Gantry-type dual-drive feed systems are widely used in high-precision CNC machine tools, and their synchronization performance directly affects machining accuracy and operational stability. To reduce synchronization errors caused by load-position variation, nonuniform stiffness distribution, and inertia mismatch, this study proposes a structural parameter optimization method for a gantry-type dual-drive feed system. The novelty of this work lies in integrating position-dependent dynamic modeling, critical-position identification, sensitive structural-parameter selection, and response-surface-based optimization into a unified framework for synchronization-error reduction. First, a position-dependent dynamic model is established using modal reduction, spline interpolation, and substructure synthesis. The dynamic model is then coupled with a servo control model to construct an electromechanical coupling model, which is validated experimentally on a gantry-type dual-drive feed system. Next, the synchronization-error distribution over the entire workspace is evaluated, and the critical position with the poorest synchronization performance is identified. Based on sensitivity analysis, the key structural parameters affecting synchronization error are selected as design variables. A response surface surrogate model is then constructed, and particle swarm optimization is used to obtain the optimal structural-parameter combination. The results show that the synchronization error at the critical position is reduced by 20.5%, while the average synchronization error at the validation positions is reduced by 17.3%. These results demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively improve the synchronization accuracy of gantry-type dual-drive feed systems and provide practical guidance for the structural design of high-precision dual-drive machine tools.
Zheng et al. (Mon,) studied this question.