Permitted orbit geometries in “Equidistant” mode

In “Equidistant” mode, the geometry may only consist of linear and circular elements. No polynomial elements are permitted.

Permitted orbit geometries in “Equidistant” mode 1:
Permitted geometry elements in Equidistant mode

Geometries must be convex.

If geometries are concave, error ID 50918 is output.

Permitted orbit geometries in “Equidistant” mode 2:
Permitted geometry shape in Equidistant mode

The origin (0/0) must lie within the scaling range of the orbit channel. The positions of the origin are shown below:

Permitted orbit geometries in “Equidistant” mode 3:
Permitted positions of the origin (0/0) in Equidistant mode

The equidistant is always calculated on the inside (cf. left/right tool radius compensation, G41/G42) for the specified orbit geometry. This is based on the direction of rotation of the orbit channel which is automatically defined by the direction of the programmed geometry. The centre of rotation (clockwise) is at coordinate (0/0):

Permitted orbit geometries in “Equidistant” mode 4:
Orbit direction of rotation (clockwise)

Transitions between two geometries

When an equidistant is calculated, there are certain limiting conditions that apply to the transitions between linear/circular blocks.

A non-tangential transition between two elements, as shown in the figure below, requires two linear elements of defined length at the break point. The length of the elements is:

Permitted orbit geometries in “Equidistant” mode 5:Permitted orbit geometries in “Equidistant” mode 6:

Permitted orbit geometries in “Equidistant” mode 7:
Non-tangential transitions with two defined linear elements

Every transition to a circular element must be tangential.

If transitions to circles are non-tangential, error ID 50914 is output.

Permitted orbit geometries in “Equidistant” mode 8:
Tangential circular transition
Permitted orbit geometries in “Equidistant” mode 9:
Invalid non-tangential transition to a circle

Based on the above requirements for orbit geometry in equidistant mode, the following transitions between circular and linear elements are permitted:

Linear-linear transition:

Permitted orbit geometries in “Equidistant” mode 10:

Permitted orbit geometries in “Equidistant” mode 11:

Linear-circular transition:

Permitted orbit geometries in “Equidistant” mode 12:

Permitted orbit geometries in “Equidistant” mode 13:

Circular-circular transition:

Permitted orbit geometries in “Equidistant” mode 14:

Permitted orbit geometries in “Equidistant” mode 15: