The Key Technologies of the Machinery and Machine Tool Industry are in Place

Not afraid of the impact of the epidemic, Taiwan's machine tool industry will perform outstandingly in 2021, with an annual increase of 28% in output value, and is expected to maintain double-digit growth in 2022. 

Although the world is still threatened by mutant viruses in 2021, the export orders of Taiwan's domestic machine tool industry have been booming. In 2021, the output value of machine tools will be about 135 billion yuan, an increase of 28% over the previous year, which is better than the 7% increase in global machine tool output value. It is estimated that the prospect of Taiwan's machine tool industry in 2022 will continue to be optimistic, and the annual output value is expected to grow by 15% to US$149.6 billion.

The localization of key technologies for the achievements of the Smart Manufacturing Exhibition
In the past year, under the challenges of a lack of materials, cabinets, and workers, the machine tool industry has shown resilience. The main reasons are the improvement of smart manufacturing capabilities, the independence of high-level key technologies, and the integration of software and hardware in the industrial chain. Machine tool controllers are like the brains of machine tools. In the past, Taiwan relied on imports from Germany and Japan for a long time, and its self-reliance was low. The domestic high-end controllers developed with the support of the government have been imported by 30 Taiwanese machine tool manufacturers, with more than 500 machines. The terminal processing verification has been completed, and the application scope ranges from two-axis lathes and three-axis milling machines to large-scale five-axis simultaneous motion and multi-axis turning-milling composite processing machines with a cost of tens of millions of yuan. Three major controller manufacturers in Taiwan have also accepted the technology transfer from ITRI and successfully mass-produced high-end controllers. The current annual output is about 80,000 to 100,000 sets, with an output value of more than 5 billion yuan.

Key to an advanced controller and sensor upgrades:
Another key to smart manufacturing is sensing capabilities. More than 90% of Taiwan's high-end sensing components are outsourced. To enhance Taiwan's independent capabilities, the government actively invests in and assists manufacturers in the development of industrial high-precision sensing solutions, which can not only collect processing information such as stress and vibration in real time, conduct intelligent analysis, but also provide feedback to the system to optimize manufacturing processes and management.

The localization of key technologies has always been the direction of joint efforts of industry, government, and academia. Now, controllers, reducers, sensing solutions, and cloud platforms have all been imported into Taiwan's industry. Not only improving hardware capabilities but also integrating software energy to promote the servitization of manufacturing. Its related highlight technologies also include highly intelligent domestic five-axis machining control solutions, five-axis machining machine spindle dynamic load sensing solutions, smart machinery cloud, intelligent power components of reducers, and advanced laser application technology, which are expected to assist Taiwan machine tools Independent industrial technology, moving forward towards smart manufacturing.

Highly intelligent domestic five-axis machining control solution - localization of high-end parts
The five-axis processing machine can perform compound processing for any plane and curved surface in 3D space. Compared with other processing machines, it has more processing patterns and higher processing efficiency. However, the key component technologies such as the controller of the five-axis processing machine are mastered in Europe. In the hands of Rida Factory, Taiwan’s domestically produced controllers can now enhance the independent capabilities of domestic controller technology, save manufacturers 50% of the cost of electronic control components, greatly shorten delivery times, and help the machine tool industry to enhance competitiveness.

The benefits of the highly intelligent domestic five-axis machining control solution are:

1. Promote the integration of the industrial chain: In the past, the domestic controller industry was highly divided. Manufacturers of components such as spindles, motors, and optical scales each received orders and failed to effectively integrate the development of domestic self-made high-end controllers. Through the integrated platform of software and hardware, the domestic supply chain is connected in series to achieve the goal of localization of high-end parts
2. Technological breakthrough: The accuracy of the controller is improved, and any free-form surface can be processed, which is suitable for high-value industries such as aerospace, medical, and automotive.
3. Fully digitized international standard communication protocol: Quickly connect to the machining cloud, and expand from the control of a single machine to the integration of production lines and the connection of supply chain data. This technology has now been transferred to a major domestic controller manufacturer, from the original control capability of only two to three-axis standard machines to the localization of five-axis controllers.

Dynamic Load Sensing Solution for Spindle of Five-axis Machining Machine-Health Examiner of Machine Tools
This solution builds a thin and high-strength sensor into the machine tool spindle to measure the force characteristics and can know the cutting status, cutting force, and processing accuracy at the moment of processing. After obtaining the data, it can be combined with the edge computing module to immediately diagnose abnormalities and make real-time adjustments to optimize the processing quality. The domestic industry has adopted this scheme to process turbine blades in the European and American aerospace industries.

