On-Line Fuzzy Recognition of Abrasive Waterjet Nozzle Wear

The wear of an abrasive waterjet nozzle tends to produce unacceptable manufacturing quality. Several approaches for monitoring wear have been proposed in previous works. In this paper, an on-line scheme for the wear monitoring is proposed. This novel scheme is based upon a relationship between the inside diameter of the nozzle and the normal workpiece force. A fuzzy algorithm has been developed for the recognition of the wear state. Using the on-line measure of the normal force and the assumption on the normal distribution of measure error, the determination of the nozzle replacement is made on-line.