A multi-wire electric discharge machine includes: a plurality of cutting wire sections arranged in parallel in such a way as to face a workpiece, a wire electrode being wound around guide rollers to form the cutting wire sections; a drive unit that adjusts relative distances between the workpiece and the cutting wire sections; a machining power supply that applies pulse voltages between the workpiece and the cutting wire sections; a machining-state detection device that detects machining states in the cutting wire sections; and a machining control device that controls the drive unit and the machining power supply, in which when values indicating the machining states exceed a threshold value, the machining control device outputs, to the machining power supply, commands to apply the pulse voltages according to a machining condition for avoiding breakage of the wire electrode.

A wire electrical discharge machine includes an upper wire guide and a lower wire guide supporting a wire electrode, a probe provided on an upper guide block having the upper wire guide, an offset storage unit for storing an offset amount from the upper wire guide to the probe, a position shift drive unit for changing the relative position between the table, and the upper and lower wire guides, a drive controller for controlling the position shift drive unit, a contact position calculator for calculating a contact position that is a position of the probe when it comes in contact, and a machining start position calculator for calculating a machining start position of the wire electrode, based on at least two contact positions and the offset amount. The drive controller controls the position shift drive unit so that the position of the wire electrode becomes the machining start position.

The disclosure provides an electric discharge machining apparatus. The apparatus includes: temperature sensors respectively attached to an upper portion, a middle portion, and a lower portion of the electric discharge machining apparatus and measuring temperatures of the electric discharge machining apparatus at predetermined time intervals; a control device calculating values of temperature environment diagnostic indexes, which are indexes for determining machining accuracy of the workpiece obtained when electric discharge machining is performed in a current temperature environment, from measurement results of the temperature sensors, comparing the values of the temperature environment diagnostic indexes with reference values of the temperature environment diagnostic indexes recommended for achieving desired machining accuracy, and outputting determination results indicating a degree of whether the current temperature environment around the electric discharge machining apparatus is appropriate for achieving the desired machining accuracy according to differences; and a storage part storing the reference values and the determination results.

A control device of a wire electric discharge machine and a machine learning device are provided that can appropriately and readily determine a correction parameter. The control device, which optimizes the correction parameter for wire electrical discharge machining process, includes a machine learning device configured to learn the correction parameter for the wire electrical discharge machining process. The machine learning device includes a state observation unit configured to observe, as a state variable, condition data indicative of a condition for the wire electrical discharge machining process, a determination data acquisition unit configured to acquire determination data indicative of the correction parameter of the case where machining precision is favorable in the wire electrical discharge machining process, and a learning unit configured to learn the correction parameter in association with the condition for the wire electrical discharge machining process using the state variable and the determination data.

A machine learning device provided in a controller for controlling a wire electrical discharge machine uses state variables (including data relating to a correction amount, a machining path, machining conditions, and a machining environment) observed by a state observation unit and determination data acquired by a determination data acquisition unit to machine-learn a correction for a machining path. Using the learning result, the machining path can be corrected automatically and accurately on the basis of a partial machining path, the machining conditions and the machining environment of the machining performed by the wire electrical discharge machine.

To automatically change and set machining conditions suitable for a plate thickness even when machining paths of a rough machining step and an end surface finishing step are different in level difference machining in which the plate thickness changes during machining. In a wire electric discharge machining method and a wire electric discharge machining apparatus of the disclosure, an XY-plane of a workpiece stand is divided into small regions to form a plurality of divided regions, and a plate thickness of the workpiece is detected and stored in association with the divided regions. Thereafter, whether there is a level difference ahead of a traveling direction of a machining path is estimated according to plate thickness information associated with the divided regions and a plate thickness of the workpiece at a current machining position, and machining conditions are changed.

A method for controlling a wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) process, in which the wire traveling speed V.sub.W is adapted in-process, while cutting. The method for controlling a wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) process according the invention includes adapting the wire traveling speed in-process, wherein the method comprises the steps of: determining the position of each discharge along the engagement line of a wire and a work piece; determining the size of a crater provoked at the wire by each discharge; creating a real time wire wearing model based on the position of each discharge along the engagement line of the wire and the work piece, and based on the size of the crater occurring at each said determined position of each discharge along the engagement line of a wire and a work piece, and based on the current wire traveling speed; and continuously comparing the wire wearing model with one or more wire wearing limits, and adjusting the wire traveling speed according to the comparison of the actual wire wearing model and the one or more wire wearing limits. The wire electrical discharge machining process is conducted with reduced wire consumption, safely, efficiently and profitably.

A program editing device edits a machining program in which a machining path along which a wire electrode of a wire electrical discharge machine machines a workpiece is defined. The machining program includes a plurality of blocks corresponding to respective multiple partial paths into which the machining path is divided, each of the blocks including path information indicating the corresponding partial path. The program editing device includes an analyzer analyzing the machining program and thereby identifying a predetermined shape pattern formed by a series of the multiple partial paths in the machining path, an information generator generating shape information corresponding to the identified predetermined shape pattern, and an editor inserting the shape information into the machining program.

An electrical machining method comprises machining a workpiece by an electrical machining device comprising an electrode; increasing a feedrate of the electrode at a first acceleration if a discharge current passing through the electrode and the workpiece is lower than a discharge current reference; and decreasing the feedrate of the electrode at a second acceleration if the discharge current is higher than the discharge current reference, wherein the second acceleration has an absolute value higher than that of the first acceleration.

A solar cell assembly (200) is presented. The solar cell assembly includes one or more solar cell units (211) coupled in series. The solar cell unit includes a first solar cell series (221) and a second solar cell series (222) connected in parallel. The first and second solar cell series include a plurality of solar cells (202) connecting in series respectively. The solar cell assembly also includes a by-pass diode (201) coupled to each solar cell unit and shared between the first and second solar cell series in each solar cell unit.