AEMS card installs in SB-4500 series controller

The SBS AEMS (Acoustical Emission Monitoring System) is the latest addition to the SB-4500 product. This optional add-in card for the SBS control system offers our customers the capability to monitor their grinding process with exceptional precision. The AEMS product uses proprietary acoustic sensor technology to monitor the very high frequency signals generated on the grinding machine structure during key events in the grinding process. The user can set up the system easily and quickly, and immediately reap the benefits of improved control over the grinding process.

The benefits to the user include elimination of grinding gap time in the grind cycle, automatic notification of part crash conditions, and automatic quality monitoring of wheel dressing. The gap time in a CNC controlled grinding cycle, represents the time required for slow grinding wheel infeed prior to making contact with the work piece. The position of the workpiece with respect to the grinding wheel can only be known within the tolerances of the part and process. Rapid wheel infeed must therefore be stopped prior to where part contact is expected, and the wheel very slowly moved in toward the workpiece, until contact is achieved. This can add significantly to the time required to grind each part, reducing production efficiency. Gap elimination can provided by the system when used in conjunction with the machine's CNC control. The AEMS system allows rapid and automatic grinding wheel infeed right up to the point of initial contact with a new part loaded in the machine. The system can automatically detect the initial contact, and very quickly report this event to the machine control, which then stops the wheel infeed, without operator intervention required.

Part crash can occur when a part is improperly loaded in the machine, or some other abnormal condition occurs. Rapid infeed of the wheel may result in a dangerous crash of the wheel into the part, resulting in significant damage to the wheel, the part, and the machine. The possibility of flying debris presents a real danger to persons in the area under these conditions. The AEMS system allows the CNC control to monitor the acoustic levels on the machine, and detect any unexpected contact as it happens. The system can report that extreme contact has begun very quickly, providing input allowing the CNC control to stop wheel infeed.

Using the AEMS system, monitoring of the wheel dressing process is also possible. The system allows the user to set up minimum and maximum acoustic levels expected during normal wheel dressing. The operator or CNC control can then determine not only of the wheel is being dressed all the way across it's width, but also can control the aggressiveness of the dressing process, and control the resulting quality of the dressed wheel.