Power signal separation in milling process based on wavelet transform and independent component analysis

Among many machining condition monitoring systems, a spindle motor power monitoring system is considered as one of the most popular systems for plant floor applications. However, in practice, power signals are mixed with many signal sources relevant to cutting tool, cutting conditions as well as components of a machine tool, which contaminate with each other in feature extraction processes and decrease the monitoring reliability. In this paper, modified blind sources separation (BSS) technique is used to separate those source signals in milling process. A single-channel BSS method based on wavelet transform and independent component analysis (ICA) is developed, and source signals related to a milling cutter and spindle are separated from a single-channel power signal. The experiments with different tool conditions illustrate that the separation strategy is robust and promising for cutting process monitoring.

► A single-channel blind source separation method based on wavelet transform and ICA. ► Selection of wavelet scale levels for single-channel power signals in milling. ► Source signals of milling cutter and spindle were separated from measured signals.