3.

5 Adaptive control machining The principal reason for using NC machines is because it reduces nonproductive time as it was briefly stated in chapter 2. However, the NC or CNC machines are not able to reduce productive time, because they cannot control the process. Adaptive control or AC determines the proper speeds and/or feeds during machining as a function of variations in such factors as work-material hardness, width or depth of cut, air gaps in part geometry and so on. Adaptive control has the capability to respond to and compensate for these variations during process. By doing this the inprocess time is reduced by using optimum speeds and/or feeds. However, adaptive control should be utilized in applications where the following conditions are met: 1. The in-process time consumes a significant portion of the total production time 2. There are significant sources of variability in the process for which adaptive control can compensate Some of the process variables that have been used in adaptive control systems include spindle deflection or force, torque, cutting temperature, vibration amplitude and horsepower. Many attempts were made in order to construct a sophisticated adaptive control system but the results obtained were rather disappointing. The general inability was to measure the important process variables accurately in a machine shop environment. Furthermore the initial systems were very expensive. Concluding the researchers on adaptive control have confined to two systems: ADAPTIVE CONTROL OPTIMIZATION (ACO) These systems were based on a performance index specified for the system. This performance index is a measure of overall process performance, such as production rate or cost per volume of metal removed. The objective was to optimize the index of performance by controlling speeds and/or feeds. ADAPTIVE CONTROL CONSTRAINT (ACC) These system was the one employed finally. The objective in this method is to manipulate speeds and/or feeds to maintain the measured variables below their constraint limit values. A typical configuration of adaptive control is illustrated in figure 3.3.

FIGURE 3.3 Configuration of typical adaptive control machining system that uses cutter force as the measured process variable.

3.5.1 Benefits of adaptive control machining There are many the potential benefits in using adaptive control system. However, there are many machining operations were adaptive control cannot be justified. The benefits from the adaptive control are laid below: 1. Increased production rates. The on-line adjustments allow for variations in work geometry, material and tool wear provide the capability to achieve the highest removal rates that are consistent with the existing conditions. As a result of high removal rates more parts are produced thus the productivity increases. 2. Increased tool life. In combination with the higher production rates the adaptive control will generally provide a more efficient and uniform use of the cutter throughout its life and due to the adjustments that are made as not to severe load the tool there will be less broken tools.

3. Greater part protection. As the maximum allowable force is set for the cutter and spindle, on the same basis can be set for the part in order to protect it from any undesirable out-of-tolerance condition or damage. 4. Less operator intervention. With the application of adaptive control the control process has been moved further towards management via the part programmer. 5. Easier part programming. In the NC machine tools the part programmer was obliged to find the correct speeds and feeds to be used and this was coming after several trials until the part programmer felt satisfied with the part. With adaptive control this is almost done automatically and the limits that have to be set to it, can be easily determined by the system software. Several years ago a study was conducted for the U.S. Air Force to quantitatively evaluate the advantages of adaptive control over conventional NC machining. The test was performed using a low-cost retrofitable adaptive control (LCRAC) system whose control mode was similar to that described earlier in this section as a typical AC system. The study was divided into three sequential stages, each of which compared the AC system against conventional NC machines. Different test parts and machines were used in the three stages. Parts were made of aluminum, titanium and steel. Table 3.4 is taken from the report and shows the overall savings from adaptive control to be 37%. When adaptive control machining is applied to appropriate jobs, the economic savings can be substantial.

3.1 DNC, CNC and Adaptive control The significant achievement done in both batch and job shop manufacturing caused the further development of NC systems. These new enhancements and extensions of NC technology, include: 1. Direct numerical control 2. Computer numerical control 3. Adaptive control The Direct numerical control system (DNC) sets the direct connection between the computer and the NC machines. What is actually a DNC system? A DNC system is consisted of a large master computer used to direct the operation of a number of separate NC machines. Due to the advances of computer technology and the reduction in the cost of the computers it became economical to install a microcomputer on the NC machine in order to control each machine tool. Adaptive control marked as the last achievement in the NC machines is a system which is able to measure one or more process variables. Such process variables are cutting force, temperature, power etc. With the knowledge of this process variables the system is able to regulate feed and/or speed in order to compensate for undesirable changes in the process variables. The final scope of this control system is to optimize the machining process. 3.2 Disadvantages of conventional NC

There are a lot of important setbacks in the conventional NC machines that is worth to be mentioned because this was the reason that lead to the development of improved numerical control machines. The most important are: 1. Part programming mistakes. Mistakes in the part programming were quite often and a program should be rewritten more than two times to function correctly. 2. Paper tape. The paper tape is by its nature durable and fragile and cannot be used repeatedly without wear and eventually tear. More durable materials have been used later on, however, these material are relatively expensive. 3. Tape reader. This is the least reliable component of the NC system. When a machine breaks down the first to be checked is the tape reader. 4. Controller. The hard-wired NC controller unit means that the control features cannot be easily altered to incorporate improvements to the unit. 5. Management information. No timely information on operational performance can be provided to management. 6. Nonoptimal speeds and feeds. Since the function of the conventional NC is just to control the position of the tool relative to the work there is no attempt to optimize speeds and feeds. As a result the part programmer must plan the cutting conditions conservatively and this reduces productivity. 3.3 Direct numerical control (DNC) Direct numerical control is defined as a manufacturing system in which a number of machines are controlled by a computer through direct connection in real time. The tape reader is omitted from the system. The information or the part program is being transferred directly to the machine tool through communication lines from the main computer. This is done in real time and the communication is two way, both the computer and the machine tool can send information to each other. The computer sends information to the machine tool upon request of the latter and when this occurs the request for instructions must be satisfied almost instantaneously. The computer stores the information in a bulk memory and can control more than 100 machine tools. The general configuration of a DNC system is illustrated in figure 3.1. In addition in cases where the computational capability of the main computer is not enough to satisfy the needs of the vast number of the machine tools additional computers are used linked to the main server to satisfy group of machine tools. These smaller computers are called satellite computers. The configuration of this system is illustrated in figure 3.2.

FIGURE 3.1 General configuration of a direct numerical control (DNC) system

FIGURE 3.2 DNC in hierarchical configuration using satellite computers

3.3.1 Advantages of DNC The advantages of DNC systems are laid below: 1. Time sharing the control of more than one machine by the computer

2. There is greater computational capability for operations such as circular interpolation, tapering etc. 3. There is no need for the computer to be located near the machine because the computer can now control the machine tools remotely, while situated in a computer type environment. 4. The tape and tape reader are eliminated and replaced by communication cables making the machine tool reliable. 5. The hardwired controller unit is eliminated 6. Programs stored as cutter location data can be post processed for whatever suitable machine is assigned to process the job. The only disadvantage of the DNC is if the computers breaks down, but the computer is so reliable that this is unlikely to occur.