UN MÉTODO DE MONITOREO DEL DESGASTE DE UNA HERRAMIENTA DE CORTE BASADO EN UN SENSOR DE PROXIMIDAD DE FIBRA ÓPTICA.

A novel technique for on-line wear monitoring of a milling tool is presented. The tool wear is estimated directly from a fiber optic proximity sensor (FOPS) with high resolution and high bandwidth characteristics. The FOPS provides a distance measurement between its probe and the tool profile. The main contribution of this work is the application of FOPS to sense on-line the wear of a milling tool. Since the light emitted by this sensor comes from a photodiode, it does not produce eye damage: this is safer than laser displacement sensors. This technique senses the tool wear in real time, while the tool is rotating, with an accuracy of less than 1 micron. Experimental results are also presented for a four-flank cutting tool rotating at 300 rpm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]