Towards a better controlled EDM: industrial applications of a discharge location sensor in an industrial wire electrical discharge machine.

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is a stochastic process, as discharges occur in the gap between the points of the electrodes that have the lowest electrical resistance. Many researches have been conducted to optimize this process. In wire EDM (WEDM), since the discharging process takes place on a line, it is possible to detect the location of the discharge in real time. Methods have been proposed by several authors in the past. As the required control systems were not available at the time, its implementation was very limited. Due to the recent improvement of electronics, a reliable discharge position detection is now possible in WEDM. This paper shows its implementation and what are its groundbreaking implications and industrial applications, e.g. the performance gain. The authors describe how it is possible, in avoiding the concentration of discharges, to increase the energy on the wire without increasing the risk of wire breakage.