Measurement of the thermal elongation of high speed spindles in real time using a cat's eye reflector based optical sensor

This paper describes an optical sensor for the real-time measurement of axial thermal elongation of a machine tool high-speed spindle. A cat's eye optical reflector embedded in the spindle reflects the image of a laser diode beam onto a quadrant photodiode detector. Changes in the position of the reflected laser spot on the photodiode in a detection module allows determination of changes in length of the spindle. The resolution is 50 nm for the low frequency range. The accuracy of this optical sensor is better than 1 μm within the measuring range of ±100 μm and the triple standard deviation is 0.03 μm. The experimental results showed that thermal elongation can be measured and controlled to within 2 μm of elongation and shortening variation within the stated range using an oil cooling system.