Error modeling and compensating of a novel 6-DOF aeroengine rotor docking equipment

In the docking process of aeroengine rotor parts, docking accuracy that indicates the gaps between the end faces is strictly required. A key issue is improving docking accuracy using automated docking equipment. In this paper, a systematic study is carried out on the error modeling and compensation of a novel six-degrees-of-freedom (6-DOF) docking equipment for aeroengine rotors. First, a new model for indicating the main indexes of docking accuracy is proposed. Then, the error model of a specially designed 6-DOF docking equipment is established based on a modified Denavit Hartenberg method with five parameters. Subsequently, two error compensation methods are proposed. Based on the above models, a docking accuracy simulation algorithm is proposed using the Monte Carlo method. Finally, verification experiments are conducted. The results show that, for the maximum values and standard deviations of the gaps between the rotor end-faces in the actual and target positions and attitudes, i.e., main indexes that represent docking accuracy, the deviation rates between the simulation and experimental results are less than 20%. The modeling methods have referential significance. The decline rates of these values are 50–65% when using the two proposed compensation methods. The compensation methods significantly improve the docking accuracy.