Design of a Virtual-Instrumentation System for a Machining Process

This paper presents a virtual-instrumentation system (VIS) that aims at measuring the evolution of key magnitudes in a nonconventional machining process called wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM). The VIS consists of two well-different parts: the acquisition system that measures process signals (voltage and current) and the virtual measurement of relevant magnitudes (such as energy, peak-current distribution, and ignition delay time). The data-acquisition system provides flexibility and ease of storing tests under different machining conditions without extra hardware construction or adaptation. It is based on a commercial data-acquisition board that works at very high frequencies (up to 10 MSamples/s). The virtual measurement is carried out by modeling and processing the acquired signals. The VIS has been employed to monitor and detect low-quality cutting regimes in WEDM.