Multi-sensor integration for on-line tool wear estimation through radial basis function networks and fuzzy neural network.

On-line tool wear estimation plays a very critical role in industry automation for higher productivity and product quality. In addition, appropriate and timely decision for tool change is significantly required in the machining systems. Thus, this paper is dedicated to develop an estimation system through integration of two promising technologies, artificial neural networks (ANN) and fuzzy logic. An on-line estimation system consisting of five components: (1) data collection; (2) feature extraction; (3) pattern recognition; (4) multi-sensor integration; and (5) tool/work distance compensation for tool flank wear, is proposed herein. For each sensor, a radial basis function (RBF) network is employed to recognize the extracted features. Thereafter, the decisions from multiple sensors are integrated through a proposed fuzzy neural network (FNN) model. Such a model is self-organizing and self-adjusting, and is able to learn from the experience. Physical experiments for the metal cutting process are implemented to evaluate the proposed system. The results show that the proposed system can significantly increase the accuracy of the product profile.