Development and performance evaluation of modular RC-based power supply for micro-EDM
One of the demanding manufacturing processes nowadays is Micro-EDM. Micro-EDM stands for Micro Electrical Discharge Machining. A low discharge energy per pulse is important to achieve micro-level machining by controlling parameters such as gap voltage and type of power supply. Furthermore, deve...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Conference or Workshop Item |
| Language: | English English English |
| Published: |
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/76276/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/76276/1/PID6196627.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/76276/2/programme.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/76276/13/ICOM%2019%20programme%20info.pdf |
| Summary: | One of the demanding manufacturing
processes nowadays is Micro-EDM. Micro-EDM stands for
Micro Electrical Discharge Machining. A low discharge
energy per pulse is important to achieve micro-level
machining by controlling parameters such as gap voltage and
type of power supply. Furthermore, developing a Micro-EDM
machine is time-consuming and complex. Generally, the
power supply unit is built along with the development of the
EDM machine and it is not sold separately in the market.
Therefore, the purpose of this research is to develop and
evaluate a modular power supply unit that is compatible with
any EDM or CNC machine for micromachining. The power
supply unit is based on Resistor-Capacitor (RC) power supply
with the options to vary the output voltage and the
capacitance value. In addition, the current is monitored using
micro-controller ATmega328p to provide options for short
circuit current detection levels. A prototype of a Micro-EDM
machine is built for the evaluation of the power supply.
Performance evaluations of the power supply are conducted
with through-holes drilling by studying the machining time,
MRR, diametrical overcut and taper angle with a different
variation of gap voltage, RC’s capacitance, and short circuit
current detection level. The evaluation results show that the
power supply is capable to perform Micro-EDM machining.
The power supply can deliver power up to 360 W. During the
discharging, the peak current is recorded to spike up to 7A.
The discharge energy per pulse can easily be controlled by
changing the output voltage and the RC’s capacitance. It is
found that at lower discharge energy per pulse, the peak
current is lower resulting improvement in MRR, diametrical
overcut and taper angle at cost of longer machining time.
Furthermore, short circuit current detection level results
indicate that machining time is reduced by approximately 5
minutes for every 20 percent increase of the detection level. |
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