Analysis and Adaptive Control of EDM Sinking Process Using the Ignition Delay Time

and Fall Time as Parameter

Prof. Dr.-lng. M. Weck ( 1 ) . WZL RWTH AachenIGermany; Dipl.-lng. J. M.Dehmer, WZL RWTH Aachen
Received on January 6,1992

EDM sinking experiments were carried out to determine the pulse type with the best ratio of material removal to
electrode wear. The results show, that the material removal is only dependent on the discharge duration while the wear is
caused only by undelayed and late ignition discharges. This result and a process analysis using methods of the chaos theory
were the basis to develop an adaptive optimisation of the gap controller

Key Words: EDM, adaptive control, Metal removal, Electrodes

1. Introduction
Since Electro Discharge Machining (EDM) was introduced. control jys-
tems have been develGped to adjust the rap width between tool and work-
piece. The aim of these wsterns is to set eap widths which keep the pro-
cess running in a stable manner. independhly from chan,oinz conditions
that may wse. In addition to this. adaptive optimisation algoAthms try to
avoid arcs and short circuits bv adaptine the control ammeters and these
systems are designed to attain high m a h a 1 removafand a low electrode
wear rate. To realise an adaptive conaol system it must be known, which
process pammeter can be measured on-line and how this parameter can be
used to jud e the process This parameter is usually the gap voltage or the
ignition deky time ctd). ' h e basis of 'udging the process i s to determine.
how much electrode wear and material removal takes lace during the dif-
ferent types of discharges and how the adaptive controfsystem can use this
knowledge to optimise the process. In this aper the research results of the
activities in this field at the Machine ToofLaboratory (WZL) of Aachen
university are described.
measurable V and V The set value ot the servo reference voltaee was
different lor ti% 50 exbnments. During the ex riment (7.25min)ihe tdf
of all 2.800.000 ulses were stored in the 8 h R A M of a compiiter
system. Afterwar4 a com uter proeram calculated the dismbution of L f
as shown in &3- using 45Pclasses biili a step width of 0 . 2 5 ~ sThe
. resijt
of each experiment was stored in a file on the system hardisk for later
evaluation.
An possibilit to solve the problem of determining Vw and V is to
estimate the ?unctions MR and EW and calculate the theoretical qWand
V Thus the difference .Delta, between the theoretical result and the
meehsured V and Ve (fip.2)was then used to establish different possible
correlations:"for example the mean tdf or v versus Delta. The next step is
then to change the estimated function by tfin. the dependen? of the.pa-
rameter in question into consideration. Repeazng this metho minimises
Delta without obtaining an instable result. This method was calculated
with a work station computer.

2 . 7 An additional aid to find MR and EW was that the experiments with the
lowest reference voltage accounted for 9 7 4 of ignition delay free dischar-
2.1 Ionition delav t ime ( t ~ as
) a orocess identification varanieter
ges with a p of0.25ps. Here the electrode wear and material removal
ulse coul easily be calculated by dividing Vw and Ve by 2.800.G
At WZL the ignition delay time (h)is used as a process sensing parame- h e s e two values were used as the starting point of the two estimated
ter. The reference voltage of the comparator to detect b is set slightly functions.
above the discharge voltage level (w). The measured time (bf)is the
sum of rising time 4. iginition delay time td and fall time 9.This method
estimation function tcf
ti
: ignition delay bme
: pulse time
1st estimation MR : materialremoval
of measurement produces the- advantage of distin uishing discharges Dis : distribution of ldl
which do not attain the open circuit volta e (fig. 1. rigft) for example arcs Vrea.mew : realitheoretical electrode
and undelayed discharges. Thus it is possihe to differentiate between these wear or material removal
unwanted pulses and normal ulses which just attain the open circuit level
before igniting, The tdf for tRe last mentionend pulse in. the experiments
described here is 20 ps. This rel?tivelv long time period ts affected by the
inertia of the measunng electronics. Thus all pulses measured with hf lo-
I calculationofmaterial
theoretical elemcde wear and
removal I
wer than 2 0 ~ are
s designated as arcs or undelayed.
Uo : open circuit voltage
Ue : discharge voltage
Uk : comparator voltage
t : rise time
td : ignition delay time
tt : falltime
ti : pulse duration
te : discharge duration
deviation=V,wdw
deviation k'/d
1 L
new estimation

