Title: Prediction of drill-bit breakage from degradation signals using Mahalanobis-Taguchi system analysis

Authors: Bharatendra K. Rai, Ratna Babu Chinnam, Nanua Singh

Addresses: Department of Decision and Information Sciences, Charlton College of Business, University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Road, North Dartmouth, MA 02747-2300, USA. ' Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA. ' Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA

Abstract: Drilling is a widely used machining process. As the hole drilling operation progresses, a drill-bit gradually degrades until it breaks at the end of its life. Replacing a drill-bit after it is breakage can be costly in certain special applications. At the same time an early tool replacement decision may lead to lower tool life utilisation. This calls for methods that enable accurate prediction of tool failures. In such situations degradation signals using appropriate features are utilised to arrive at the tool replacement decision. In this paper we study two such degradation signals viz., thrust force and torque using 20 derived features (10 features per degradation signal). The methodology used involves a successful application of Mahalanobis-Taguchi System (MTS) analysis that enables an accurate prediction of drill-bit breakage ensuring high tool life utilisation.

Keywords: drill bit breakage; degradation signals; Mahalanobis distance; signal to noise ratio; SNR; threshold value; hole drilling; tool replacement decisions; tool failure; thrust force; torque; Taguchi methods; tool life.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISE.2008.016741

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2008 Vol.3 No.2, pp.134 - 148

Published online: 21 Jan 2008 *

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