An Investigation on Reduction of Cutting Energy Consumption Using High Efficiency Machining Strategy

Abstract

A large number of machine tools are used on regular basis consuming a large amount of energy. Moreover, the machine tools have poor energy efficiencies and thus, they are ideal candidates for energy saving strategies. Improvement in energy efficiency of machining system will not only benefit the industries economically but also help the world in taking care of energy crisis and air pollution. Therefore, an attempt has been made in the present work to reduce the cutting power consumption using a high efficiency machining (HEM) strategy. The HEM strategy has been used primarily for roughing operation utilizing a lower radial depth of cut (RDOC) and a higher axial depth of cut (ADOC) for milling. During machining, the radial chip thinning occurs with varying RDOC that results into variation in uncut chip thickness and respective chip load. Based on process geometry of milling, a specific energy consumption (SEC) model has been analyzed for the milling. Next, the cutting power has been reduced using high efficiency milling approach. The proposed HEM strategy can reduce cutting time that results into less power consumption and increased productivity of milling by removing more material in unit time. Therefore, the present study is able to contribute significantly towards energy-efficient manufacturing and cleaner production.