To further enhance this innovative technology towards industry 4.0, automation and sensing packages have been implemented into the CNC platforms. Ease of use measures include self-calibration by an automatic adjustment of the water jet angle and an automatic alignment of the laser beam into the waterjet nozzle, guaranteeing precision. The process has become self-correcting by adding a break-through sensor, which detects the end of cutting or drilling by a change in the processing light when the laser fully traverses the material. The suppression of unnecessary extra passes leads to a diminution in overall processing time, in some cases up to 20 %, additionally the cutting defect rate drops below 1%. The integration of an automatic jet laminarity sensor adds the ability to detect waterjet degradation over time and is the first step towards machine self-check. Finally, Synova is developing automatic 3D-machining with depth sensing capabilities for a controlled and feed-backed ablation of 3D-profiles. An intelligent choice of toolpath, adapted to the LMJ-technology, will further advance feedforward machining capabilities. |
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CITATIONS
Cited by 1 scholarly publication.
Sensors
Laser applications
Calibration
Laser cutting
Automatic alignment
Laser ablation
Laser processing