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Technology for automatic machine tool verification

A patented solution for the verification of medium and large mechatronic systems

IK4-TEKNIKER develops a patented solution for the automatic and integrated verification of medium and large machine tools.

In certain sectors such as, for instance, wind power and aeronautics, the current trend is to produce larger parts although preserving the accuracy of their predecessors. This explains why larger machine tools with a higher degree of accuracy throughout their work volume are required. As machine tool volumes grow, however, it becomes increasingly complex to verify the geometry of their systems.

Traditional verification technologies such as interferometry, electronic level gauges or perpendicularity squares are no longer agile enough when dealing with larger machines. This is where IK4-TEKNIKER discovered the need to develop a verification tool for medium and large machine tools.

In order to deliver a solution that allows companies to overcome this problem, i.e., so they can guarantee the geometry and functionality of their machine tools, IK4-TEKNIKER decided to put its stakes on the multilateration technique and develop a procedure so that users can measure machine tool geometry throughout the entire work volume quicker and with a greater degree of accuracy compared to other technologies available nowadays.

By using a Laser Tracker and processing measurements by means of the multilateration technique, IK4-TEKNIKER is currently able to offer an in-house solution for the verification of large machine tools.

Moreover, and as a collaborating firm of the German company ETALON AG, IK4-TEKNIKER can also provide their commercial solution called Laser Tracer for machine tool verification and volumetric compensation.

Measuring procedures using the IK4-TEKNIKER and ETALON AG solutions require that staff carry out the measuring procedure in full. This detail excludes both solutions as a resource for the automatic verification of large mechatronic systems.

This is why, IK4-TEKNIKER has gone one step further and has developed a solution that has its own patent (“Integrated multilateration for machine tool automatic verification”) that automatically verifies the geometry of a machine tool throughout its entire work volume by installing a Laser Tracker system as if it were just another machine tool.

Users of this technology

The users of this technology are manufacturers and users of medium and large volume mechatronic systems linked to the machine tool business.  

The solution allows for the verification of medium and large volume machines that must guarantee a level of accuracy under 0,1 mm throughout their entire work volume and at all times, automatically. It can also be incorporated to the machine in the form of an additional functionality.