Apparatus for Monitoring Tool Life

The present invention relates to apparatus for monitoring the operating condition of cutting tools such as are used in machine tools, such as lathes, drilling machines and machining centres.

It is generally impossible to predict accurately the useful life of a cutting tool such as a high speed steel twist drill which is used under a given set of operating conditions, e.g. cutting speed and feed rate, but it is of course essential to ensure that a tool is withdrawn from use before total failure becomes a distinct possibility. An undetected broken tool in, for example an automatic lathe, can cause catastrophic damage to the workpiece, tooling and also to the machine itself. In a typical example an automated machine might attempt to tap a thread in a hole which is not present because a twist drill normally used to drill such holes has broken.

Naturally, great reliance is placed upon a machine operator to monitor the condition of a tool in use and decide when it should be replaced. A consequence of this is that tools often tend to be discarded well before the end of their useful life resulting in unnecessarily long machining times and poor tool utilisation.

In automated and semi-automated machines there is an even greater tendency to "under-run" tools because of the even more severe consequences of undetected tool failure.

In a prior system developed by the applicants for monitoring the operating condition of a cutting tool a preselected frequency band of vibration of the tool is monitored through a vibration sensor and a bandpass filter and the resulting vibration signal is converted to a d.c. voltage which varies with the amplitude of the frequency of vibration. The d.c. voltage is compared with two different preset trip levels to (i) generate a warning signal and (ii) disengage the tool from the workpiece respectively when the levels are reached. This system is primarily applicable to machining situations where a number of workpieces of the same type are machined successively by a single tool of a given type at preselected machining conditions i.e. speed, feed rate, depth of cut etc., and the trip levels are chosen manually by reference to previous experimental results obtained by testing a tool of the relevant type on one particular workpiece under the same machining conditions.

However, since the acceptable amount of wear on a tool depends on the machining conditions (a tool for machining e.g. bronze, utilizes cutting conditions different from those for machining e.g. steel) the reference vibration level with which the vibration spectrum of the tool is compared will differ for different machining conditions. In general because soft materials are machined at higher cutting speeds than hard materials, the vibration level for soft materials is higher than that for hard materials. Therefore, using a reference vibration level obtained from a tool machining a hard material may result in a tool which is monitored while machining a softer material being discarded too early while, conversely, a tool which is monitored while machining a harder material may fail in use before a reference vibration level is reached, and will not be detected.

The present invention seeks to provide an improved system for monitoring the operating condition of a cutting tool.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a method of monitoring the operating condition of a cutting tool during machining of a workpiece comprising the steps of

(a) monitoring the level of vibration of the tool on commencement of machining and generating a first signal representative of said monitored level,

(b) applying said first signal to a variable gain circuit means to provide a second signal which is a function of said first signal,

(c) adjusting the gain of said gain circuit means to adjust said second signal to a preselected value,

(d) generating at least one reference value which is a preselected function of said preselected value,

(e) storing said reference value and a factor representing the adjusted gain of said gain circuit means,

(f) prior to commencing subsequent machining under the same or similar machining conditions, adjusting the gain of said gain circuit to said adjusted gain,

and on commencement of said subsequent machining

(g) monitoring the level of vibration of the tool to generate a further second signal,

(h) comparing said further second signal with said reference value and generating a control signal independence on said further second signal level exceeding said reference value.

The present invention also provides a system for monitoring the operating condition of a cutting tool during machining of a workpiece comprising monitoring means for monitoring the level of vibration of the tool on commencement of machining and generating a first signal representative of said monitored level;

a variable gain circuit means for providing a second signal which is a function of said first signal;

control means for automatically adjusting the gain of said gain circuit means to adjust said second signal to a preselected value;

reference means for generating at least one reference value which is a preselected function of said preselected value;

store means for storing said reference value and a factor representing the adjusted gain of said gain circuit means;

comparator means for comparing further second signals, generated during subsequent machining under the same or similar machining condictions, with said reference value and generating a control signal in dependence on said further second signal level exceeding said reference value.

The term "vibration" as used herein means any mechanical wave displacement, velocity or acceleration emitted by a tool when in use and encompasses the phenomenon known as "acoustic emission".

The term "machining conditions" as used herein refers to controlled factors in which, in a machining operation using a cutting tool, changes could give rise to substantial alterations in the tool vibration during machining, and specifically including: cutting tool type, cutting speed, feed rate, depth of cut and workpiece material. A change in one of these factors would result in a change in machining conditions.

The main advantage of the present invention is that a "signature" of a particular machining condition is automatically produced against which actual tool vibration can be compared to indicate the state of wear of the tool.

