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 includes, determining 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 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 system and a method for determining the parameters of a controller for a controlled system, wherein a simulation model for the controlled system is identified based on detected input and output signals of the controlled system, where parameters of a master controller and a sequence controller used in a pilot control process for the controlled system are automatically defined based on model-based design methods for a controller designed as a model sequence controller, where the behaviour of the closed-loop system can be further improved via a subsequent optimization method, such that the controller can be advantageously designed without any particular control engineering expertise, and thus the frequency of use for model sequence controllers, with their many advantages, can be significantly increased in practical applications.

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 control system includes a drive-side control device and a host-side control device. The drive-side control device has a drive-side control structure including a drive-side feedback system and a drive-side control model part and configured so as to be capable of model tracking control in accordance with a control model which the drive-side control model part has. The host-side control device has a host-side control structure including a host-side control model part a host-side correcting signal based on a deviation between an output of the host-side control model part and the operation command signal is fed back to an input side of the host-side control model part, and a corrected command signal generated based on the host-side correcting signal that is fed back and the operation command signal is input to the host-side control model part. The corrected command signal is further input to the drive-side control structure.

A system and a method for determining the parameters of a controller for a controlled system, wherein a simulation model for the controlled system is identified based on detected input and output signals of the controlled system, where parameters of a master controller and a sequence controller used in a pilot control process for the controlled system are automatically defined based on model-based design methods for a controller designed as a model sequence controller, where the behaviour of the closed-loop system can be further improved via a subsequent optimization method, such that the controller can be advantageously designed without any particular control engineering expertise, and thus the frequency of use for model sequence controllers, with their many advantages, can be significantly increased in practical applications.

A control system includes a drive-side control device and a host-side control device. The drive-side control device has a drive-side control structure including a drive-side feedback system and a drive-side control model part and configured so as to be capable of model tracking control in accordance with a control model which the drive-side control model part has. The host-side control device has a host-side control structure including a host-side control model part a host-side correcting signal based on a deviation between an output of the host-side control model part and the operation command signal is fed back to an input side of the host-side control model part, and a corrected command signal generated based on the host-side correcting signal that is fed back and the operation command signal is input to the host-side control model part. The corrected command signal is further input to the drive-side control structure.