Control of a turning machine for constant cutting force

A simulation study of a constant cutting force metal turning process is investigated. The process is a challenging control problem due to nonlinearities and time varying dynamics. Implementations of PID, adaptive and non-adaptive sliding mode and model reference adaptive controllers were developed. Tests were performed on machined part contours to verify the force tracking capability and flexibility of each control scheme. Results indicate that careful design and use of a fixed-gain sliding mode controller with output feedback can give roughly equivalent performance to that of more complex adaptive controllers.