Application of spindle speed increaser as sustainable solution to upgrade machine tools

Due to varying machine operations, cutting material and feed motion of the respective milling machine, a wide range of spindle speed is required. Modern machine tools are therefore occasionally equipped with two spindles to cover a wider application scope. Especially while increasing the cutting removal rates for soft materials like aluminium alloys, outdated machine tools fail to provide high spindle speed. Spindle speed increasers (SSI) are possible solutions in order to flexibly increase the cutting removal rates of milling machines. In this paper, the state of the art of SSI is investigated regarding its application in different milling machines and with respect to resource and energy efficiency. Therefore, based on the respective machining operations, spindle input and milling machine, a selection methodology is provided to prove the feasibility of the application of existing SSI. This allows estimating the sustainable benefit on theoretical basis. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.