Monitoring and Fuzzy Control Approach for Efficient Electrical Discharge Machining Process

The intricate shape die for manufacturing industries can be easily produced by the electrical discharge machining (EDM) process. Since the surface roughness of the die directly affects the surface finish of the product, it is very important to enhance the surface quality of machined surface using the EDM process. In the present study, a fuzzy base control algorithm has been developed for monitoring discharge current and spark gap. The discharge current has to be monitored during machining process to reduce the surface roughness, whereas the spark gap has to be monitored to avoid the abhorrent arcing effect. The levels of process such as roughing, semifinishing, and finishing have been taken as the input to fuzzy rule base. The control algorithm has been evaluated with real-time environment. From the experimental results, it has been observed that the developed control approach for the EDM process has considerably improved the surface quality of the EDM product with higher material removal rate.