A comparative study of CNC part programming addressing energy consumption and productivity

This paper reports on a comparative study realized to contrast between the part code generated by two different CAM systems and one part program generated by the authors. This comparison addresses in particular tool path, but also includes number of lines, cycle time and energy consumption. The comparison is carried out through a case study: a mechanical component was designed so as to produce a number of CNC part programs generated with two different CAM systems; one more program was directly programmed by the authors in the machine tool's controller. Different sample parts were produced using the same machine tool, tooling and process parameters; and measurements of energy consumption and cycle time were gathered. The results show differences between the tool paths generated by each approach and are used by the authors to further define strategies to produce trajectories that could reduce cycle time and energy consumption. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.