Monitoring of cutting conditions with the empirical mode decomposition

In this paper, we apply empirical mode decomposition by Huang and Hilbert to transform signals recorded during a milling process. Vibroacoustic sensors recorded vibrations of a tool-workpiece system while milling with the end mill of a special shape of “Hi-Feed”. The results of Huang-Hilbert analysis provide the information about amplitudes and frequencies of empirical modal components. Application of Huang-Hilbert transform to cutting conditions monitoring allows the separation of various vibration components caused by phenomena associated with the drive system and the machine components. Therefore, the analysis highlights vibrations caused by known sources of vibration, such as spindle speed, the number of teeth of the cutting tool or the frequency of vibration tools. Furthermore, signal components generated in the cutting zone were identified. The resulting information helps to assess the working conditions of cutting tools, selection of cutting parameters and tool wear monitoring.