The present invention is further described hereinafter, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic circuit diagram of a system according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a graph showing the variation in amplitude of vibration against frequency for both a worn cutting tool and a freshly-prepared cutting tool when used in a machine tool;

FIG. 3 is an expanded diagram of the programmable timer of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating the manner in which a "signature" for a particular machining condition is produced.

The circuit 10 shown in FIG. 1 is designed to monitor the vibration produced by tool and workpiece interaction in a machine tool such as a numerical control machine tool in a series of machining situations in which a multiplicity of different machining conditions operate sequentially. The different machining conditions may result from the use of different tool types in the machine, changes in tool cutting speed and the like during machining of batch workpieces. The circuit 10 has a vibration sensor in the form of, e.g., an accelerometer 12 which is arranged so that as the tool operates on a workpiece the predominant vibrations produced are detected by the accelerometer. The latter generates an electrical signal which is representative of the vibration generated at the tool-workpiece interface and this signal is transmitted through a buffer amplifier 14 to an attenuator 18, impedance-matching buffer amplifier 20, a bandpass filter 22, preferably a variable, binary switched filter, and highgain amplifier 24 to a full wave rectifier 26. The analogue output of the rectifier 26 is connected to a voltage-to-frequency converter 28 which gives a digital output fed to a programmable timer 30 in turn connected to a microprocessor 32. The microprocessor 32 is also coupled through a parallel interface circuit 34 to control digitally the attenuator 18, filter 22 and rectifier 26. The microprocessor 32 is also coupled through a system bus line to the timer 30, voltage-to-frequency converter 28 and a programmable memory (ROM) 36, a programmable workspace (RAM) 38, a data entry keypad 39 and display terminal 40, and a serial interface 41 which inputs information to the microprocessor 22 received from the machine tool controller such as a code signal identifying each machining condition.

In normal operation, the system is manually programmed by means of the data entry terminal 39 before operation, data relating to machining conditions, such as cutting tool type to be monitored, the monitored frequency band and maximum permissible level of vibration being entered by means of a simple programme or automatically by a computerised control system which is independent of the data entry terminal and by means of which the machine tool is controlled. Different values of the frequency band and/or the level of vibration may be selected for different machining conditions so that for example, different values may be programmed for each tool type. In operation, during machining the vibration level at each cutting tool--workpiece interface at the monitored frequency relevant to that tool is compared to the permissible programmed level, the vibration level preferably being sampled over an 80 ms period at about 80 ms intervals. When the monitored vibration level exceeds the programmed level a trip is activated to signal a tool change requirement, stop the operation of the machine tool and/or disengage the tool and workpiece. The system of FIG. 1 has two trips which are triggered through respective driver amplifiers 42 and relays 44 and are actuated at different levels. The two levels may be set independently of each other but preferably one of the trips is used to warn that the tool is coming to the end of its useful life while the second trip is activiated to stop the operation of the tool or signal a tool change requirement with the ratio of the two trip levels being preselectable so that the setting of the second trip level automatically sets the first trip level. The first trip level is preferably adjustable as a percentage of the second trip level in the range of 0-100%. At 100% the two trip leads become one.

A further trip is also provided and is actuated through a relay driver 46 and relay 48 to stop operation of the machine tool if a certain minimum level of tool vibration has not been reached within a programmed time interval. This ensures that machining does not commence in the absence of a tool. The programmed time interval can conveniently be varied between 0 and 99.9 seconds in steps of 0.1 seconds although a continuous time variation may also be provided.

The narrow frequency band of the tool frequency vibration spectrum which is monitored is selected using the binary switched filter 22 which can be varied over a preferred frequency range 1.5 KHz to 25 KHz. Advantageously the width of the band monitored may also be varied.

Although the trip levels for the system can be set manually, having been derived from a vibration frequency spectrum obtained from a previously used tool and used as a standard, the present system can be programmed to derive its own trip levels from the vibration frequency spectrum of the tool being monitored. This has the advantage that each machining operation being monitored has its own trip levels automatically set and unique to that operation.

The procedure for automatically generating the necessary "signature" for a particular machining condition is shown in the flow chart in FIG. 4.

Before machining of a particular workpiece commences using a selected tool in preselected machining conditions the microprocessor 32 selects the required frequency band on the filter 22 and sets the attenuator gain to a selected level, preferably its minimum (i.e. maximum attenuation). This information can be operator selected or received through the serial interface 41 from the control system program of the machine tool. A code identifying the "signature" to be generated is also generated by the microprocessor or manually entered, if necessary, this being used during operation to relate the "signature" to the relevant machining conditions. Once machining commences the vibration level monitored by the system is converted to a digital signal by the converter 28.

