Accuracy improvement of wire-EDM by real-time wire tension control

Abstract In this paper, a closed-loop wire tension control system for a wire-EDM machine is presented to improve the machining accuracy. Dynamic models of the wire feed control apparatus and wire tension control apparatus are derived to analyze and design the control system. PI controller and one-step-ahead adaptive controller are employed to investigate the dynamic performance of the closed-loop wire tension control system. In order to reduce the vibration of wire tension during wire feeding, dynamic absorbers are added to the idle rollers of wire transportation mechanism. Experimental results not only demonstrate that the developed control system with dynamic absorbers can obtain fast transient response and small steady-state error than an open-loop control system, they also indicate that the geometrical contour error of corner cutting is reduced with approximately 50% and the vertical straightness of a workpiece can be improved significantly.

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