Cloud-based thermal error compensation with a federated learning approach

Thermal error compensation is one of the most research-oriented topics in manufacturing with rising importance in the industry. This paper presents an innovative Industry 4.0 application of thermal error compensation for precision engineering. A federated learning-based thermal error compensation approach running in the cloud is applied to two machine tools, one located at ETH Zurich, and another one at TU Wien. Although environmental conditions and thermal error behaviour of both machines differ, the implemented knowledge transfer across machines is a viable compensation strategy, albeit with limited precision. A detailed comparison of the two machines of the same type under the same load conditions shows foreseeable similarities in behaviour, but also clear differences due to the different configurations and lifetime status. The cloud-based compensation reduced the crucial thermal errors in the best case of both machine tools by more than 80% under critical conditions.