Tool Wear Prediction Upgrade Kit for Legacy CNC Milling Machines in the Shop Floor

The operation of CNC milling is expensive because of the cost-intensive use of cutting tools. The wear and tear of CNC tools influence the tool lifetime. Today’s machines are not capable of accurately estimating the tool abrasion during the machining process. Therefore, manufacturers rely on reactive maintenance, a tool change after breakage, or a preventive maintenance approach, a tool change according to predefined tool specifications. In either case, maintenance costs are high due to a loss of machine utilization or premature tool change. To find the optimal point of tool change, it is necessary to monitor CNC process parameters during machining and use advanced data analytics to predict the tool abrasion. However, data science expertise is limited in small-medium sized manufacturing companies. The long operating life of machines often does not justify investments in new machines before the end of operating life. The publication describes a cost-efficient approach to upgrade legacy CNC machines with a Tool Wear Prediction Upgrade Kit. A practical solution is presented with a holistic hardware/software setup, including edge device, and multiple sensors. The prediction of tool wear is based on machine learning. The user interface visualizes the machine condition for the maintenance personnel in the shop floor. The approach is conceptualized and discussed based on industry requirements. Future work is outlined

Computer-Aided Assembly Sequence Planning for High-Mix Low-Volume Products in the Electronic Appliances Industry

Electronic appliance manufacturers are facing the challenge of frequent product orders. Based on each product order, the assembly process and workstations need to be planned. An essential part of the assembly planning is defining the assembly sequence, considering the mechanical product’s design, and handling of the product’s components. The assembly sequence determines the order of processes for each workstation, the overall layout, and thereby time and cost. Currently, the assembly sequence is decided by industrial engineers through a manual approach that is time-consuming, complex, and requires technical expertise. To reduce the industrial engineers’ manual effort, a Computer-Aided Assembly Sequence Planning (CAASP) system is proposed in this paper. It compromises the components for a comprehensive system that aims to be applied practically. The system uses Computer-Aided Design (CAD) files to derive Liaison and Interference Matrices that represent a mathematical relationship between parts. Subsequently, an adapted Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm generates an optimized assembly sequence based on these relationships. Through a web browser-based application, the user can upload files and interact with the system. The system is conceptualized and validated using the CAD file of an electric motor example product. The results are discussed, and future work is outlined

Does increasing the diversity of seeds broadcast for restoration alter post‐dispersal seed predation and its community‐determining effects?

Abstract Native seeds broadcast for restoration are often consumed by predators before they can germinate. However, it is unclear how the composition of a seed mix affects seed predation. We excluded vertebrates from small plots seeded with native grassland plants to evaluate how seed diversity affects predation. There were two seeding treatments: a less diverse mix with a focal cohort of eight species on which we focused our analyses, and a more diverse mix that consisted of the focal cohort plus eight additional species. The focal cohort experienced greater predation when dispersed with the additional species, but this effect was unevenly distributed throughout the focal cohort. The species of the focal cohort that experienced the greatest increase in predation when in the high‐diversity treatment were also the ones favoured by predators when in the treatment without additional species. This suggests that when more species of palatable seed are available in a dispersed seed patch, predators may exert a stronger community‐filtering effect on such a seed patch. Increasing the number of species dispersed together for land stewardship efforts may increase predation of these seeds, which is a concern if their dispersal is intended to restore native plant diversity. We recommend strategies to minimize this potential detriment, such as staggering seed dispersal over time, for practitioners who seek to disperse a high diversity of seeds for native restoration

A GAN-Based Multi-Sensor Data Augmentation Technique for CNC Machine Tool Wear Prediction

The prediction of CNC machine tool wear is limited due to the scarcity of data in industry. A sufficient amount of experimental and real-live factory data is missing to train accurate supervised machine learning prediction models. Considering that collecting a large amount of data in real industrial environments can be a great challenge, this paper investigates the applicability of data augmentation techniques for generating synthetic data. Our paper focuses on a multi-sensor approach for the classification of tool wear states in the milling process. Multi-sensor data fusion is performed in the frequency domain. Extracted features are then used for tool wear classification. In order to increase the amount of training data, a generative adversarial network (GAN) is designed for data augmentation purposes. An early stopping strategy is designed to improve the effectiveness of the proposed GAN. The experimental results show that the proposed GAN helps to significantly improve the performance of tool wear classification models. With the inclusion of GAN, the number of required real-environment industrial data can be reduced. The research shows promising results to supplement experimental data by GAN-based synthetic data for predicting tool wear

