AN OVERVIEW OF APPROACHES TO END MILLING TOOL MONITORING

The increase in awareness regarding the need to optimise manufacturing process efficiency has led to a great deal of research aimed at machi ne tool condition monitoring. This paper considers the application of condition monitoring techniques to the detection of cutting tool wear and breakage during the milling process. Established approaches to the problem are considered and their application to the next generation o f monitoring systems is discussed. Two approaches are identified as be ing key to the industrial application of operational tool monitoring s ystems. Multiple sensor systems, which use a wide range of sensors wit h an increasing level of intelligence, are seen as providing long-term -benefits, particularly in the field of tool wear monitoring. Such sys tems are being developed by a number of researchers in this area. The second approach integrates the control signals used by the machine con troller into a process monitoring system which is capable of detecting tool breakage. Initial findings mainly under laboratory conditions, i ndicate that both these approaches can be of major benefit. It is fina lly argued that a combination of these approaches will ultimately lead to robust systems which can operate in an industrial environment. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.