b'Look-AheadPROTECT PROCESSES, COLLECT DATABy Ken Schnepf A tool guard function works simi- said Niels Bredick, senior solutions larly but in more finite terms. Rizziespecialist of process control. Ana-T o predict, detect and react tosaid it looks for broken or miss- lyzing tools can extend their life-problems with machining pro- ing tools and detects tool forcetimes. Using individualized sensor cesses within milliseconds, Sand- overload to decide when a wornprofiles and comparing them helps vik Coromant Co., Fair Lawn, Newtoolneedsreplacement.Theto better understand a problem Jersey, developed CoroPlus Pro- function uses a combination of ma- with a process. Data can be used cessControl. At the same time, thechine data, such as power and driveto replace a tool before something monitoring system can collect datadata, and data from a vibration sen- bad occurs, potentially saving thou-to correct and improve inefficien- sor mounted on a spindle nose orsands of dollars.cies in a process. turret. Our equipment can be applied to any type of machine tool or ro-botic- or machine-type movement, he said.Bredick said the system increases tool life and reduces cycle times and scrap.What ProcessControl does is very, very powerful and provides tre-mendous value, Rizzie said. The real interesting part of ProcessCon-trol is not what it does today but what it does in the future. What can we do with that data?The performance data the appli-Sandvik Coromant cation gathers provides insight into The CoroPlus ProcessControl process monitoring system is designed to increase machininghow machines function as planned security, such as on this universal turning center. versus as optimized. He said the long-term objective is to build a The main functionality is it auto- What were looking for are pat- knowledge base for engineers.mates data collection and analysis,terns or anomalies, he said. LikeYouretakingdata,usingit, said Jeff Rizzie, director of digitalany kind of data analytics, werecollecting it and analyzing it for fu-machining. It gathers the data di- looking for those patterns that willture use, Rizzie said. It can be rectly from the machine tool and ba- tell us if everything is running prop- used to find flaws in the process of sically makes a decision on whethererly or if there is a possible toolusing a tool as well. You can find your machining process is stable orbreakage situation. areas of early chatter before you needs to be adjusted. Data logging records profiles ofever feel it.A collision detection function de- tool behavior during machining,The size of the company, batches termines when a machine has a col- orcomponentsdoesntmatter, lision and then quickly shuts downabout the author Bredick said. The customizable sys-the machine. The function is nottem can diminish damages, reduce application-dependent. If a crashKen Schnepf is adowntime costs, provide process occurs, traditionally a machinist hitsfreelance writersecurity andboost productivity.CTEthe stop button. But by the time thatbased in theFor more information about Sandvik Chicago area. He is performed manually, the damagecan be reached atCoromant, call 201-794-5000 or visit is done, he said. [email protected]. www.sandvik.coromant.com.56MAY 2020LookAhead.indd 56 4/17/20 12:40 PM'