Energy-efficient machining via energy data integration

Energy-efficient machining strategies are required to be implemented in day-to-day practice to advance the competitiveness of the enterprises on global scale. Energy information, which currently considered as integral part of the production data, is studied in this paper. A need is identified to integrate energy information into production program and solidify the knowledge for extensive reference. To effectively represent and share the data, standardised format is regarded as one promising approach, thus STEP-NC is adopted. The proposed data models are grouped into four, i.e. automated energy monitoring and recording, energy estimation and labelling, energy optimisation, and machine tool energy performance. The developed schema is compliant and harmonized with other parts within the standard. One implementation of adding energy information to STEP-NC file is presented as case study. It can be concluded that standardised data format enables the integration of energy information into the production process and enhances its sustainable performance.