Systems and methods for real-time monitoring of micromilling tool wear
AssigneeArizon Board of Regents On Behalf of Arizona State University
InventorsAngela A. Sodemann, Anuj K. Bajaj, Jason R. Vaughn
Life of this patent
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Abstract
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 modified 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.
Claims16
A method for monitoring wear of a micromilling tool, the method comprising:
- determining an initial chip production rate;
- extracting, via a skirt, a tube coupled to the skirt, and a pump coupled to the tube, chips produced during operation of the micromilling tool;
- depositing, from a nozzle coupled to the tube, the chips on adhesive tape;
- moving, via a conveyor belt, the adhesive tape to bring the chips into the field of view of a camera;
- acquiring, via the camera, an image of the chips on the adhesive tape;
- counting, by an image processing system, the chips in the image to determine a current chip production rate;
- and
- calculating, using the initial chip production rate and the current chip production rate, the wear status of the micromilling tool.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.