Sensorless Condition Monitoring of Feed Axis Components in Production Systems by Applying Prony Analysis

: Condition monitoring of modern production systems has established itself as an independent area of research in recent years. Main goal is to achieve an increase in machine productivity by reducing downtime and maintenance costs. In particular, the installed electromechanical axes offer great potential for improvement. Besides an installation of additional sensors, modern drive systems also provide various signals suitable for superordinated monitoring systems. The paper presents a novel approach for monitoring of specific mechanical axis components based solely on internal control loop signals. Fundamental idea is to combine a parametric approach for vibration analysis, the so-called Prony analysis, with a drive-based setpoint generation and data aquisition. The method is verified by detecting emulated malfunctions on a single-axis test stand and a three-axis vertical milling machining center. Experimental investigations prove that the presented approach is capable of reliably detecting the artificially introduced defects on different axis components.