METODOLOGIA DI PROGETTAZIONE DI MACCHINE UTENSILI ENERGETICAMENTE EFFICENTI

The problem of design of energy-efficient tooling machines is addressed in this memory. The machine tools (MU) are included in the directive 2012/27/EU, which sets specific targets for the reduction of consumption between now and 2020. The following work aims to introduce a methodology utilizable for functional decomposition and energy vesting evaluation of a general MU as prescribed in the regulations. This methodology has to be fully utilizable in the traditional “design flow” of machine builders companies, without creating design superstructures, which would create confusion and unnecessary redundancies especially in a small technical offices of a typical small/medium Italian company. The entire functional decomposition methodology will be described in the article and the actual applicability of the approach will be tested by reference to the product range of a manufacturer of machines for turning. In the second part of the memory will be also shown some preliminary results obtained from measurements of wasted energy during the stand-by mode of several lathe machines. With those measures it was possible to quantify the power consumption as a function of the size and types of processes. Others measurements, performed on lathes with regenerative drives, evidenced that, especially in the case of machine tools not fully exploited and with long “cycle time”, the real possibility of regenerative energy saving is at least doubtful.