Demonstrator 9: Wireless Communicated High-Speed Spindle

RWTH, Fidia and Cedrat companies defined the specifications for the wireless communications and the employed sensors, the concepts for the acquisition of the data and processing units. The general requirements for the energy harvesting devices were also defined. A spindle has been instrumented with a generator that provides energy for a wireless communication system The wireless communication system may be used as a platform for machine tool condition and process monitoring. Furthermore, a test stand has been modified as a carrier for the demonstration of the prototype. For this purpose a FIDIA NC has been connected to the test stand to simulate a real machine setting. It has been shown that the generator assembly inside the spindle is able to provide energy. The only restriction has been a problem with the conditioning electronics. Furthermore the integrated ECS Sensors could not be tested because of this restriction. The wireless communication is able to provide data that may be used for condition monitoring and is able to communicate the data over a range of about 10 m, which is well suited for the application in machine tools. The sensor attachment may be further improved to get better results from the acceleration sensors. The system has been realized using COTS-Components and is therefore easy to adapt to specific needs and inexpensive which suits well for the application in machine tools.