This digital signal, which is a square wave signal whose frequency is proportioned to the monitored vibration amplitude, is sampled by the timer 30 which is shown in detail in FIG. 3 and comprises a countdown timer 50 and pulse counter 52. The output of the converter 28 is fed to the pulse counter 52 which is "gated" by gate pulses from the countdown timer 50. Each gate pulse is preferably 80 ms duration at an interval of 80 ms to provide 12 pulses/second. The pulse counter 52 counts the number of input pulses over the 80 ms period and this count is then multiplied by the microprocessor 32 by a preset factor to give a High Trip level (HTL). The factor has previously been input either by an operator or by the machine tool control system programme.

The HTL number is then compared by the microprocessor 32 with a preset number, in this instance 65000. If the HTL is less than 65000 then the attenuator gain is increased by 1 and the process repeated to give a new HTL. If HTL is greater than 65000 or the attenuator gain is maximum then, provided the gain is not 1, the gain is reduced by 1, the new HTL calculated for this new gain and stored in the system memory together with the attenuator gain and selected filter band to provide a machining "signature". If desired, a second, lower trip level (LTL) is also generated as a preselected function of HTL and stored. This can be used to warn that a tool is approaching the end of its useful life. A machining "signature" is then available for use in all machining operations in which the same machining conditions apply so that when a machining operation is commenced in which the same or similar machining conditions apply the filter 22, gain of the attenuator, HTL and LTL are automatically set according to the relevant "signature" which is called from the memory by the microprocessor.

In addition to the above, the vibration level monitored by the system is compared with preselected minimum reference level and, if the monitored level remains lower than the reference level for a preselected time period, indicating that the tool is not cutting when it should be, the machining operation is aborted. If the monitored vibration level reaches the minimum reference level then machining continues until the monitored vibration level reaches the lower trip level which triggers a warning that the tool is approaching the end of its useful life. When the monitored vibration level reaches the higher trip level then the machine operation is automatically stopped and, where appropriate, a tool change operation actuated. The same procedure is applied for each type of machining operation carried out on a workpiece and if the higher trip level is not reached during a machining operation effected on the first workpiece then that machining operation is repeated on the next and successive workpieces using the same tool and "signature". If a tool is replaced by an identical tool for machining the same workpiece type the same stored "signature" is used and the machining operation proceeds as described, although a new "signature" could be generated if desired. The first trip level can also be used to initiate a tool change, if desired.

Where different machining conditions apply for a machine tool such as where more than one tool type is used, the procedure applies equally to each set of machining conditions. Where a tool breaks or suffers damage such as chipping or frittering the vibration will be sufficiently high to exceed the high trip level.

Although the system is described as being designed to monitor via a single sensor 12 the vibration of a number of cutting tools used sequentially, it will be appreciated that the system can be altered to monitor simultaneous machining operations using several parallel sensors. The sensors can be on a single maching tool with multiple spindle heads or on several machine tools each having single or multiple spindle heads. The relevant "signatures", i.e. datum and trip levels are established for the respective machining conditions as is described above with reference to FIG. 1 and then each time a machining condition is repeated the actual vibration level is compared only with the relevant "signature".

In this case where several sensors 12 are used these are coupled through a multiplexer 16 to the attenuator, the sensor outputs being coupled sequentially under the control of the microprocessor 32.

In a modification to the above-described system the maximum tool vibration levels which are monitored are stored and the microprocessor scans the stored values sequentially to compare them with the reference "signature". The advantage of this is that it reduces the time during which the vibration level of any one tool is not being compared with its "signature". This is particularly important in detecting breakage of a tool since an undetected broken tool can do considerable damage in a very short time.

One advantage of a system according to the present invention in which automatic generation of vibration datum and trip levels is effected is that variations in machinability of work materials which may occur from batch to batch is automatically catered for.

The vibration of a cutting tool which is monitored by an apparatus according to the present invention can be any type of mechanical signal produced by the tool during use. Various transducers are available which permit monitoring of displacement, velocity or acceleration. A preferred form is a piezo-electric accelerometer sensor. Another type of sensor uses so-called acoustic emission which is a term applied to the low level stress wave emitted by a solid material when it is deformed or ruptured in association with relief of strain energies.

The detection of acoustic emission is conveniently effected using an acoustic emission sensor attached to the tool shank, toolholder or machine tool spindle head to provide an electrical signal representative of the detected vibration. The signal can then be processed in the normal manner. The advantage of acoustic emission measurement is that it is far more sensitive to the monitoring of the production of cracks, chips and the like in tools.