A control system for evaluating residual operating life of a machine component of a machine tool includes a sensor and a control system. The sensor is disposed on the machine tool and is configured to sense movement of the machine component. The control device is configured to calculate a length of time based on a sense signal received from the sensor and sampled at a time point right after the machine component is freshly oiled, and to enable output of an alarm when determining that the length of time thus calculated is smaller than a predetermined length.

The wear status of a micro-endmill tool may be inferred by monitoring the chip production rate of the tool in operation. Chips may be extracted from a work area, captured on an adhesive surface, imaged, and counted to determine the chip production rate. When the rate of chip production falls, the feed rate of the micro-endmill may be increased to a level suitable for the current state of tool wear. In this manner, costly and inconvenient work stoppages to evaluate the wear status of a tool are eliminated.

A self-aware machine platform is implemented through analyzing operational data of machining tools to achieve machine tool damage assessment, prediction and planning in manufacturing shop floor. Machining processes are first identified by matching similar processes through an ICP algorithm. Machining processes are further clustered by Hotelling's T-squared statistics. Degradation of the machining tool is detected through a trend of the operational data within a cluster of machining processes by a monotonicity test, and the remaining useful life of the machining tool is predicted through a particle filter by extrapolating the trend under a first-order Markov process. In addition, process anomalies across machines are detected through a combination of outlier detection methods including SOMs, multivariate regression, and robust Mahalanobis distance. Warnings and recommendations are flexibly provided to manufacturing shop floor based on policy choice.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a machining system that can lengthen the lifespan of a tool and improve the machining quality of a workpiece by managing the amount of wear of the tool by machining the workpiece using the other portion of the tool when a portion of the tool is worn and the machining performance of the tool is decreased. The machining device for controlling a tool position considering tool wear according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a tool-moving unit coupled to the machining unit and moving the machining unit to change the position of the tool with respect to the workpiece; a supporting unit supporting the workpiece and moving the workpiece to change the position of the workpiece with respect to the tool; a sensor unit disposed at the machining unit and measuring a current amount, which is supplied to a machining motor operating the tool, or an operation force of the tool; and a control unit receiving a measurement signal from the sensor unit and transmitting a control signal to the tool-moving unit and the supporting unit.

Information is collected from a management target device having a drive unit such as a machine tool, and this collected information is more practically used. An information collection device includes a collection unit that collects, from management target devices having a drive unit, operating state information which is information indicating an operating state of the management target device while operating accompanying movement of the drive unit; and a comparison unit that extracts a plurality of sets of information matching in a predetermined condition from the operating state information thus collected, and outputs a comparison result of the plurality of sets of information thus extracted.

An accumulated wear amount calculation section calculates a wear amount of a blade edge of a punch and a wear amount of a blade edge of a die when a tool set of the punch and the die has processed a sheet metal once. The accumulated wear amount calculation section calculates an accumulated wear amount of the blade edge of the punch and an accumulated wear amount of the blade edge of the die by accumulating wear amounts of respective times when the tool set has processed the sheet metal multiple times. A tool management information managing section manages a state of the blade edge of each punch and each die by causing a tool management information storage section to store tool management information associating a tool identification code given to each punch and each die with the accumulated wear amounts calculated by the accumulated wear amount calculation section.

This control system takes into account the thermomechanical aspects of materials to quickly and easily determine optimal cutting conditions and to automatically control machining to preserve the integrity of the workpiece. This system includes an acquisition module configured to acquire values of a set of input parameters relating to cutting conditions and material properties of the piece, and a microprocessor configured for determining at least one operating cutting parameter representative of a cutting signal from the machining apparatus using a set of output parameters of an integrity model previously constructed during a learning phase. The integrity model connects the set of input parameters to the set of output parameters comprising specific cutting coefficients representative of the material integrity of the piece, and establishes at least one fatigue threshold of the at least one cutting operating parameter. The fatigue threshold allows control of the progress of cutting operations.

A method, system and computer-usable medium are disclosed for monitoring and controlling a machining process of parts. Data as to dimensions of produced parts are gathered during a production process. The parts are produced based on part control plan. The data of the dimensions are plotted as to statistical information related to a distribution curve. Determination is made if a trend in the dimensional data approaches an upper control limit and a lower control limit. Corrective action is taken if the trend approaches either the upper control limit or the lower control limit.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including medium-encoded computer program products, for computer aided design and manufacture of physical structures using subtractive manufacturing systems and techniques include, in one aspect, a method including obtaining information regarding a geometry of a part to be machined by a computer-controlled manufacturing system from a workpiece; based on the information regarding the geometry, identifying machine components to be used by the computer-controlled manufacturing system during machining the part; determining a position for the machining of the part with respect to at least one of the machine components, to even out wear on the machine components, based on data indicating previous positions, movements and wear of components associated with the computer-controlled manufacturing system; and providing instructions usable by the computer-controlled manufacturing system, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the computer-controlled manufacturing system to use the position for the machining.

The numerical control system includes: detecting circuitry to obtain cutting force generated in a machine tool; controlling circuitry to calculate a control amount according to a cutting condition and to control a feed drive mechanism of the machine tool; countermeasure determining circuitry to, when it is detected from the cutting force or a state of the feed drive mechanism of the machine tool that a machining defect has occurred, calculate a plurality of deviation degrees for possible causes of the machining defect, and compare the calculated deviation degrees and to thereby determine a cause of the machining defect whose occurrence has been detected; and correction-amount calculating circuitry to calculate, according to the cause of the machining defect determined by the countermeasure determining circuitry, a correction amount with respect to the control amount, and then output the correction amount to the controlling circuitry.