Optimisation of cutting parameters for improving energy efficiency in machining process

Reducing the machining energy consumption (MEC) of machine tools for turning operations is significant to promote sustainable manufacturing. It has been approved that selecting optimal cutting (turning) parameters is an effective approach to reduce the cutting energy consumption (CEC) within the MEC. However, the potentiality for this approach to reduce the non-cutting energy consumption (NCEC) has not received sufficient attentions. Especially, the energy consumed for spindle rotation change (SRCE) was neglected. Thus, this article aims at developing an integrated MEC model with NCEC and SRCE considered. Then, Simulated Annealing (SA) is employed to find the optimal spindle rotation speed (SRS) and feed rate which result in the minimum MEC. A case study is conducted, where five parts with different cutting lengths are processed on a lathe. The experiment results show that SA can obtain the global optimum in a short computation time when the step sizes for SRS and feed rate are 0.1 and 0.001, respectively. The optimal solution achieves a 19.28% MEC reduction. Finally, the relation between the part length and the optimal SRS is analysed, and the consequence of MEC minimisation on machining time is discussed.