Open CNC System Design for Multi-axis Laser Manufacturing Machine Tools

In order to meet the requirements of ultra-precision and high-openness of the CNC system in laser manufacturing, an open CNC system for multi-axis laser manufacturing machine tools is designed in this paper. The system includes two units: Top Control Unit (TCU) and Bottom Control Unit (BCU). TCU contains four parts running in Windows system such as Human Machine Interface (HMI), code translator, global feedrate planning module and laser power optimization module. BCU contains six parts running in The Windows Control and Automation (TwinCAT) real-time kernel such as logic processing module, interpolator, coordinate transformation module, laser power controller, compensation module and motion control. The communication between TCU and BCU is realized through the TwinCAT ADS protocol. Each module of the system is individually packaged with open input and output interfaces, which can be conveniently called by other standard CNC systems. In addition, a multi-axis laser engraving machine tool was developed and a machining test was performed for the purpose of verifying the effectiveness of the designed system.