industrial overlord

Chapter 325 Plane Interpolation Algorithm
Early the next morning, Ford drove his station wagon to the Hull Hotel to pick up Lin Zhenhua and his party, and headed to the headquarters of Spischer.Accompanied by a Chinese student arranged by Lin Zhenhua, Xie Yunjuan happily visited New York City.Lin Zhenhua stuffed the foreign student with a sum of money and told her to let Xie Yunjuan have a good time and have fun.

Wilson, chairman of Spischer, met Lin Zhenhua and others in the company's negotiation room.After meeting Lin Zhenhua, Wilson's first words were: "Mr. Lin, I've heard of your name a long time ago."

Lin Zhenhua chuckled, isn't he? Six or seven years ago, he used the software bug on the MK800 CNC milling machine produced by Spischer to blackmail Wilson severely. He believed that Wilson should be won't forget.

"I'm very sorry about what happened back then." Lin Zhenhua said, a small patch sold more than 20 US dollars back then, which was indeed a bit too dark.Lin Zhenhua is a kind person, he took advantage of others back then, now that he sees the right owner, he feels somewhat guilty.

"No, no, I should say I'm sorry, not you," Wilson said. "The program patch you provided saved Spischer's face and saved our company from a disaster. And we The reward given to you is really too meager."

What Wilson said made Lin Zhenhua feel good about him.He knew that what Wilson said was not false. In the real history, because of the BUG in the software, Spischer Company caused large-scale complaints from customers, and the company had to recall a large number of machine tools that had been sold. .Because of Lin Zhenhua's crossing, Spischer replaced the control circuit board with software patches for the customer before the crisis came, and the disaster that would have occurred disappeared invisible.

After so many years, it is very rare for Wilson to admit this to him face to face.In fact, Americans are sometimes quite simple and not very good at playing tricks.

"By the way, Lin, I have never understood, how did you know the source code of our control system? It has been many years now, can you solve this mystery for me?" Wilson asked.

Lin Zhenhua said: "Actually, there is no answer to this. It's just that one of my teachers tried to write similar control software with the Z80 chip. When simulating on the computer, the same problem as your company's machine tool occurred. .It took him a long time to find the BUG, ​​and all I did was to inform your company of this."

"Well, this may be the most credible answer." Wilson nodded.He couldn't imagine such a heaven-defying thing of time travel. In the absence of time travel, Lin Zhenhua's explanation may be the most reasonable, because there is no possibility of leaking the source code of their company's control system.

The conversation between them was not loud, and the words were relatively cryptic, so Wei Jingwen and his party naturally couldn't hear anything.Regarding the fact that Lin Zhenhua provided technical support to Spischer, Wei Jingwen once heard Lin Zhenhua talk about it, but the details are not clear.Of course, it was not easy for Wei Jingwen to inquire about things that Lin Zhenhua didn't want to talk about.

After Wilson and Lin Zhenhua exchanged greetings, the host and guest sat down respectively and started a formal meeting.

The content of the meeting had been communicated by the two parties in advance, so there was no need to talk nonsense.The few people brought by Lin Zhenhua are all highly educated and have a good command of English, so there is no obstacle for the two parties to communicate.

The first speaker was Liu Zhaohua. On behalf of Hanlu Machine Tool Co., Ltd., he gave a briefing about the company's main products and technical strength.In addition to Wilson, Spischer's company also had several heads in charge of technical and sales departments, who sat across from each other and listened carefully, while taking notes with pens.

After Liu Zhaohua finished talking about production, He Fei then began to introduce the situation about marketing channels.Hanlu Machine Tool Company inherited the channel of Luzhong Machine Tool Factory, which has some influence in China. He Fei explained these situations in detail.

After everyone finished speaking, Lin Zhenhua smiled and said to the executives of Spischer: "Everyone, we are here today with a sincere attitude to seek to establish a cooperative relationship with Spischer. If you don’t know anything about our Hanlu Machine Tool Company, just point it out, and we will tell you everything.”

"Mr. Lin, I have just listened to the introduction of Mr. Liu and Mr. He. I am very interested in your company, and I very much hope to have the opportunity to carry out more in-depth cooperation with your company. What I want to know now is that your company is very interested in working with you. What are your considerations for Spischer's cooperation?" Wilson asked calmly.

Lin Zhenhua said: "Thank you Mr. Wilson for your recognition. Spischer is an internationally renowned machine tool company, especially in the leading position in the field of numerical control technology. Our Hanlu Machine Tool Company has rich experience in producing traditional machine tools , is currently transitioning to CNC machines, so we really hope to get Spischer's help in this regard."

"Can you be more specific?" Wilson continued.

"Yes." Lin Zhenhua said, "It is undeniable that China's electronic technology is still very backward. When we upgrade and transform traditional machine tool products, we are very constrained by electronic technology. We hope that through cooperation with Spi With the cooperation of Scheer, we can obtain the required CNC modules in order to shorten our development cycle of new products.”

