Adaptive cutting force controller for milling processes by using AC servodrive current measurements

This paper presents an adaptive cutting force controller for milling process, which can be attached to most commercial CNC machining centers in a practical way. The cutting forces of X,Y and Z axes measured indirectly from the use of currents drawn by AC feed-drive servo motors. A typical model for the feed-drive control system of a horizontal machining center is developed to analyze cutting force measurement from the drive motor. The pulsating milling forces can be measured indirectly within the bandwidth of the current feedback control loop of the feed-drive system. It is shown that indirectly measured cutting force signals can be used in the adaptive controller for cutting force regulation. The robust controller structure is adopted in the whole adaptive control scheme. The conditions under which the whole scheme is globally convergent and stable are presented. The suggested control scheme has been implemented into a commercial machining center, and a series of cutting experiments on end milling and face milling processes are performed. The adaptive controller reveals reliable cutting force regulating capability under various cutting conditions.