Conception of a mobile climate simulation chamber for the investigation of the influences of harsh shop floor conditions on in-process measurement systems in machine tools

• Development of climate simulation chamber for the investigation of thermal influences.
• Thermal simulation for the imitation of harsh shop floor conditions.
• Computational fluid dynamics simulation for an optimized application of sensors.

In-process measurements by machine tools offer high product quality, lower manufacturing costs, high productivity and a real-life assessment of product quality. Measurement errors of machine tools are influenced by complex environmental factors on the shop floor (e.g. temperature). The project “Traceable In-Process Dimensional Measurement” (TIM) aims for the ability to measure fabricated parts accurately in-process under the influence of the previously named factors. The development of a mobile climate simulation chamber is one of the work packages in this project and has the objective to simulate shop floor conditions to which a machine tool is exposed in its daily use. Based on the analysis of the variety of influencing factors, different concepts for the design of the mobile simulation chamber have been elaborated and the final concept was chosen. The validation of the final concept was supported by a computational fluid dynamics simulation and a modified temperature sensor distribution that is fit for the described purpose with regard to the mobility and thermal stability of the system.