An investigation into reducing the spindle acceleration energy consumption of machine tools

Lv, J., Tang, R., Tang, W., Liu, Y. , Zhang, Y. and Jia, S. (2017) An investigation into reducing the spindle acceleration energy consumption of machine tools. Journal of Cleaner Production, 143, pp. 794-803. (doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.12.045)

Abstract

Machine tools are widely used in the manufacturing industry, and consume large amount of energy. Spindle acceleration appears frequently while machine tools are working. It produces power peak which is highly energy intensive. As a result, a considerable amount of energy is consumed by this acceleration during the use phase of machine tools. However, there is still a lack of understanding of the energy consumption of spindle acceleration. Therefore, this research aims to model the spindle acceleration energy consumption of computer numerical control (CNC) lathes, and to investigate potential approaches to reduce this part of consumption. The proposed model is based on the principle of spindle motor control and includes the calculation of moment of inertia for spindle drive system. Experiments are carried out based on a CNC lathe to validate the proposed model. The approaches for reducing the spindle acceleration energy consumption were developed. On the machine level, the approaches include avoiding unnecessary stopping and restarting of the spindle, shortening the acceleration time, lightweight design, proper use and maintenance of the spindle. On the system level, a machine tool selection criterion is developed for energy saving. Results show that the energy can be reduced by 10.6% to more than 50% using these approaches, most of which are practical and easy to implement.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.51175464) and National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 program, grant number 2013AA0413040). The authors acknowledge support from the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Intelligent Automation, in undertaking this research work under grant reference number EP/IO33467/1.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Liu, Dr Ying
• Authors: Lv, J., Tang, R., Tang, W., Liu, Y., Zhang, Y., and Jia, S.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• Journal Name: Journal of Cleaner Production
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0959-6526
• ISSN (Online): 1879-1786
• Published Online: 21 December 2016
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Journal of Cleaner Production 143: 794-803
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license