l d I l

is minimal

I I I
are there any correlationsbetween the
narameters in the different exoeriments ? I
fig. 2: Determination of electrode wear and material removal func-
lisr!
Fiwre 3 de icts the resulting function MR from the calculation described
abbve and s.ows the material removal for single discharges with a speci-
fic '4:The standard deviation calculated for alr50 experiments is 5%. The
corre dtion between t f ( or dischar e duration (te'ti-td')) and material
t
removal is clearly evident. Plotting S, over ttie me n vai o f t calcu-
lated for a coinylete ex rirnent produces almost the:ame gaph.%is im-
plies that only (he disccrge duration is responsible for the material remo-
val on a cathodic workpiece.
Y - t An on-line o timising system can therefore use this result by correlating
the fact that I e lower the mean value of tdf is. the more material is remo-
tdf tdf =td+tt+tr tdf ved from the workpiece. This fact is expected as it represents one of thz
fig. 1: ,Measurement of the ienition delav time main theories in erosive mechanism. The longer the spark dischwes, the
more material IS melted and removed at the end of the pulse by the col-
lapse of the discharge channel.
3.2 Fxoerimentil procedure
This result is confirmed when plottinp the total amount of material
removal against the mean discharge time of the 50 experiments. which
forms a perfect straight line (m).
The investigation on the electrode wear gave more complicated results.
shows the electrode wear for a single ulse with varying hf (which
has no connection to the wear lotted over #e mean value of f , Pulses
tt,..
which i nite without reachine ,Re open circuit voltage produce t e highest.
wear. Tie closer a pulse attahs the open circuit voltage before igniting the

Annals of the CIRP Vol. 41/1/1992 243

less wear this pulse produces. Thus normal pulses (here with tdf>?Ops)
produce no electrode wear while discharges which ignite near the end of
the pulse duration t.(late ienition discharges) cause wear on the tool. I n
conclusion the resul: of the-investigation on electrode wear indiccites that a
process without these unwanted discharges would produce no or nearly no
wear on the tool.
material to solidify. This hap n s when a late ignition discharge occurs
because the ulse ib switchechf while the channel grows. Such a late
ignition discl!arge on the tool is shown in w. The crater is small and
deep. Material was removed but also melted and resolidificd material
remained in the crater.

4E-6

3E-6

2E-6

1E-6

fig. 7: Sinele Discharee on T&Ldte lpnition Oischaree

0 Delay free discharges cause wear for other reasons in comparison to late
ignition discharges. Dauw [ 5 ] determined, that discharges with a low fall
fig. 3: Material removal of single dischargcs with different tdf time, tf, have a verv steep rise and absolute value in the electron current.
which i s steeper anh higher the lower the 9 is. This current decreases the
Experiment: longer the discharge la&. Delay free discharges and arcs have a ve low
2 800 000 pulses or &en no fall time. Thus the electron current at the start of the diszarge
could be so high, that it causes the material to evaporate and not just melt
ti 11ous as normal pulses induce. This correlates with the result of Enning [2] and
to 43w others, who used stepped current pulses which produced up to a 70% lo-
le 50A wer wear rate as the electron current at the beeining of the discharge was
limited to a certain value. In fiGs a i nition aelay free dischar e on the
Tool E-CU (+) 0 40 tool is shown. The, crater is dee and f a s also a big diameter. h e pores
Workpiece 56 NiCrMoV7 indicate a evaporation of materiaf

-0 30 60 90 120
As the ignition delay free discharges cause nearly the whole electrode
wear. a correlation between the number of those discharges and the
Mean Discharge Time [ys] electrode wear of the experiments should exist. As 1 9 shows, this
fig. 4: Material removal aeainst the mean discharee time correlation is also a rfect line. The line starts at zero, $ k h means. that
An explanation of the effects described above can be found in other inve- these discharges realrcause the wear.
stigations on the growth of the discharee channel [2]. At the start of the The curve in fie. 5 allows one to calculate the electrode wear from the 50
discharge. the diameter of the dischargcchannel on the tool is very small. ex riments using only the distribution of tdf. The standard deviation is
so that the energy density is high enough to melt some of the material. As SzHowever to obtain a Process with low tool wear. ignition delav free
the channel grows, the energy can be absorbed by the copper electrode,
thereby inducing resolidification of the melted material so that in the end
no material is removed [3,4]. Fjg& shows a single discharge on the tool
with t ~ 3 0 . It can be seen. that the material was melted but not thrown
out. &!I&$ no material was removed. Melted metal is only removed
when the discharge channel collapses before it is large enough to allow the
2.4E-6 L .