Leistungsbewertung heterogener Entwicklungswerkzeuge im Maschinen- und Anlagenbau: Mechatronik - aber konsequent

Die Entstehungsprozesse des Maschinen- und Anlagenbaus sind kontinuierlichen Einflussgrössen wie der zunehmenden Individualisierung und der Komplexität von Produkten unterworfen. Dabei nehmen der Entwurf und die Absicherung der systembestimmenden, mechatronischen Einheiten eine immer grössere Bedeutung ein. Diesem Trend folgend wurden für die spezifischen Anteile der an der Entwicklung beteiligten Disziplinen und deren Zusammenwirken unterschiedliche Ansätze entwickelt, aus denen ein heterogener, informationstechnischer Systemmix in den Unternehmen des Maschinen- und Anlagenbaus resultiert. Die Integration der vorliegenden mechanischen, elektrischen und steuerungstechnischen Systemarchitekturen stellen vor allem im Hinblick auf die digitalen Entwicklungswerkzeuge eine fortwährende Herausforderung für Anwender und Systemlieferanten dar. In der meist noch mechanisch geprägten Entwicklung entstehen durch die späte Einbindung der beiden weiteren Disziplinen sowie deren unterschiedlichen Sichtweisen, Missverständnisse und zeitliche Engpässe. Die Folge sind Zeit- und Qualitätseinbussen, welche durch die unzureichende Berücksichtigung der Verkettung der einzelnen Entwicklungswerkzeuge bei der Auswahlentscheidung der unternehmensweiten IT-Systemarchitektur verstärkt werden

Kontextspezifische Auswahl und Adaption von Entwicklungsvorgehen zur Effizienzsteigerung im Maschinen- und Anlagenbau

Heutige Entwicklungsprozesse im Maschinen- und Anlagenbau sind meist durch tiefe Gräben zwischen den einzelnen Fachdisziplinen und den Unternehmensabteilungen geprägt. Im Besonderen unter Berücksichtigung des Einflusses auf die allgemeingültigen Ziele bezüglich Zeit, Kosten und Qualität sind dadurch diverse Effizienzeinbußen zu verzeichnen. Aus diesem Grund werden in aktuellen Forschungsarbeiten im Umfeld des mechatronischen Engineerings neue Lösungsansätze erarbeitet, die die Effizienz in Entwicklungsprozessen nachhaltig steigern sollen. Der vorliegende Beitrag fokussiert dabei zunächst die Identifikation von Hemmnissen und Schwachstellen in bestehenden Entwicklungsprozessen typischer Hersteller des Maschinen- und Anlagenbaus. Die anschließende Systematisierung dient der Ermittlung geeigneter Handlungs-anweisungen, welche durch den Einsatz eines Entwicklungsmodells jene Maßnahmen ableitet, die im Kontext eines speziellen Unternehmens eine Effizienzsteigerung versprechen. Das im Beitrag vorgestellte mechatronische Spannungsfeld zur Systematisierung von Entwicklungsprojekten und das Modell zur kontextspezifischen Auswahl von Entwicklungsvorgehen stellen dabei wesentliche Bestandteile zur Verbesserung des mechatronischen Engineerings dar, die in nachfolgenden Forschungsarbeiten, unter anderem zu agilen Methoden und Einführungsstrategien, erweitert werden sollen

Physikbasierte Simulation im Anlagenentstehungsprozess - Einsatzpotenziale bei der Entwicklung automatisierter Montageanlagen im Automobilbau

The paper outlines potentials for an application of physics-based simulation methods in order to improve the development of assembly systems within automotive industry. Therefore, today’s characteristics of development processes including the perspective of an automotive manufacturer and its suppliers are visualized by process charts. A milestone-based overview describes current time and quality constraints. Furthermore, potential industry applications for mechatronics, especially physics-based simulation methods are deduced and discussed in four promising use-cases. The use-cases contribute to the integration and broader acceptance of simulation methods in automotive industry