Cutting Tool Life Setting from Replacement Records and Failure Distributions

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current methods for setting the optimal life of cutting tools are either overly reliant on human expertise, economically and time-consuming, or require complex and costly sensor-based monitoring systems, failing to efficiently balance manufacturing costs and tool failure risks.

Innovation Solution

A method that utilizes historical cutting tool replacement records and parameters to establish a failure time distribution, allowing for the prediction and dynamic adjustment of tool life without the need for additional hardware or extensive expertise, using statistical distributions like the Weibull distribution to calculate optimal service life.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of manufacture

If a static method is used to set cutting tool life based on human experience or tool failure experiments, then the implementation is simple, but high expertise is required and additional economic and time costs are incurred for tool failure experiments

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveimplementation simplicityVSAvoidtime costs for tool failure experiments
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of manufactureVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary data collection and analysis by gathering tool replacement records and cutting parameters from historical operations. This preliminary action establishes a database that can be used for future tool life predictions without requiring new experiments, thus reducing time costs while maintaining implementation simplicity

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of performing actual tool failure experiments, the system creates a virtual model by copying and analyzing historical tool replacement records and cutting parameters. This virtual replication allows prediction of tool life without the need for physical experiments, eliminating time costs associated with actual testing

Inventive Principle:
Principle #26Copying

2Reliability

If a dynamic method is used to monitor cutting tool wear status with sensors, then the effectiveness is improved, but the device complexity and cost increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetool life prediction accuracyVSAvoidsensor-based monitoring system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system replaces the mechanical sensor-based monitoring approach with a data analysis system that processes tool replacement records and cutting parameters. This substitution eliminates the need for physical sensors and complex monitoring hardware while maintaining the ability to predict tool life accurately through statistical analysis of historical data

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The system introduces an intermediary data analysis layer that processes historical tool replacement records and cutting parameters to predict tool life. This intermediary approach avoids direct physical monitoring with sensors, reducing device complexity while still providing reliable predictions through computational analysis

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Reliability

If the service life of a cutting tool is set excessively short, then the risk of tool failure is reduced, but unnecessary manufacturing costs increase due to wasted remaining life

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetool failure risk reductionVSAvoidwasted tool life
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The system dynamically determines tool life settings based on analyzed historical data and specific cutting conditions rather than using fixed conservative values. This dynamic approach optimizes the balance between failure risk and wasted tool life by providing data-driven recommendations tailored to actual operational patterns, reducing both excessive conservatism and inadequate safety margins

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

4Loss of energy

If the service life of a cutting tool is set excessively long, then manufacturing costs are reduced, but production delays occur due to frequent tool failures

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemanufacturing cost reductionVSAvoidproduction efficiency
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of energyVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The system incorporates feedback from historical tool replacement records and cutting parameters to continuously improve tool life predictions. By analyzing actual tool performance data, the system provides feedback-driven recommendations that optimize tool life settings to prevent failures while minimizing wasted tool life, thus maintaining productivity while reducing costs

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentEP3904983B1Tool replacement record-based cutting tool life setting method, apparatus and system
Publication Date: 2024.10.30 SIEMENS AG
  • EP3904983B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3904983B1 patent drawingFigure 2~3
  • EP3904983B1 patent drawingFigure 4~5

AI summary

The present invention relates to the technical field of cutting tools, and in particular to a cutting tool life setting method, comprising: obtaining at least two groups of previous cutting parameters of a cutting tool; for each of the obtained at least two groups of previous cutting parameters, obtaining at least two tool replacement records of the cutting tool when the group of previous cutting parameters is used; fitting the failure time distribution of the cutting tool on the basis of the at least two tool replacement records of the cutting tool when the group of previous cutting parameters is used; receiving a group of predefined cutting parameters of a target cutting tool; and setting the tool life of the target cutting tool according to the group of predefined cutting parameters, the at least two groups of previous cutting parameters, and the failure time distribution corresponding to each group of previous cutting parameters. Compared with a conventional cutting tool life setting method, the method of the present invention allows the setting of an optimal life of the target cutting tool under a newly defined cutting parameter set that has never been used.