An accurate thermal performance modeling and simulation method for motorized spindle of machine tool based on thermal contact resistance analysis

Motorized spindle is an inevitable choice of precision machine, but it has a prominent heat problem for its specific configuration of build-in motor. The paper proposed temperature distribution and thermal deformation modeling and a thermal-structural coupling simulation analysis method for a motorized spindle system from a vertical machining center. In order to establish an accurate finite element model, the boundary condition of joint thermal contact resistance (TCR) was taken into account. The paper detailed on how to obtain the TCR value which is related to the machine tool parameters by means of experimental and theoretical methods, and carried out a simulation experiment for the purpose of acquiring a quantitative analysis of the TCR influence on the temperature results. In order to verify the effectiveness of the TCR relevant methods, the experiment was carried out. The agreement between the experimental results and the simulation results showed that the proposed method can more accurately simulate the thermal characteristics of the motorized spindle.