Energy and Power
p-ISSN: 2163-159X e-ISSN: 2163-1603
2015; 5(2): 25-31
doi:10.5923/j.ep.20150502.01
Andy Simoneau, Jonathan Meehan
Department Mechanical Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada
Correspondence to: Andy Simoneau, Department Mechanical Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada.
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Copyright © 2015 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
Energy costs associated with manufacturing processes represent an expense currently beyond the control of manufacturers. As a result, many industries have begun to consider how to reduce energy consumption demands while still maintaining or increasing process efficiencies. All manufacturing processes have an associated energy cost. For machined parts, individual processes used to machine the overall part have measureable energy costs associated with them. Properly linking peak power and energy consumption with machining processes requires characterizing the machine tool and machining process with respect to measured power. By doing this, process specific features can be linked to elements of the resulting peak power of the machining process. Building off previous works in characterizing power consumption with respect to material removal rates (MRR), the current paper examines peak power and energy consumption during the endmilling of two standard test parts. Using direct measurement techniques and a predefined geometry of two test parts, peak power is measured for a CNC machine tool and the machine spindle. The resulting power signals are shown to be sensitive enough to be linked to process changes and process features that occur during the machining process. Power and energy data is linked to the metal cutting process and linked to the identification of process changes, with specific changes in the power measurements linked to cutter location and process features.
Keywords: Machining power, Power monitoring, Energy consumption, Metal cutting
Cite this paper: Andy Simoneau, Jonathan Meehan, Investigating Peak Power and Energy Measurements to Identifying Process Features in CNC Endmilling, Energy and Power, Vol. 5 No. 2, 2015, pp. 25-31. doi: 10.5923/j.ep.20150502.01.
Figure 1. First test part geometry with cross-hatch pattern. The direction of cutting is indicated by the arrows |
Figure 2. Second test part – pyramidal shaped boss. Cutter path and immersions are indicated |
Figure 3. Final part after completing the machining tests. Both geometries were machined from the same test block |
Figure 4. Total machine and spindle power measurements during machining of the first test part geometry |
Figure 5. Closer examination of the total machine and spindle power measurements during the cross-cutting operations from the first test part geometry |
Figure 6. Total machine and spindle power measurements during first slotting operation |
Figure 7. Total machine and spindle power measurements when machining the second test part |
Figure 8. Endmill cutter path and the resulting work-hardened material that forms as a result of cutter path, tool geometry, and workpiece material behaviour |