Autonomous process control enabled by smart tool holder and digital interfacing

Abstract

Getting fast and reliable feedback from the manufacturing process helps to monitor quality, tune parameters, and control the machining process properly. The needed data stream for the feedback can be set up by sensor integration in the machining centre. Whilst different locations for sensor integration are possible, the tooling system offers advantages like close position to the machining process, interchangeability of designed components and broad applicability. An overview of the design possibilities and smart tools at IFT is given to show the usability in different kinds of machining scenarios. To close the feedback loop to the machine tool control, Fanuc FOCAS was used at a DMU 75 machining centre. With the control loop set up, a strong focus was not only put on autonomous milling operations, but for other processes like drilling, grinding and polishing also. Thus, the system set up can be transferred to several kinds of machining operations to enable autonomous process control.