Energy requirements evaluation of milling machines based on thermal equilibrium and empirical modelling

In order to provide a reliable estimation of energy consumption under various machining conditions, an energy consumption model with high accuracy and well-defined coefficients is necessary to be developed. This paper presents an improved energy consumption model to characterize the relationship between process variables and energy consumption for material removal processes based on thermal equilibrium and empirical modelling. The improved model of milling process as a function of material removal rate and spindle speed has been tested and validated under various cutting parameters. Additionally, the values of the model coefficients are clearly defined, which will be easy to understand and explain each coefficient in the energy consumption model. The model coefficients were obtained using the statistic modelling based on experimental data. Experimental results show that the improved model is able to provide a reliable prediction of energy consumption for given process parameters with an accuracy of more than 96%. The good agreement between simulations and measured results led to the conclusion that the proposed model can be used effectively for the calculation of the total energy required by a machine tool system for face milling of a part. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.