"Are you going to buy CNC modules from us?" interjected Shaker, Spicher's technical director.

"Yes, and no." Lin Zhenhua replied.

"Sorry, I don't understand your Chinese answer." Shaker spread his hands and said.

Lin Zhenhua said: "That's right, we really want to buy CNC modules from your company, but what we want is not only the finished products of CNC modules, we also hope that your company can transfer this technology to us, and share with us Experience in the application of modules. To put it more bluntly, we hope that your company can teach us how to develop these CNC modules.”

This request made by Lin Zhenhua was indeed a bit overbearing. As soon as this remark came out, the audience was in an uproar.Sales Director Brinke said flatly: "Mr. Lin, your idea is too far-fetched. If you need to purchase CNC modules, we can consider providing them. But it is completely impossible to obtain the technology for module development. of."

Lin Zhenhua didn't seem to notice his abruptness, and he said eloquently: "There is an old saying in China, which is called giving a man a fish, and it is better to teach a man to fish. If we only obtain CNC modules, but cannot master the technology to develop these modules, the future will inevitably It will be controlled by others. Now our products have not been finalized, and there is still time to convert them. If the future products are finalized, and you make things difficult for the CNC module, we will be very passive. In this sense, we must obtain the technology of module development Just do it."

"The development of CNC modules is our core technology, which is impossible to transfer." Shaker shook his head.

Wilson did not react like his subordinates did. He knew that a person like Lin Zhenhua would not casually make an unreasonable request.If Lin Zhenhua dared to make such a request, he must have his own backer. Wilson really wanted to know what kind of cards Lin Zhenhua was hiding under the table.

"Mr. Lin, as Mr. Brinker and Mr. Shaker said, your company proposed that we transfer the development technology of CNC modules, which is very unrealistic in business. I would like to know what kind of experience Mr. Lin has. The reason will allow us to agree to your request." Wilson asked.

Lin Zhenhua said: "The first reason I want to say is that in fact, although your company's CNC technology is in the leading position in the world, it is not out of reach. Our machine tool research institute has been carrying out research and development in the past few years. The development of the numerical control module has also made some progress. We hope to introduce your company's technology, just want to shorten the cycle of our own development, we think it is worthwhile to pay some fees in exchange for saving time."

What Lin Zhenhua said was a bit tactful. The subtext is that we are also developing this technology ourselves. If we develop it ourselves, you will not be able to sell it no matter how much you want to sell it.While there are still some leading advantages, it is better to sell for a good price first.

Hearing Lin Zhenhua's words, Shaker's face was full of disdain. He said, "Mr. Lin, I admire your company's courage very much. But when it comes to numerical control technology, I think our company Spischer has at least Already more than 30 years ahead of any company in China."

"Oh, is it?" Lin Zhenhua showed a naive expression, "I heard that the MK800 CNC milling machine launched by your company a few years ago used the control source code provided by a Chinese. What's going on?"

"This..." Shaker's face was flushed. The MK800 matter is considered the most embarrassing thing for Shaker.There was a BUG in the control program, and a group of engineers did not find out the problem after several months of investigation. Instead, Ford sent a patch from far away China to solve the problem.Before today's meeting, Shaker already knew that Lin Zhenhua was the person who wrote this patch back then, which made him have a psychological shadow.

"This is just an accident." Shaker bit the bullet and said, "A bug in the program doesn't prove anything."

"I completely agree with your point of view. However, if I can point out that the control source code of your company's newly developed FA4502 five-axis linkage machining center has algorithmic defects, what do you think?" Lin Zhenhua still said with a smile, talking and laughing , he has dropped a pound bomb.

"This is impossible! This is completely impossible!" Shaker almost jumped up.This five-axis linkage machining center model FA4502 is the flagship product recently launched by Spischer. The numerical control system was developed by Shaker himself, and Shaker is very proud of it.As soon as Lin Zhenhua opened his mouth, he said that there was a flaw in the algorithm, which was like slapping him in the face.

If it were another Chinese who said such things to Shaker, Shaker would choose to ignore them completely, because he believed that the other party would not be able to find any flaws.So far, China has not mastered the technology of five-axis linkage, let alone discovered the algorithmic flaws in the control source code.

But when such words came out of Lin Zhenhua's mouth, Shaker couldn't keep his composure. This should be regarded as being raised by snakes once and afraid of well ropes for ten years.

Lin Zhenhua knew that his words had an effect on Shaker, but to really convince Shaker, he had to rely on real things.He picked up the pencil on the table, casually drew on a piece of white paper in front of him, and explained while drawing:
"If I remember correctly, FA4502 uses the method of linear interpolation of the rotary axis angle for milling by default, which will cause the actual tool axis vector to deviate from the theoretical tool axis vector position, resulting in a very large nonlinear error. Especially When using a five-axis machining center to mill an inclined surface, this error is more obvious, which will cause the actual tool axis to deviate from the plane to be machined, resulting in overcut or undercut. Mr. Shaker, am I right?"

