Condition monitoring turns to milling machines 05 February 2014

Condition-based monitoring is playing an increasingly important role beyond conventional plant and equipment – even now supporting maintenance on CNC milling machines.

IMC Group has successfully introduced vibration and shock monitoring technology to a series of CNC machines at an unnamed company producing critical aluminium parts for the aerospace industry.

The firm explains that unexpected failure of the machines had left the factory owners facing significant costs and loss of customer confidence.

Central to the effective running of these machines are its spindles and bearings, which are subject to massive forces during operation. Yet heavy demands on manufacturing and engineering teams means manual checking procedures are not always a high priority.

Additionally, not all problems are visually detectable by a machine operator or maintenance engineer, whereas condition-based monitoring technology can pick up very small changes.

IMC Contor is based on tri-axial piezo accelerometer technology, which senses precise spindle vibration, providing real-time condition monitoring information and alerts to assist operators in managing preventive maintenance.

The firm explains that the system uses ZigBee RF to communicate with a central HMI and database, designed to automatically identify potentially dangerous trends and deliver the alerts.

The technology works alongside the factory's existing Seiki machne management and shopfloor data capture systems, adding an additional layer of performance optimisation.

Brian Tinham

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