Wire electrical discharge machine and machining method
AssigneeFanuc Corporation
InventorTomoaki Matsunaga
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A wire electrical discharge machine includes: a multiple number of switching elements connected in parallel with each other and configured to supply the machining current to the electrode gap to perform electrical discharge machining; a multiple number of switches each connected in series with the associated one of the multiple switching elements and configured to cut off each of the multiple switching elements; and a control device configured to perform control when at least one of the multiple switching elements fails so as to disconnect the failed switching elements by means of the associated switches and also change the machining conditions in accordance with the number of the failed switching elements.
Claims13
A wire electrical discharge machine performing electrical discharge machining on a workpiece by supplying, according to machining conditions, machining current from a machining power unit to an electrode gap formed between a wire electrode and a workpiece, comprising:
- a plurality of switching elements connected in parallel with each other, wherein each of the plurality of switching elements supply the machining current to the electrode gap at the same time to perform electrical discharge machining;
- a plurality of switches each connected in series with one of the switching elements to separate each of the switching elements from each other, wherein the plurality of switches are normally-on switches which are normally closed;
- and
- a control device configured, only when at least one of the switching elements fails, to disconnect only the failed switching elements by means of the switches and to change the machining conditions in accordance with the number of the failed switching elements, wherein the failed switching elements are not replaced with other switching elements and the machining current is supplied by a remainder of the plurality of switching elements during the machining of the workpiece.
A machining method for a wire electrical discharge machine performing electrical discharge machining on a workpiece by supplying machining current from a machining power unit to an electrode gap formed between a wire electrode and a workpiece according to machining conditions, wherein
- the wire electrical discharge machine comprises:
- a plurality of switching elements connected in parallel with each other, wherein each of the plurality of switching elements supply the machining current to the electrode gap at the same time to perform electrical discharge machining;
- and
- a plurality of switches each connected in series with one of the switching elements to separate each of the switching elements from each other, wherein the plurality of switches are normally-on switches which are normally closed,
- the machining method comprising a control step of disconnecting only the failed switching elements by means of the switches and changing the machining conditions in accordance with the number of the failed switching elements only when at least one of the switching elements fails, wherein the failed switching elements are not replaced with other switching elements and the machining current is supplied by a remainder of the plurality of switching elements during the machining of the workpiece.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.