Internet based remote monitoring of experiments in hard turning

The paper utilizes information technology in representing and analyzing experimental results of the on-going hard turning research at the department laboratories. The cutting force measurement in hard turning is conducted and the data is collected based on the carefully planned experimental design and procedures. Reporting on heat treatment of steel specimens, workholding, fixturing and tooling is also generated to serve as an essential reference for future hard machining in terms of workpiece preparation. The interactive web-based tools for hard turning experiment are successfully developed. The graphical results of the hard turning experiments are generated at the laboratory and transferred to a server computer. These results are presented with an interactive user-friendly interface to be accessed by remote clients. The internet-based environment provides interactive tools to understand the chip formation, effects of cutting edge geometry, workpiece hardness, feed rate and cutting speed on surface roughness and forces in finish turning of hardened steel. This work focuses on organizing the results collected from the hard turning experiment and presenting the data both numerically and graphically through a user-friendly interface. The objective is to provide a client-server interactive website that serves the research as well as the educational purposes for faculty members, calibrators, graduate / under-graduate and high school students. Currently the website provides the interactive functions in displaying the hard turning data that serves both research and educational purposes for faculty members, calibrators, graduate, undergraduate and high school students. Another important feature emphasized in this project is to implement the dynamic graphics, pictures and animations to demonstrate the experimental data obtained in hard turning. The web enabled dynamic graphical presentation aims to provide remote users to select customized graphs, pictures and animations of the experimental data based on the different machining parameter combinations that they choose. The future prospects of this manufacturing project will focus on enhancing the functionalities of the interactive data presentation on interactive web pages. The cutting force data collected from the hard turning experiment is also expected to be analyzed in a more detailed way to better investigate in effects of cutting edge geometry, workpiece hardness, feed rate and cutting speed on surface roughness and forces in finish turning of hardened steel. It is also expected that the project will be a framework and will be easily extended to on-line internet-based remote monitoring of other dynamic manufacturing processes.