Overview of Recognition Technology of New Type Tools

Mechanical processing plants all over the world often face the problem of tool breakage during the production process. Identifying the location and cause of tool damage is a difficult problem, and additional factors such as scrap, rework, machine downtime and delays further reduce production efficiency and increase costs.

After using the broken tool detection system, productivity and profit margins can be improved, making scrap, repairs and machine downtime a thing of the past.

The traditional non-contact tool damage detection system judges whether the tool is normal according to whether the laser beam is blocked: when it is blocked, it indicates that the tool is normal; when it is not blocked, it indicates that the tool is broken.

TRS1 is different. It has advantages over other broken tool detection systems because it does not only check for changes in light intensity. This new type of tool recognition technology can distinguish between tools, coolant and chips, and under actual processing conditions, it has high speed and reliable performance.

Renishaw’s new system emits a laser beam onto the tool and monitors the scattered light reflected back to determine if the tool is broken.

This identification process ensures that each tool is quickly detected at the beginning or end of the machining cycle.

TRS1 is an integrated system containing laser light source and detection electronics, which can be installed outside the processing area, not only to prevent collisions, but also to save valuable processing space.

TRS1 can be installed on any rigid surface of the machine tool, because the relative position between it and the tool is not important. Since there is no need to precisely align with the machine tool axis, the system is simple and quick to set up.