Wire breakage prevention for reciprocated traveling WEDM based on discharge location detection.

This paper presents a wire breakage prevention method and a corresponding system for reciprocated traveling wire-EDM based on discharge location detection. The wire breakage risk is evaluated using the consecutive discharge concentration coefficient (CDCC) value and the number of arcs. CDCC characterizes the proximity of a sequence of consecutive discharge locations occurring in a short time, which takes both time and spatial domain into consideration. The system employs two fuzzy logic controllers to adjust machining parameters according to the degree of discharge concentration and the servo tracking performance detected. Verifications are conducted by cutting two workpieces with variable heights, including a stair-shaped and a hollow one. The machining tests show that the proposed system can significantly gain machining efficiency without wire breakage hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]