Lost motion is a phenomenon that often occurs during the motion of a moving table, which is used for machine tools to ensure their precise positioning. Lost motion occurs when the direction of the table’s motion reverses as a result of nonlinear friction characteristics between the feed drive mechanisms such as the ball screw and linear guide. Lost motion directly influences the machining accuracy of a machine tool, because the accuracy of machining depends on the relative motion between the tool and the workpiece. A number of studies have dealt with suppressing the occurrence of lost motion using model-based control. However, nonlinear friction has not been addressed to the same extent, as it is difficult to determine the motion characteristics of and therefore develop a model for the nonlinear friction. Thus, to address these problems, we propose a compensation method for revers motion based on vector control, which is used to control the torque and velocity of the alternating current (AC) servomotor in the moving table. In this study, the current applied to the AC servomotor for a vector with force components in the rotational direction (torque component) and in the direction perpendicular to the axis of rotation (field component) was measured to clarify and establish the relationship between the motion and the control current. The compensation current was then derived as a functional value based on the results of the measured torque at the occurrence of lost motion. Further, tests were carried out using the proposed method, which directly applies the drive current of the AC servomotor by using a field-programmable gate array controller to improve the reverse motion of the table. The results reveal that the motion characteristics of a numerical control (NC) table can be determined by measuring the drive current of the AC servomotor. In addition, it is verified that the proposed method can compensate for the torque command smoothly at the time of velocity reversal, resulting in suppression of the lost motion and reduction of reverse motion of the moving table.

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