2.1E-61 .
i
1 1.-
-....
iI
.. L .-
! ,
~2
!
, . !
.i
i/
: ~ _ ._ .].--L.--i.- -.I

a
- .
I
0)

?5 6.
s% 8
.'. Experiment:
2 800 000 pulses
ti 1 1ops
25 50 75 100 112.5 f&s] m m
fig. 5: Electrode wear of sinele discharees with different t.lf
c

2
W
2
0
2-
4-
*.
8 .
8 .
to
le
Tool
43ps
50A
E-CU(+) 0 40
Workpiece 56 NiCrMoV7
OT .

fig. 6: Single Discharee on Tool. Normal discharge

244

pulse
L I
without modified pulse with modified pulse :
late iqnition discharges occur ate igndion discharges are preveate
fig. lo: Control Circuit to Avoid Late Ignition Discharges
a process with a verv low amount of delav free discharees. In other cases
the w e x of the late'ignition disdiarges i a s overlayed-by the delay free
discharges. The results again show the correctness of the experimental
results about the wear caused by different types of discharges.
A t the WZL a software was developed to calculate on-line the actual
values of material removal rate. electrode wear rate and also the workino
area. which results as the sum of vw and v divided by the feed of the toor.
Experiments using different parameters OF$,i4, '0 and tool area showed.
that it is reall possible to calculate these paraineters by usin the ignition
delay time. d e dependencv to the working current is exactlyfine? so that
the value for the material'removy is, removed volume per ps discharge
time and A working current (9mm /min/A). The wear can be calculated by
multipl ing the number of ignition delay free discharges by a specific
val &moved volume per discharge and A working current.4.5E-6
mmy/A) and the working current.
The other possibility to reduce the electrode wear is to minimise the num-
ber of unwanted pulses by optimising the gap control system. Here the
controller parameters must be set in a way that the distnbution of tdf is
changed by increasing the percentage of normal discharges while reducing
the p e n e g e of unwanted dischxges. The next sections describe. how
the ismbution of tdfcan be influenced by the various control parameters.
3. Adaotive adiustment of the eaa controller
3.1 Gap Controller
The gap controller is n e c e s s q to keep the process running within a wan-
ted range of discharge types without becoming instable. A prerequisite for
a stable process is to keep the conductivity in the gap constant. However
the eroded material present in the dielecmc fluid causes the conductivity to
chan e This can be compensated by readjusting the ap width to insure
that %e process remains stable. To develop !he controlfer it must.& firstly
known how the process relicts to a change in the gap width. It IS known,
that changing the gap influences the average behaviour of the process.
However the influence on sin le pulses is not known exact1 This was in-
vestigated at the WZL to finlout how often and how muci the gap con-
troller should change the gap width.
The idea was to use methods of the chaos theory. The chaos theory makes
it possible to find regularities in iiixesses which seen1 to be totallv ran-
dom. The most important tool of ,\I, chaos scientists is the visu a1'.isaiion of
the chaotic processes by using computers images [6.7]. These raphical
methods were used to investigate if any regulanty occurred in 81e EDM
sinking process.
The simplest figure to represent the EDM sinkine process is to plot the tdf
of singles pulses over the time (fi-. 1 la). From th;s plot it is not possible to
find any regularity in the p r o c e s m t h e r e f o r e obvious that it is very rare
that two successive discharges have the same QV Thus the process oscil-
lates from pulse to pulse. Another oscillation can also be seen in the figure
which takes lace over a longer time period. Drawing different glidino
averages (I I{-; 10 shows that this oscillation is present when using 28
pulses to c?lculate the glidinc average value ( I Ic). The plot of the lidine
average using 200 pulses sh;w a correlation to the movement of tke tod
(com are fig. 1 I f and 1 Ig). From this investigation it can be established
that tRe process operates around a mean t value which is set by the gap
width and that vanable t f occurrs due to
around the mean value of tdF
81;random ignition of the pulses
The next possibilitv is to draw the process as a x-v plot where the x and y
values are given b$ the tdf of successive pulses (u). To obtain a third
dimension the ong'inal picture on the computer was coloured. If any com-
bination occurred several times the pixel of this combination was designa-
ted with another colour on the screen. The colour range incorporated 256
colours from red to blue. A total of 1O.ooO.ooO ulses were recorded and
lotted. Despite this. it was not possible to finxany regularities present.
he same irre ularity was found when constructing plots using for the Y
and y values tfe sum, the difference, the product or the difference of the
difference of succeeding pulses in the same way.
All in a11 this shows. thjit there is no way to estimate the $jf of the, next
pulse or even a range of tdf values while the process is running and IS not
