A contact detection unit, after executing a first detection operation of contact between the wire electrode and the workpiece at a first relative movement speed and a first pulse cycle, executes a second detection operation of contact between the wire electrode and the workpiece, at a second relative movement speed which is slower than the first relative movement speed, and at a second pulse cycle which is longer than the first pulse cycle, and a movement speed control unit, after execution of the first detection operation, and prior to execution of the second detection operation, causes the wire electrode and the workpiece to relatively move in a distancing direction.

A method of yielding a thinner product wafer from a thicker base SiC wafer cut from a SiC ingot includes: supporting the base SiC wafer with a support substrate: and while the base SiC wafer is supported by the support substrate, cutting through the base SiC wafer in a direction parallel to a first main surface of the base SiC wafer using a wire as part of a wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) process, to separate the product wafer from the base SiC wafer, the product wafer being attached to the support substrate when cut from the base SiC wafer.

The present invention is a power supply control apparatus that controls pulse discharge occurring in a machining gap in an electric discharge machine. The power supply control apparatus includes: a voltage level detecting device that detects the voltage level of a discharge voltage generated in the machining gap; a voltage level comparator hat compares the voltage level with a voltage level reference value, and outputs a comparison result; and a determining unit that, on the basis of the comparison result, determines whether a discharge pulse is abnormal in a designated one of a plurality of determination modes. The determination method can be designated during machining.

A drive circuit configured to drive a load. The drive circuit comprises a transformer. The transformer comprises a transformer primary comprising one or more primary windings connected to arms that pass through a magnetic material. The transformer also comprises a transformer secondary comprising secondary windings connected to planar secondary conductors which pass through the inside of the arms. The drive circuit also comprises a voltage source configured to apply a voltage across the transformer primary.

Circuitry for driving a variable capacitive load comprising: a variable capacitive load; a digital control circuit configured to generate a digital drive signal; and a drive circuit configured to convert the digital drive signal into an analogue drive signal, the analogue drive signal forming a drive waveform for charging the variable capacitive load, the drive circuit comprising a slewing circuit configured to drive a time dependent voltage component of the drive waveform; wherein the digital control circuit is configured to modify the digital drive signal for each charging cycle so as to match the time dependent voltage component of the drive waveform to the variable capacitive load.

In a wire electric discharge machine, time from application of a voltage to a machining gap between a workpiece and a wire electrode until occurrence of electric discharge is measured as a discharge delay time, and the measured discharge delay time is integrated over a predetermined measurement period to calculate a discharge delay integrated time. Further, the number of times of the voltage application in the measurement period is counted. An average discharge delay time per voltage application in the measurement period is calculated from the discharge delay integrated time and the number of times of voltage application. The movement of the wire electrode with respect to the workpiece is controlled on the basis of the average discharge delay time.

A wire electrical discharge machine determines the position of an endface of a workpiece by relatively moving a wire electrode toward the workpiece. The wire electrical discharge machine includes: a voltage application control unit configured to continuously apply voltage pulses between the wire electrode and the workpiece; a voltage detection unit configured to detect a voltage between the wire electrode and the workpiece; a pulse occurrence ratio calculation unit configured to calculate a pulse occurrence ratio that is a ratio of the number of the voltage pulses detected by the voltage detection unit to the number of the voltage pulses applied per a predetermined time by the voltage application control unit; and an endface position determination unit configured to determine the position of the endface of the workpiece based on the pulse occurrence ratio.

A method for the monitoring of a wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) process, the method comprising the steps of: setting a unit observation length for the signal acquisition, continuously acquiring at least one process signal which is representative of an amount of material removed by at least one discharge and the position (X;Y) of said at least one discharge, and determining, based on said at least one process signal and one or more properties of a current machining, a cumulated amount of material removed per unit observation length along a machining path, including amounts of material removed by travelling in a forward cutting direction and amounts of material removed by travelling in a reverse cutting direction.

A wire electrical discharge machine performs electrical discharge machining on a workpiece by applying voltage across an electrode gap formed between a wire electrode and the workpiece to thereby generate electrical discharge while moving the wire electrode relative to the workpiece along a path specified by a machining program. The wire electrical discharge machine includes: a voltage detector for detecting a gap voltage across the gap; a facing area calculation unit for calculating, as a facing area, the area of a surface of the workpiece contained within a predetermined distance from the center axis of the wire electrode; an axis feed rate determination unit for determining an axis feed rate based on the gap voltage value detected by the voltage detector, and the facing area; and a movement control unit for performing control so that the wire electrode moves relative to the workpiece at the axis feed rate.

A power supply device for wire electric discharge machining includes: a first DC power supply; first switching elements between the first DC power supply and a machining gap; a second DC power supply; a second switching element between the second DC power supply and the machining gap; and a pulse generator controlling the first and second switching elements. The pulse generator is configured so that, in order to generate an electric discharge in the machining gap, the second switching element is switched on and the voltage of the second DC power supply is applied to the machining gap; the first switching element is switched on intermittently at a predetermined frequency in response to an electric discharge generation detection signal, and a series of current pulses is fed to the machining gap. The feeding of the series of current pulses is discontinued when the current pulses don't reach a reference current.