Platform for Monitoring and Comparing Machining Processes in Terms of Energy Efficiency

This paper presents a smart energy consumption monitoring platform for machining processes with a unique electrical energy consumption indicator (EECI) for the evaluation and comparison of machining processes in terms of energy efficiency. The purpose of the developed smart monitoring platform with the integrated EECI and the Industry 4.0 digital technologies is to raise the level of efficiency of the machining process and thus to stimulate more sustainable and environmentally friendly machining. The energy consumption monitoring of a milling process is performed by connecting a machine tool with integrated sensors for measuring electrical power and cutting force to a cloud platform by using resources for signal acquiring and data acquisition. The platform includes applications for energy consumption monitoring and/or analysis. Results of four machining experiments are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed energy consumption monitoring in machining and the applicability of the newly introduced EECI at the engineering and the operational level.