OPCL AGE pe es ear ah ity costs. 1.5. COSTS AND BENEFITS OF NUMERICAL CONTROL MACHINES \ ee Serpe a ae j Costs ¢ High investment cost ¢ High maintenance effort © Need for skilled programmers ¢ High utilization required Benefits * Cycle time reduction * Nonproductive time reduction © Greater accuracy and repeatability ¢ Lower scrap rates © Reduced parts inventory and floor space © Operator skill-level reduced 4.6. BASIC COMPONENTS/ELEMENTS OF NC MACHINE TOOL‘ The basic components or elements of a numerical controlled machin tool are as follows and are shown in figure 1.2. ¢ Machine control unit (MCU) ¢ Program of instructions or Part program e * Processing equipment or Machine tool Program |-—+| Machine : = control unit two way communication jpipeessng equipment/ machine tool Fig. 1.2. Basic components or elements of a NC machine tool 4.6.1. Machine Control Unit (MCU) The machine control unit is made up of electronics components. MC reads and interprets the program of instructions from the punched tap Tt then converts these instructions into mechanical actions of the machit5 tes ENGR AEaN Moenined ‘| Therefore machine control unit forms an import | teak Togram and the machine tool, a8 shown in figure 1.2, Tes necting i gonsrol unit operates the machine tool strictly according to ee Gratructions given to it. ee The machine control unit consists of tape reader, a date buffer, si; gutput channels to the machine tools. ‘This also consists of ee outanel from the machine tool, and the sequence control to ‘ia She overall machining operation. This is shown in figure 1.3 ie Machine Control Unit (MCU) Input Taper |__| Memory. ‘Servor motor with Fig. 1.3. Schematic diagram of a Machine control unit First of all, the part program or program of instructions is read from the punched tape by the tape reader. A tape reader is a kind of electromechanical device. The data from the tape is store in data buffer in form of logical blocks of instructions. Each block results in certain sequence of operations. As show in figure 1.3, the machine controller sends these instructions to the machine tool through signal output channels that are connected to the servomotors and other controls of the machines. The use of feedback channels makes sure that the instructions have been executed by the machine correctly. The sequence control part of the controller unit checks that all the operations are executed in the proper sequence,ee uno ap! ‘All the modern NC machines are equipped with the microcomputer that acts as the controller unit, In these machines, the program is fed into the computer directly and the computer controls the working the machine tool. Such machines are called Computer Controller Machines (CNC) machines. Figure 1.4, shows a line diagram of a machine contro| unit. Types of Machine Control Unit (MCU) ‘The Machine Control Unit (MICU) may be of three types: Housed MCU: This type of Machine Control Unit is mounted on , the machine tool or may be built in the casing of the machine itself. * Swing Around MCU: This type of Machine Control Unit is directly mounted on the machine. ‘And this MCU can swing arounc it and can be adjusted as per requirement of the operator's position. * Stand Alone MCU: This type of Machine Control Unit is enclosed in a separate cabinet which is installed at some distance from th: machine or near to machine. Figure 1.5, shows a stand alone MCU of a numerical control machin: tool. CONTROL! ue MOTORFig. 1.6. Coded punched tape The part program or program of instructions of the numerical control machine is the-step by step set of instructions that instructs the machine what is has to do. For example, these instructions can instruct the turn the work piece to certain diameter, or to drill the hole of certain diameter etc. These set of instructions are coded in numerical or symbolic form, which are written on some medium that can be read by the controller unit of the NC machine. The medium mostly used earlier for writing the program instructions were punched cards, magnetic tapes and motion picture films, but now a days one inch wide punched tage is used mostly. Figure 1.6, shows a punched tape. ‘A programmer who has knowledge of programming as well as the machine can write the program instructions. ‘The programmer must also know the sequence of machining operations required to manufacture a particular product. He must be able to write these steps in form of a program that can be read by the control unit of the NC machine, and subsequently the machine control unit instructs the machine tool to perform required operation. 1.6.3. Machine Tool In the end, it is the machine tool which performs the actual machining operation. The machine tool may consist of any machine like lathe machine, drilling machine or milling machine ete, The machine tool is the controlled part of NC system. The latest development NC machine system is the versatile machining center, which is a single machine which can perform a variety of operations like turning, drilling, boring, chamfering, threading with help of an ‘Automatic Tool Changer (ATC). 4.7. CLASSIFICATION OF NUMERICAL CONTROL SYSTEMS n be classified on following basis: Numerical control Machine tools a rs eT1. Classification based on the type of numerical control sys : © Open loop control numerical control machine tools a © Close loop control numerical control machine ae 2. Classification based on the type of motion control system: « Point to point numerical control Z ¢ Contouring numerical control 3. Classification based on the type of coordinate system: « Incremental type numerical control e Absolute type numerical control 4. Classification based on the type of power drive: ¢ Electrical drive numerical control ¢ Hydraulic drive numerical control * Pneumatic drive numerical control 4.7.1. Classification Based on the Type of Numerical Control Syster Open Loop Numerical Control System: The open loop cont system means there js no feedback in the system. In the open I control system, the machine controller gives commands to the mach tool depending upon the set of instructions without any kind of feedba: information. The controller has no access to the real time data about t actual performance of the machine tool operations, and therefore becav of lack of feedback, no jmmediate corrective action can be taken in ¢: if there is any error in the performance of the cutting operation. Figu 1.7, shows block diagram of an open loop control system. Input Output eee ‘System Fig. 1.7. Block diagram of an open loop control system, with no feedback Tt is clear in figure 1.8, that input program js fed to the machi! control system, which gives required instructions to the machine tool do necessary cutting operations on the workpiece. The directions of arrows show that control unit only ins machine, and there is no feedback from the machine to the controll! The main drawback of open loop control system is that there is feedback system to check the output performance of the system, that in this case whether the required accuracy of cutting Gperaaens achieved or not. For these reasons, the open-loop system 15 Bea used in point-to-point systems where the accuracy requirements are} critical. Contouring systems uses control system with feedback. ructs thControl Unit One Way Communication Fig. 1.8. Numerical control machine tool with open loop control system, with no feedback Close Loop Numerical Control System: Close loop numerical control systems are also called feedback control numerical control systems. In close loop control system, feedback devices are used. These feedback devices closely monitor the output performance and if there is any deviation from the required output, these feedback devices gives signals back to the control system to take corrective action. Figure 1.9, shows block diagram of a close loop control system with feedback. Input Output — Ngee, Feeback | me Fig. 1.9. Close loop control system with feedback ‘ Figure 1,10, shows a closed loop control numerical control machine tool. The NG controller sends instructions to machine tool to do reawi® cutting operations. There are feedback devices which closely aa a these cutting operations. And they send back signals to the contro . 0. take Necessary action if there is any deviation in the cutting ase a feedback is shown as backward arrows from machine tool to Numerical controller as shown in figure 1.10.