A hybrid approach to energy-efficient machining for milled components via STEP-NC

Abstract

To meet the current requirements of low-carbon and energy-saving manufacturing, this paper puts forward a hybrid approach to energy-efficient machining for milled components via Standard for the Exchange of Product model data-Numerical Control (STEP-NC). An energy demand model based on STEP-NC is established and the problem to be solved is stated, including optimisation objectives and constraints. The developed ontology consists of OntoSTEP-NC extended to provide energy demand information support and rules to generate preliminary machining schemes (PMSs). Ant colony optimisation (ACO) is used to select the best machining scheme from the PMSs. The above two parts, namely ontology and ACO, constitute the hybrid approach presented in this study, which is implemented by developing a prototype. Finally, a test example is given to validate the proposed approach and the result shows that it can be employed to achieve energy-efficient machining of milled components.

Keywords:

• STEP-NC
• ant colony optimisation
• ontology
• energy-efficient machining

Acknowledgement

The work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant number [51405270].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant number [51405270].