Smart Monitoring of Cutting Tool Based on Pre-Process Data

CNC machine tools have contributed in a very large extent, to the rise in highly ingenious manufacturing processes. The advent of automation into the CNC manufacturing procedures has ensured the tremendous improvements on the efficiency front over the past few decades. But the sine qua non of a successful industry lies in its ability to facilitate continuous technology change and development to maintain its edge in the competitive arena. The manufacturing community across the globe has realized the vast potential, integrated systems provide in terms of compatibility, interoperability, safety, repeatability, quality to withstand the rising competition and cost effective manufacturing. The call for an improved, vastly superior, ‘smart’ manufacturing system is greater than ever before. The Smart Machine Program Initiative (SMPI) at TechSolve, Cincinnati aims at establishing a supervisory control to monitor and regulate distinct process modules that will result in higher productivity and better quality. Additionally, functionality is also added into the CNC system because of enhanced data interactions between the component subsystems. As a first step in this direction, TechSolve has initiated an integration module to bring together Tool Condition Monitoring (TCM) Technologies with data from Intelligent Process Planning (IPP) as the inputs. The paper starts with the detailed overview of the SMPI project, the supervisory system and its importance. It then proceeds to explain how integration was bought about between TCM and IPP modules by using predicted power during the cut as a premise for calibration tool cuts. It also proceeds to explain how the integration added functionality in terms of monitoring tool alarms and adaptive control by using a good tool in place of a bad tool. The paper also proceeds to explain how the incorporation of the health index of tool holder can also enhance the functionality of the integration module. The paper concludes by setting down an agenda for future work and proposing the benefits of the supervisory system to the Smart Machine.