Monitoring of abrasive water jet (AWJ) cutting using sound detection

• Published in: International journal of advanced manufacturing technology 2004-11, Vol.24 (9-10), p.733-737
• Main Authors: Jurisevic, Bostjan, Brissaud, Daniel, Junkar, Mihael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abrasive cutting; Abrasive machining; Emissions control; Hydraulic jets; Monitoring; On-line systems; Process controls; Signal analysis; Sound; Workpieces
• ISSN: 0268-3768; 1433-3015
• DOI: 10.1007/s00170-003-1752-5

Our main objective in the present work is to develop a methodology and create a system for the abrasive water jet (AWJ) machining process control. In the case of AWJ cutting, besides the cutting head traverse rate, the distance between the mixing tube and the workpiece, designated as the stand-off distance, has a predominant influence on the workpiece quality. The control of the traverse rate is performed by the machine controller. The stand off-distance control during the machining represents a problem because no effective on-line in real-time stand-off distance detection system has been developed yet. The detection of the stand-off distance during cutting enables better AWJ machining process control. order to monitor the stand-off distance, we measure the emitted sound generated during the AWJ straight cut operation and analyse its characteristic attributes. In order to verify the proposed stand-off distance monitoring methods, a set of experiments was carried out. The signal analysis was performed in both time and frequency domain. The obtained results show an evident influence of the stand-off distance on sound emission. Thus, efficient control of the AWJ cutting process through sound detection appears to be viable.