Process Enhancement of Sparks Erosion Machining System Using FPGA Algorithm

Abstract

Today, use of the electrodes is not limited to making contacts only; rather, it has found a vast application as a machining tool (due to the erosive effect of electrical discharge or sparks of electrodes). Spark erosion machining (SEM) is an extensively used thermal type advanced machining process, capable of machining most electrically conductive materials irrespective of their hardness and toughness producing complex geometries, shapes, and features. It is a controlled spark erosion process in which material removal is felicitated through melting and vaporization by a series of repeated electrical discharges occurring between the tool electrode and the workpiece in the presence of a suitable dielectric fluid. This paper presents an improved monitoring process and the peripheral control system for SEM. The SEM process, under study, runs based on the field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) algorithm. The proposed system implemented in software and hardware both. The software implementation has been done using MATLAB Simulink. The results presented in this paper demonstrate the potential of the proposed approach.