The role of intelligent gateway in CNC machine tools

The CNC machine tool IoT is connected to the CNC machine tool controller through an intelligent gateway. After obtaining the data in the controller, it is uploaded to the cloud platform through 4G, WIFI, Ethernet, etc. Users can view the equipment operation status, understand historical data, fault information and remotely control the equipment on their mobile phones and computers in real time.

Pain point analysis

1. High device operation and maintenance costs. CNC machine tools are widely used in the industry. It is difficult to detect the concentration, current, impact, vibration and other driving data of CNC machine tools in real time, and regular maintenance and warranty are required. On the one hand, it is difficult to cause CNC machine tool users to overhaul, impact the manufacturing plan, consume other device costs, and cause great economic losses or even casualties; on the other hand, CNC machine tool manufacturers need to establish a special after-sales engineer team to rush to the site at any time, which is difficult to achieve low labor costs.

2. High device wear rate. The digitalization and scientific and technological level of the CNC machine tool industry is high, and manual estimation and offline storage effects of key variables in the manufacturing process are common. It is difficult to thoroughly study and deal with the grinding, failure, and use efficiency of the device. Therefore, the industry has relatively little accurate control capabilities in manufacturing and guarantee units. The comprehensive utilization rate of the entire industrial machinery resources is high, and the corresponding wear rate will naturally increase.

3. Inadequate production supervision. The production of a large number of CNC machine tool factories is offline, and some information is difficult to report to managers such as workshop directors and chief engineers in time, which impacts the real-time decision-making of managers. The owner cannot obtain accurate information such as the health status and input data of the equipment in time, and cannot conduct accurate production capacity research or production volume research based on the processing data of the equipment. They can usually only supervise spare parts by knowledge, or can conduct general production debugging based on procurement.

IoT solutions for CNC machine tools

Aiming at the pain points of CNC equipment manufacturers and users, a remote operation and maintenance solution for CNC equipment based on a cloud platform can benefit CNC equipment manufacturers and establish a long-term and close relationship between CNC equipment manufacturers and users. The system uses an intelligent gateway installed in the equipment control cabinet to establish a data acquisition channel, collect PLC controller data on the equipment, and connect to the cloud platform via 4G/WIFI/Ethernet.

Through the channel established by the intelligent gateway, remote upload and download of PLC programs and program diagnosis functions can be realized; by collecting data from the PLC controller (such as temperature, pressure, vibration, speed, flow, displacement, voltage, current and other data), remote intelligent fault predictive analysis of CNC equipment can be realized, and early warning signals can be issued for possible faults, thereby improving equipment efficiency, reducing maintenance costs, and ensuring safe and stable operation of equipment.