The Path from Data to Actionable Information as a Driver for the Industrial Ecosystem
G RINDING W HEEL A NALYTICS
We needed to determine why there was high variability in grinding wheel performance and life
in centerless grinding as illustrated in Figure 7. Grinding wheels have a limited lifecycle a nd need
to be resurfaced periodically, called dressing, to restore the cutting surfaces. The wheels
eventually wear to the point they need to be replaced. Wheel changes were observed to be
occurring between 150 and 1200 parts, where the process target was given at 200 parts. The
larger runs did not necessarily create more bad parts.
Figure 7: Centerless Grinding
The objective of the study was to analyze data from the grinders and determine the optimal
wheel change and maintenance intervals and what the contributing factors were that led to the
outcomes.
The project started off by analyzing load data collected from the machine-this was mapped from
the spindle load sensor to the MTConnect standard. The initial data gathering is illustrated in
Figure 8.
Figure 8: Load Sensor Data
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June 2018