Everyone in the room fell silent. Lin Zhenhua's words were extremely professional, and they were obviously not just nonsense.Shaker's face became particularly ugly, because among the people in this circle, he knew the situation best. He knew that Lin Zhenhua had grasped the key problems in this new machine tool right away, which can be described as hitting the nail on the head.

When Lin Zhenhua first revealed that FA4502 was flawed, Shaker wondered if Ford had leaked some information to Lin Zhenhua.But when he heard what Lin Zhenhua said, Shaker knew that Ford was innocent, because with Ford's professional background, it was impossible to have such a deep understanding of the algorithms in the CNC module.

In fact, what Lin Zhenhua said is not complicated. When machining complex curved surfaces on a machine tool, it is necessary to treat a curved surface as several planes.This is like peeling an apple with a small knife. The apple is round, but the knife is flat. At first glance, the peeled apple looks round, but if you look carefully, you can still see that the circle is composed of several planes.

The so-called interpolation is to calculate the position coordinates of each plane that constitutes a curved surface, and then the computer controls the movement of the tool and the workpiece to process these planes.The interpolation algorithm is the most important part of the control module of the CNC machine tool, and the difference in algorithm selection will directly affect the machining accuracy of the machine tool.

In fairness, the linear interpolation algorithm of the five-axis linkage machine tool designed by Shaker's team was in a leading position at that time.But compared to Lin Zhenhua who traveled through later generations, such an algorithm is very rough.Lin Zhenhua was able to find several flaws casually, and correct them with new algorithms proposed by mechanical experts in the future.

"I admit that the problem you mentioned exists, but it is a recognized problem in the industry, and so far, no company has been able to solve this problem." Shaker said, for some reason, he said this When talking, I always feel that I have a little lack of confidence.

Lin Zhenhua smiled slightly and said, "Mr. Shaker, you should say that apart from our Hanlu Company, no other company can solve the problem."

"You mean, you have already solved this problem?" Shaker asked in a tone of disbelief.He has studied similar products of other companies and found that everyone has similar problems, which shows that this problem is world-class.Isn't it strange that a country that does not have five-axis machine tools can solve the world's problems of five-axis machine tools?
Lin Zhenhua did not answer, but directly wrote a set of coordinate transformation equations on paper with a pencil, and then pushed the paper in front of Shaker to let him read it by himself.

Shaker took the piece of paper suspiciously, looked at the equation written by Lin Zhenhua, raised his palm to simulate it, and couldn't help trembling his lips: "My God, this is a three-dimensional interpolation algorithm, using three coordinates to do imputation, it's a crazy idea!"

"We call it the vector plane interpolation algorithm." Lin Zhenhua said leisurely, "The key to this algorithm is to use the relationship between the three coordinates to make up for the defects in linear interpolation. If the parameters are set well, at least it can be repaired. More than 90% non-linear error."

"Are you sure this method works?" Shaker asked excitedly. He is a technician, and nothing excites him more than a technological breakthrough.

"Mr. Shaker, if you have any doubts, you might as well do a simulation on the computer. I think this simulation algorithm should be very simple, right?" Lin Zhenhua said.He is not afraid of Shaker to do the verification. The model he just wrote is used as an after-school exercise in the mechanical textbooks of later generations, and its correctness has been verified.

"I'll do it right away." Shaker shouted, he couldn't hold back his curiosity, and decided to go to the computing center to verify the validity of the equation written by Lin Zhenhua.

"Shaker, please wait a moment." Wilson spoke. He had been watching the conversation between Lin Zhenhua and Shaker just now, and now it was time to speak.Although Wilson didn't know much about technology, he could tell from Shaker's reaction that what Lin Zhenhua gave was definitely something of value.Having said that, it is no longer necessary for Shaker to do simulations. Even if there are still problems with this algorithm, it can at least explain one point, that is, the Hanlu Machine Tool Company behind Lin Zhenhua has reached a certain level of mastery of CNC technology. .With such a level, you already have the capital to have a dialogue with Spischer.

"Mr. Lin, I found that every time we communicate with you, you can give us some surprises." Wilson said to Lin Zhenhua, "Well, I would like to know, if our company Spischer agrees to transfer our company to your company. What kind of return can you give us for our advanced CNC module development technology?"

　...It was supposed to be updated last night, but I wrote while reading the information, and I have been writing until now... 1:51.Orange is a liberal arts monk, is it easy for me to write this vector plane interpolation algorithm?February has passed like this, and I am really sorry that I did not catch up with the update on the last day.The update at the end of the month was not strong, but the effective update of the whole month still reached 167718 words, with an average of 5763 words per day, which is still passable. ...Well, it's the beginning of the month, please ask for a guaranteed monthly pass.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)