dependent on the momentanous gap width. Nevertheless the process shows
120
b,,, w
100
80
60
40
20
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
on x-axis b of first pulse t a n @I
on y-axis b of successive pulse
fig.12: Plot of the td-cessive oulses
a relatively stable mean value of the tdf Thus to calculate the deviation
between the set value and the real value of the f a oa controller must not
use sin le pukes but the mean value of td$. l%?e n<mLr of pulses to cal-
culate t f e average should be so large that unne this time one of the pro-
cess oscillations is included. This guarantees tKat the controller does not
react to the random part of the process which would result in an unwanted
movement of the tool.
The next investigation was to determine how the gap controller can change
certain parts of the distribution of the t f while the mean value of t f
remains constant. The gap connoller tested was developed di itall as a $-
Controller (u In each control cycle (2ms). a tdf of 38 puies was
measured and then the mean value was calculated. The difference between
the set value and the mean real value of the bf was multiplied by a ain.
This roduces a voltage output, which represents the set value of the frive
spcecf(r.gm.). Two different gains were used, one for feeding and one for
drawing ack the tool. Changing the ratio of these gains changes the long
term measured (1OO.OOO pulses) mean value of the bp Thus it is
to minimize the deviation of the mean value and the set value. TI%?%
effect can be produced by using a certain time interval of the drive signal
(drive pulse Li) instead of conventional continuous signals. This prevents
the drive from movin too far before its speed is altered by the next signal
from the controller. h i s function is similar to a position controller but,by
usin drive pulses it is not necessary to check whether a wanted position
has &en reached or not. Thus the direction of movement can be reversed
within two control cycles if it is required.
td ignition delay time
tdfr mean value of tdt (30 pulses)
fig. 13. EDhlfjnp Controler
245
I t is pocsible to produce the same mean value of the tdf for different com-
binations of the gain ratio Vv and the drive ulse duration L,
Thir effect can be explained as caused by t& movement ot the tool which
is influenced in the following nap: The distribution of tdf measured for ii
complete expenment results as a sum of the niomcntaneous distributions
each obtained bv the combination of the gap width and the amount of
contamjna!ion Gthin the ap (which chan es permanentely). If the gap
controller is not set optima!ly, the gap widtk varies greatly while the pro-
cess runs and leads to many open circuits and HF pulses (ignition delay
free). This however can be. avoided by using a controller which reacts
quickly to process changes which results in a high speed niovement of the
tool over a short distance
Even d the best parameters for the controller are set, H and open circuit
pulses still occur as the above described investigation 05
the process sho-
wed. However the number of these pulses is the hwest possible.
Minimising the devianon of the long term mean value and the set value of
the bf produces another advantage. The process runs more stable because
the controller measures on average a low deviation. This leads to limited
movement of the tool can be very fast without becomtng instable because
the direcnon of movement is reversed only after a few control cycles as re-
action on the process. Dnven in a this way the controller and the servo
operate near their limit of instability. Because the process chanws. the op-
timal paramters must be adapted continously so that the servo tfoes not be-
come instable.
3.2 Adaptive Adystment of the Ga&onnoller
Parameters adapted by the WZL o timisation (u)
are the set value of
t f the value and ratio of the Peed and reverse gain Vv and Vr. the
&;ation of dnve pulses, Li. and the number of pulses to calculate the
mean value of tg.
The actual wear rate can be calculated on-line by
counting the num er of i nition delay free discharges HE and late igninon
pulses and mulnplyin iese numbers with the specific wear per tdf as
described in chapter 2.-. 5
The optimising algonthm starts by setting the controller to a s cific bf
value which guarantees a safe start of the process. ( Further sorware de-
velopments of this system will read this starting value from a data base).
After the process s w s the algorithm lowers the set value of the bf (which
raises the matenal removal see chapter 2.3) unal the wear rate approaches
the given limit. Each time the td is changed, the gain ratio and the drive
pulse duration are adapted to attain the set f by the long term m a n value.
As the relative wear approaches the w e a r k n i t the algorithm SLWS to se-
arch for a combination of these parameters which gives the lowest H per-
centage (wear intensive pulses). If the process trend changes, whicgmay
produce a deviation of the mean , the aleonthm adapts the gain ratio
