Sensorless Force Control of Automated Grinding/Deburring Using an Adjustable force regulation mechanism

Controlling the contact force on workpieces has been a challenging task for industrial grinding/deburring operations. Its realization often requires a grinding spindle with a multi-axis force sensor and controller feedback. The spindle needs to frequently vary its position in order to maintain a constant contact force. The use of sensors and control is costly and introduces extra complexity for grinding tools. To improve the polishing quality of handling workpieces of irregular contours, this paper presents a novel force regulation mechanism (FRM) to be installed on grinding tools. Without using additional sensors and control, the FRM can passively produce an adjusTable NORMAL Contact force between the tooltip and workpiece of various geometry. the spindle does not have to move to regulate the contact force. together with a simple grinder which is much less expensive, this approach offers a more attractive solution in terms of cost and complexity. in this paper, the design concept and simulation results are presented and discussed. a prototype of a grinder with the proposed FRM is illustrated to demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of force regulation. this novel mechanism is expected to serve as a reliable alternative for industrial grinding/deburring operation.