Tool wear performance evaluationin MDF machining with anthropomorphic robot

Najnoviji napredak u robotici čini robote pogodne za različite potrebe. Osim manipulativnih i instalacijskih aplikacija, koje su najčešće za robotske manipulatore, može se obavljati i glodanje. U bliskoj budućnosti robotski manipulatori s integriranim vretenom, pravilnim reznim alatom i pravilno odabranima parametrima glodanja, mogli bi zamijeniti konvencionalne CNC strojeve kod srednjih tolerantnih strojnih obrada, pogotovo kod upotrebe mekanih materijala krajnjih proizvoda. U principu, trajanje alata i trošenje tijekom glodanja s robotima nije dostupno ili istraživano. Stoga, ovaj rad predstavlja analizu HSS trošenja alata tijekom obrade MDF (ploče srednje gustoće) materijala s antropomorfnim robotom. Težište je na međuodnosu trošenja alata i položaja izratka u području rada robota. Za tu analizu, ispitivanja su provedena u četiri različita položaja prema udaljenosti između baze robota i ispitivanog položaja glodanja. Rezultati pokazuju da porast udaljenosti značajno utječe na trošenje alata, zbog vibracija, što pokazuje sasvim drugačije ponašanje od krutih konvencionalnih CNC strojeva.Recent progress in robotics makes robots suitable for many different applications. Beside manipulative and installation applications, which are the most common for robot manipulator, milling can be performed as well. In the near future, robot manipulators, integrated with spindle, proper cutting tool and milling parameters could replace conventional CNC middle toleranced machining, especially for soft material end products. In general, tool life behaviour in milling with robots is not available or studied. Therefore, this work presents the analysis of HSS tool wear in milling MDF (medium density fibreboard) with an anthropomorphic robot. The focus is on the correlation of the tool wear and the workpiece position in the robot operation area. To analyse this, tests were performed in four different positions according to the distance between robot base and test milling position. Results show that increasing distance significantly affects tool wear, on account of vibrations, what shows completely different behaviour than stiff conventional CNC machine tools

Adjuvant TNF-a therapy to electrochemotherapy with intravenous cisplatin in murine sarcoma exerts synergistic antitumor effectiveness

Background. Electrochemotherapy is a tumour ablation modality, based on electroporation of the cell membrane, allowing non-permeant anticancer drugs to enter the cell, thus augmenting their cytotoxicity by orders of magnitude. In preclinical studies, bleomycin and cisplatin proved to be the most suitable for clinical use. Intravenous administration of cisplatin for electrochemotherapy is still not widely accepted in the clinics, presumably due to its lower antitumor effectiveness, but adjuvant therapy by immunomodulatory or vascular-targeting agents could provide a way for its potentiation. Hence, the aim of the present study was to explore the possibility of adjuvant tumour necrosis factor % (TNF-%) therapy to potentiate antitumor effectiveness of electrochemotherapy with intravenous cisplatin administration in murine sarcoma. Materials and methods. In vivo study was designed to evaluate the effect of TNF-% applied before or after the electrochemotherapy and to evaluate the effect of adjuvant TNF-% on electrochemotherapy with different cisplatin doses. Results. A synergistic interaction between TNF-% and electrochemotherapy was observed. Administration of TNF-% before the electrochemotherapy resulted in longer tumour growth delay and increased tumour curability, and was significantly more effective than TNF-% administration after the electrochemotherapy. Tumour analysis revealed increased platinum content in tumours, TNF-% induced blood vessel damage and increased tumour necrosis after combination of TNF-% and electrochemotherapy, indicating an anti-vascular action of TNF-%. In addition, immunomodulatory effect might have contributed to curability rate of the tumours. Conclusion. Adjuvant intratumoural TNF-% therapy synergistically contributes to electrochemotherapy with intravenous cisplatin administration. Due to its potentiation at all doses of cisplatin, the combined treatment is predicted to be effective also in tumours, where the drug concentration is suboptimal or in bigger tumours, where electrochemotherapy with intravenous cisplatin is not expected to be sufficiently effective

Robot use for milling spatial surfaces

Predstavili smo postopek in praktično uporabo industrijskega 6-osnega robota KUKA KR 150 L150 za izdelavo prostorskih površin, natančneje za izdelavo ladijskega trupa. Pri tem smo uporabili programsko opremo SolidWorks in SolidCAM ter KUKA.Sim Pro in KUKA.CAMRob. Za surovino pri rezkanju smo uporabili polistirensko peno, znano tudi pod imenom "stirodur". Med procesom simulacije rezkanja se je pokazala okornost programske opreme, saj je ta zvrst obdelave še v povojih. Dokazali smo, da je možno z robotom izrezkati poljubne prostorske površine. Predvidevamo, da se bo z izboljšanjem prilagodljivosti programske opreme tovrstna obdelava mehkejših kovin, kompozitov in lesa v prihodnosti še povečala.We have presented a practical procedure of milling spatial surfaces with 6- axis industrial robot KUKA KR 150 L150 for the production of sail hulls in particular. We used software as SolidWorks, SolidCAM and KUKA.SimPro, KUKA.CAMRob. Polystyrene foam material, also known as "stirodur", was used as stock model. During the milling process, simulation showed the clumsiness of software, since this type of machining is still to be developed. We proved that the robot can mill any kind of spatial surface and assume that by improving the flexibility of the software, the processing of softer metals, composites and wood could increase in future