of Production Engineering and Machine Tools (IFW) and the Institute for Drive Systems and Power Electronics (IAL) of the Leibniz Universitat Hannover, a new active method to increase the process stability is being researched. With the help of an electromagnetic actuator, which was integrated into the drive of a milling spindle, highly dynamic damping forces can be applied to the spindle shaft. Especially with stiff tool/tool holder combinations, the process productivity can be increased significantly hereby. This article describes the implemented concept and shows first promising experimental results of the proposed method.