Discipline: Technology and Engineering
Subcategory: Civil/Mechanical/Manufacturing Engineering
Marthony Hobgood - Virginia State University
Co-Author(s): Zhenhua (David) Wu, Virginia State University, VA
Impellers are advanced mechanical products used in turbomachineries. An impeller consists of numbers of similar blades revolving at 360 degrees onto a hub surface. Due to the design complexity of impellers, research was proposed and successfully achieved an integrated solution of digital design and manufacturing of impellers using product lifecycle management (PLM) software together with 2-axis lathe, and 3-axis mill computer numerical control (CNC) machining. This research aims at testing the hypothesis of machining parameters including cutting depth, spindle speed, feed rate and machine codes, on minimizing the energy and power consumption while CNC machining of impellers. This knowledge is fundamentally important in evaluating design of machine tools to make them more energy efficient, to reduce electricity costs and associated environmental impact of carbon footprint in manufacturing. First, based on the response surface methodology (RSM), experiments were designed to minimize machining power consumption, through selection of cutting parameters conducted under Siemen’s NX computer aided manufacturing (CAM) simulation experiment. Second, with the simulated machining solution and G-code, experiment validation was conducted in CNC machines. The machining power consumption was measured using power meter sensor. The energy data was analyzed using both Excel and Minitab on maximum, minimum, average, standard deviation, P-value, confidence interval, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression models. From analysis: minimum work, and power consumption in the lathe cutting process is: 283.29J, 1.59W. The average work and power consumption: 381.62J, 1.86W. Standard deviation: 74.45J, .162W. Most important factor that affects lathe machining power consumption is spindle speed. During the milling process, minimum work and power consumption is: 1152.01J, 0.76W. The average work and power consumption: 1572.31J, .83W. Standard deviation: 294.74J, .039W. Most important factors that affects milling power consumption are spindle speed and cutting depth. Analysis of machining parameters, has proven valuable in minimizing machining power consumption. Relationships can be made between machining parameters and power consumption. Future research would hope to analyze machining parameters within 5-axis CNC machining, which would allow for further design complexity.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): Authors would like to thank NSF HBCU-UP (HRD-1036286) for the undergraduate research internship opportunity. Funding provided by Virginia State University Research Foundation is also acknowledged. Authors thank CCAM for their employee help. Cutting tools donated from Sandvik is appreciated.
Faculty Advisor: Zhenhua (David) Wu,