once more. If it is not possible to%ep the brocess below the wear limit
anymore, the set value of tdf IS raised which also avoids arcing
A 3=8irt-8 ~ i l = o
or the process becomes unstable.
lor every new set value of tdf the
feed gain is searched for. which
results in the lowest 3 therfore
5 VVare set, 3 is measured and a
parabola is approximated which
gives the best VV
level 3
while this procedure for
each Vv must be 1.1.1 ...., l.1.m
AtdfktdfSOII-tdfbO 1.2.1, ....1.2.m
the?ore the reverse gain
Vr is calculated. which 1.5.1. ...,1.5 m
results in AtdR=O
2.1.1 ._._,
2.1.171
Holding the optimous param
hether tdti-taton=O
lowering of tdf~oii-> level 1->2->3
B: $in >
-8.1:prooving. whether 3 can be
lowered by optimizing the gans
Older systems had problems with the statistical uncertainty whilz
ineasurin- the process. It was often found that measurements over a lone.
period i f h e made the optimisino alzoriihm too slow. Measuring over 5
short time produced the d:iiiger %’ &correct measurements so ?hat the
algorithm could produce the wrong steps. The oprinial number of pulses to
be used for the lonz term niean measurements de nd3 on the stabilitv of
the process. Thus t h s algorithm developed at W z c a n always d e t e r t h e
by the calculation of the interpolation errors whether the values of
Electrode wear rate and tdf were measured statistically safe or not. If the
error is small. the number of pulses to calculate the mean values can be
reduced so that the aleorithm can always run as fast as possible. This
method of interpolatinbmeasured values can also be used to determine the
besi combination of gains and drive pulse duration.
shows examples of experimental results obtained with the optimi-
sin- algorithm. Compared to conventional rnachinin producing the same
m a k i a l removal the electrode wear w a s 30% lower. h i s can &explained
by the hi h frequencv and small distance movements of the tool which
avoid unklayed and late irnition dischar es The tool movement was si-
milar to a controlled vibration which has bein found to have the effect of
producing a more homogenous cap pollution and more continous remo-
vine. of the eroded material i9.l0.-Il I.
1 OA
I material removal rate
/r electrode wear rate 100 w
1
svolumetric relative wear1 tool rnatenal E-CU
workpiece material steel (56NiCrMoV7)
Results of conven- Result of
m
L .. tional machining optimisation
$
fig.15: >laterial reinoval characteristics with and without ootimisa-
lion of the zap control
4. Conclusion
Our experiments have shown that on1 undelayed and late ignition
discharges produce wear on co r tools[+). The wFar of different pulse
types were determinecJJcourrbe calcu&ted~o~n~l~ne while the process
was running. Unwanted pulses occur at random intervalls during the ro
cess and can not be correlated to the gap width or receeding pulses. %hi
material removed on the workpiece can be calcuited by multiplying 3
specific value and the mean te of the process. An ada tive optimising algo-
nthm for the gap controller can reduce the number ofthe unwanted pulses
bv avoidine rocess extremes. The controller developed uses sepxate
&ins for f&d%g and drawino back and also uses drive pulses instead of
Eonventional continous signak The results of using the described opti-
misation method are 3 low amount of electrode wear and a high material
removal rate.
5 . References
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Material Renioval Contributions of Pulses in Electric Dischar e
Mdchininz, Machine Tools Manufacturing Vol30 No. I , pp.l%31,
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Enninf, H.J, 1980. Ein Beitrag zur Reduzieruiig des Elektrodenver-
schlei es bei der funkenerosiven Senkbearbeitung. Dissertation
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moval and Enerzv Distribution in Electrical Discharge Machining,
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Heuvelmann. C.J.. 1969, Some Aspects of the Research on Electro
Discharge hhchiiiing. Annals of the CIRP Vol. 17, 1969.pp.198-
199
Dauw, D., 198s. On Line Identification and Optimisation of Elec-
tro-Discharge Machining. Thesis K.U. Leuven. Belgium
Gleick, J., 1990, Chaos- Die Ordnung ini Universum. Knaur Nr.
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Mandelbrot. B.B., 1977. The Fractal Geometry of Nature. Freeman
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Weck. M.; Dehiner, J.M., 1989, Di itale ada tive 0 timierune des
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Rxuscher. 19S4. Untersuchung der Arbeitsbewegung beim funkeiie
rosiven Senken als Grundla e fur eine Verbessehng des ProzeOab-
laufes, Dissertation, Hochsciule der Bundeswehr Hambur.
Kremer: Lebrun; Hosai; kloisau. 1989,Effects of Ultrasoh
Vibrations on the Perforrnances in EDM, Annals of the CIRP Vol.
38/1/1989
Enache: Opran; Stoica; Stra’escu, 1990. The Study of EDM with
Forced Vibration of Tool-Electrode, .4nnals of the CIRP Vol.
39/1/1990 pp.167- 170

Vr: revecie gain Of gap controller

3’ volumetric relative wear
fig.14: Procedure of EDM oximisation

246