b'\x1b\x1a\x19 \x1f\x18\x1d\x17\x16Machine TechnologyBALLSCREW BREAKTHROUGHBy William LeventonW ith technology under devel-opment at Karlsruhe Insti-tute of Technology in Germany, ma-chining firms soon may be able to improve the process of spotting ballscrews in danger of failing.KIT researchers have nearly com-pleted a system for fully automated monitoring of ballscrew drives in machine tools. The system includes a camera with a light source, which attaches to the nut of a drive. As the nut moves on a spindle, the camera photographs each spindle section. These images are evaluated by an artificial intelligence algorithm ca-pable of determining whether they show signs of wear that can lead to ballscrew failure.Using machine-learning methods, the AI algorithm was trained with thousands of images to distinguish between spindles with and without defects. When training the algo-rithm, KIT reports that the research team took into account all con-ceivable forms of visible (ballscrew) degeneration. As a result, the soft-ware system can tell whether dis-coloration shown in ballscrew im-ages is simply dirt or harmful pitting, according to the institute, which added that its researchers have sub-stantiated that claim by testing the system with new ballscrew imagesKarlsruhe Institute of Technologythat the system never had seen. A system under development at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology automatically monitors At present, people interested inballscrew wear using artificial intelligence.monitoring the status of ballscrew drives in machines have two choices:system. He said when current orcant downsides.measuring the motor current orsound exceeds a specified thresh- When measuring motor current, the acoustics of the devices, saidold, that indicates that a ballscrew isyou can see something only when Tobias Schlagenhauf, a research as- worn. But he pointed out that boththe component is very worn and sociate who helped develop KITsmonitoring methods have signifi- virtually at the end of its life, he said.14JULY 2020 MachineTech.indd 14 6/16/20 9:40 PM'