Hardware-in-the-loop simulator for emulation and active control of chatter

Machine tool cutting performance is limited by the onset of regenerative chatter vibrations. Chatter damages the machine tool system and must be avoided. Efficacy of models guiding circumvention of chatter in actual industrial contexts remains restricted due to cutting process nonlinearities and due to uncertainties in dynamics of machine tools. To verify chatter models in the presence of nonlinearities and uncertainties and to explore active control of chatter, a mechatronic hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) simulator is presented in this paper. Hardware layer of the simulator has a flexure approximating a flexible workpiece and two actuators to emulate cutting forces and apply active damping forces. Software layer involves control architecture that is to be emulated on the hardware layer. Since HiL simulators offer a non-destructive, repeatable, and safe platform for emulations and active control of chatter, and because this paper presents the design of a validated simulator with all accompanying source files along with build and operating instructions, the research community can build such simulators to investigate other complex chatter phenomena and can also use it as a pedagogical tool. Learnings from building and using such simulators can also be leveraged to characterize and solve problems across other engineering domains.