Compensation without cables: CMM Inspection

Thermal compensation of a coordinate measuring machine’s principle structural components and the part being measured helps ensure measuring accuracy over an extended temperature range when the CMM is installed outside of a temperature-controlled area. Such a temperature-compensation system is comprised of temperature sensors and cabling running through the machine to its controller. The more sensors there are the more accurate the system, but these cables can cause mechanical issues and will eventually fray or break because of the constant CMM motion.

Courtesy of COORD3 Metrology

The COORD3 Universal vertical-bridge CMM with a Bluetooth wireless thermal-compensation system.

CMM builder COORD3 Industries Srl, Torino, Italy, has developed a Bluetooth wireless thermal compensation system for CMMs that reportedly allows the measuring system to automatically and dynamically compensate for thermal changes in the CMM and part without the cabling.

In addition to eliminating cable wear and maintenance, the wireless system is more efficient because it reduces the time and cost usually required to add a thermal-compensation system to a CMM, noted Elliott Mills, general manager for COORD3 Metrology LLC, the company’s North American subsidiary. The wireless system is an option for all of the company’s new vertical-bridge and gantry CMMs and can be retrofitted to an existing CMM from any builder.