In the past, most of the sensors relied on imports. Taiwanese domestic manufacturers encountered many difficulties when importing. They had to consider the high cost, the size of the sensor did not match the machine, and the control of various processing information in the hands of the equipment manufacturer. Safety and quality Insufficient autonomy. Now Taiwan is investing in the research and development of sensors and has assisted domestic five-axis machine tool manufacturers to obtain first-line customers in the European and American aerospace industries. In addition, the key components of electric vehicles are also industries with high material costs and low processing damage tolerance. This sensing solution will help domestic manufacturers receive orders.

The dynamic load sensing solution for the spindle of a five-axis machining machine can provide real-time feedback on the machining status. For example, when a five-axis machining machine is cutting, the information obtained by the sensor can be sent back to the controller immediately, and an order can be issued for compensation, reducing the incidence of defective workpieces. The second is preventive maintenance. Know the health trend of the machine and whether there is any wear and tear of components, etc., and take action before failure to improve the stability and reliability of the machine.

Smart Machinery Cloud-Industrial Edition Software Store
The industrial version of the APP Store is a software store for the equipment industry. As long as it is equipped with a standard industrial digital set-top box (SMB), you can download software of different brands to assist small and medium-sized enterprises in rapid digital transformation. Due to the huge amount of data in the smart manufacturing field, it needs to be linked to the cloud. However, different brands of digital set-top boxes, computer numerical control processing machines (CNC), and programmable logic controllers (PLC), even have similar functions but different brands. devices, their software, and data cannot communicate with each other. To solve this problem, the machining cloud creates a standardized environment through internationally common communication protocols and information models, and SMBs that meet the standards can download apps to the cloud. At present, the mechanical cloud has more than 150 APPs, which apply to six major industries including metal processing, metal forming, plastics, textiles, electronics, and fasteners.

The software on the machine cloud platform is mostly related to the visualization of basic data, such as utilization rate and machine abnormality notification. More advanced APPs import data analysis or AI deep learning modules, which can diagnose process problems, and perform pre-simulation and post-event optimization. At present, the machining cloud is open for free registration, attracting 1,179 members. Manufacturers use the machine cloud service to increase the added value of industrial equipment, increase production efficiency, and reduce production costs. It has received a good response in Southeast Asia and other new southbound markets and has the opportunity to become the world's first common smart manufacturing cloud platform.

Reducer intelligent power components help manufacturers increase the added value
Combined with the self-developed early warning algorithm of rotary machinery equipment, ITRI has developed embedded vibration sensing and analysis capabilities in the reducer module, which can analyze fault conditions such as gear wear and broken teeth, and realize real-time monitoring and maintenance. Predictive and intelligent diagnosis. In addition, the analysis of the use records can help to optimize the gear design and improve the transmission efficiency to more than 98%.

This reducer smart module has the characteristics of localization, design optimization, intelligence, and a common platform. In terms of localization benefits, it is estimated that the cost of each reducer can be reduced by 30%. In terms of design optimization, the backlash (referring to the gap between the workpiece and the workpiece) is smaller, the accuracy is improved, and the rigidity is stronger, which is suitable for large payload (Payload) application scenarios. The intelligent platform can transmit vibration information wirelessly, increasing convenience and immediacy; the common platform integrates industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) related protocols, such as OPC UA, etc., as long as you connect to the system, you can immediately understand the important information of the machine. It is of great help to provide remote services after exporting.

Visualization of processing status with advanced laser application technology
In recent years, laser processing has gradually been introduced into diversified processes such as sheet metal and heterogeneous materials. The main reason is that laser processing can provide higher precision and efficiency than traditional CNC drill or tool processing. Due to the increasing popularity of laser processing, it is the industry development trend to carry out an intelligent diagnosis for its performance. The latest self-developed laser optical path quantification module collects data such as laser usage status, optical path information, and laser energy through the digital set-top box. After analysis, it produces visual results and uploads them to the smart machine cloud. The handheld device can monitor and grasp the system status. The Industrial Technology Research Institute has completely established an application field in the Liujia campus and can expand its application to high-end application markets such as semiconductor or 5G chip processing.

Taking electric vehicles, which are popular applications in recent years, as an example, due to a large number of battery cells, there are many welding points. Laser processing can provide high-speed and precise welding requirements, and at the same time improve the disadvantages of large and unsightly welding areas of traditional welding, and can save welding materials. At the same time, on the key module laser source required for laser processing, the Industrial Technology Research Institute also cooperates with domestic laser source manufacturers to develop a variety of special high-end laser source systems. It takes more than half of the welding time for dissimilar metals. In addition to helping electric vehicle battery assembly companies improve the processing quality, it can simultaneously increase the added value of domestic laser sources.