Probe Pilot 3 - Machine Health Module
 |  |  |
What does Machine Health refer to?
If you've spent much time in a machine shop these days, chances are that you've heard the term 'Machine Health Check', 'Machine Accuracy Check' or something similar. These terms are nothing more than a fancy description of the capability of a machine tool to perform its tasks in an accurate and repetitive manner. Consider a competitive athlete. How capable that athlete is at any given point is the cumulative condition of all the different parts necessary to function at 100%, such as muscles, joints, tendons, and bones. If any of these individual items are damaged or in some way prevented from performing correctly, the athlete won't be able to perform all out. In fact, if there is a severe condition, the athlete may not be able to perform at all.
In many ways, a machine tool is like an athlete. It's made of steel, plastic, and electronics rather than flesh and bone but it still can be thought of as a collection of parts that equal a whole mechanism. If any of its components are not functioning correctly (ailing), they can lead to the entire piece of equipment not functioning correctly. Obviously, this is common sense but a machine tool can't tell you when it's not well like a human can so there needs to be another way of finding that out.
The developers of ProbePilot3 realized that whether you're a large corporation or a small-medium sized machine shop, your needs are the same. Of course a large corporation has the staff and resources necessary to institute a Machine Health Check process but most small-medium size companies don't have the staff or resources. It is for that reason that Advanced Probe Technologies decided to include a module dedicated to Machine Health.
This module gives the user the capabilities to define certain characteristics of a machine tool and then easily create a probe program that checks these characteristics on a periodic basis, whether it is daily, weekly, or monthly. The user can easily create real time logic that will evaluate the results of the Machine Health Check program directly on the machine control as it is running and alert the operator if the check results fall outside the envelope that is defined as acceptable. With a program and a process like this, numerous problem conditions can be detected early before they lead to a scrapped part and the loss of revenue. Examples of issues that can be detected include results of a machine crash, corrupted pitch error tables in the control, loose encoders or scales, incorrect pivot points (i.e. for a 5 axis trunnion type machine), and others.
Because of the large variety of machine tools, this module will be 'customized' to the customer's needs when the module is purchased. A representative from APT will ask a few key questions of the customer to find out what types of issues are potential problems, what kind of equipment will be included, and other necessary information.