Model Development for Optimum Setup Conditions that Satisfy Three Stability Criteria of Centerless Grinding Systems

• Main Author: Fukuo Hashimoto
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-09-01
• Series: Inventions
• Subjects: grinding; centerless grinding; process optimization; safe operation; quality; productivity
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2411-5134/2/4/26

The centerless grinding process demonstrates superior grinding accuracy with extremely high productivity, but only if the setup conditions are properly set up. Otherwise, various unfavorable phenomena manifest during the grinding processes and become serious obstacles to achieving that high quality and productivity. These phenomena are associated with the fundamental stabilities of the centerless grinding system, so it is essential to keep the system stable by setting up the appropriate grinding conditions. This paper describes the development of a model for finding the setup conditions that simultaneously satisfy the three stability criteria of centerless grinding systems: (1) work rotation stability for safe operations; (2) geometrical rounding stability for better roundness; and (3) dynamic system stability for chatter-free grinding. The objective of the model development is to produce combinations of optimal setup conditions as the outputs of the model, and to rank the priority of the outputs using PI (performance index) functions based on the process aims (productivity or accuracy). The paper demonstrates that the developed model, named Opt-Setup Master, can generate the optimum setup conditions to ensure safe operations, better roundness and chatter-free grinding. It provides practical setup conditions as well as scientific parameters and fundamental grinding parameters. Finally, the paper verifies that the Opt-Setup Master provides the setup conditions that simultaneously satisfy all three stability criteria of the centerless grinding system.