Ultra-high speed Discharge Control

for Micro Electric Discharge Machining

Sotomitsu Hara, Nobuhisa Nishioki

Mitutoyo Corporation

Abstract
An ultra-high speed discharge control on micro electric discharge machine
shows good performance, both in removal rate and surface roughness. A
newly developed current-shutdown circuit that shuts down within 15nsec
prevents crater damage. When a short circuit condition between the work
and the electrode is detected, the logical judgment skips to the next
processing pulse within just two clock cycles, so the discharge hit rate is not
reduced.

Keywords
Electric Discharge Machine, Short detection, roughness, removal rate, gap control

1. Introduction
A Micro Electric Discharge Machine ( mEDM) using WEDG(1) was developed to
process small parts of a few millimeters in size with fine surface roughness. However,
its processing speed is slow compared to conventional high power EDMs. It is
desirable to have both fine surface roughness and a high processing speed.
In order to get small crater, a conventional mEDM pulsed power supply is made of
a CR circuit (Capacitor and Resistor). The size of the discharge crater specifies the
surface roughness. Therefore, it is important that this is small. However, in this
system a long time is required to charge up the capacitor, so the discharge pulse rate is
very low.
Electronically controlled pulsed power supplies are used practically. In this type,
the average current is monitored, and the over current is decreased by increasing the
gap between the electrode and the work. To increase the current, the gap must be
narrowed. For this type, the response is slow, and a quick disturbance makes the
system unstable.
Therefore, we have developed an alternative method of gap control and measured
the discharge delay time. It is presumed that the normal discharge takes place a few
nano-seconds after the voltage is supplied. If both electrodes are in contact and in the
short circuit condition, the current increase at the same time after the voltage pulse.
Thus, the two conditions are distinguishable, and they can be realized by an ultra high
speed comparator using a high speed logic IC.
Generally speaking, a short circuit discharge is caused by a zeroing of the gap by
lumps or wire diameter fluctuations. This newly developed high speed current
sensing circuit provides just 15nsec time delay for the undesirable short circuit
situation. After the delay time, the drive pulse voltage is extinguished perfectly and no
craters were observed on the work surface.

2. Experimental Configuration
Fig.1 shows the system of gap control. This construction is the WEDG set up. BS
wire runs slowly perpendicular to the plane of the paper. The workpiece is a tungsten
rod; set on the Z axis table. A discharge spark removes a microscopic volume of the
work, and the Z axis table moves forward compensating the gap expansion. In this
way, the cutting process progresses continuously. The table position is controlled by
the NC apparatus pitched at 6.25 nm.
In order to stabilize the discharge condition, the gap should be sensed directly.
However, due to several technical issues, this is not possible.
For the electronic circuits, two lines of FETs ( Field Effect Transistor ) are
necessary to minimize the short-detect damage. FFT1 is for detecting short circuit
current and is driven by is for processing, and is driven by For a high
speed response, a small packaged FET is preferable. These are cooled by water sinks
because they are operated above the power consumption specification. pulse
width : must be as narrow as possible; it can be trimmed to between 20nsec and

Figure 1. The Electric Circuit and Algorithm

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100nsec. pulse width : is set experimentally to a suitable value between
20nsec and 5000nsec according to the processing speed or roughness. is driven
immediately after has fallen. The timing chart is drawn in the right part of Fig.1.
The distinction between normal discharge and the short circuit condition can be
distinguished as follows. For normal discharge, the increasing discharge current
requires several nano-seconds to ionize water molecules after the high voltage is
supplied to the electrodes. The ionizing time is as shown in Fig.1.
For the short circuit condition, the current starts at the same time without
ionization. By experiments, we confirmed that the ionization time is greater than
20nsec. Therefor if the current is detected within a period it is under the short
circuit condition. is the delay time of the current detection. Then, the next is
shutdown, and a back command is sent to the Z axis. The gap is enlarged by
repositioning the table. This is repeated until the short circuit condition is canceled.
In the third case, discharge does not occur, and it is the open circuit
condition. Then a forward command is sent to the Z axis to enclose the gap.
A resistor, is connected to the FET source. The detection sensitivity is
0.18A. This is low enough so as not to cause damage to the work surface. The
sensing current (voltage) is led to the high speed logic IC directly. No other device
can be placed between them, since this would limit the pulse speed furthermore. The
newly developed circuit with less than 15nsec response time makes it possible to
prevent crater damage. The performance is shown in Fig.2. In (a), the and
patterns are shown. The damage is so small that it can hardly be observed by an
optical microscope as shown in (b). The minimum crater by single discharge pulse is
clearly observed in (c).

Figure 2. Short avoid performance

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 The cutting operation is examined practically in Fig.3 which shows four pulses for
the three cases; the short circuit condition, normal discharge and the open circuit
condition. For the short circuit condition, is kept to 0, and, of course, For
normal discharge, is zero while is “High”. Therefore is led to FET2, and
the discharge current is observed. If is zero while is “High”, it is in the open
circuit condition.

Figure 3. The Pulse Patterns

The repeat frequency can be varied from 100kHz to 4 MHz. This pulse density is
about ten times higher than conventional CR circuit. It is supposed the next values;
then the repeat frequency becomes 33k - 330kHz.
The processing speed is proportional to the three parameters product; and drive
pulse duty and discharge hit probability. This is the average current itself, and can be
set pretty wide range easily than CR circuit.

3. Results
Fig.4 shows the cut surface of tungsten. Three different resistors are used for 1 ohm,
10 ohm, and 100 ohm, with resulting currents of 4A, 0.4A, 0.04A respectively.
The roughness Ra, Rz, and the removal rate are also listed. These are all cut in a
single one pass, and the cutting depth is about 200 micrometer. The repeat rate is
400kpps. gives high speed processing. This removal rate is about ten times
higher than CR circuit (2). gives good performance for both the surface
roughness and the removal rate. Long range waving is due to a side discharge of the
BS wire, the fine ripples are dues to an outside disturbance or to fluctuations in the
diameter of the BS wire.
An unexpectedly result is for The roughness is comparable or better than

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 though the removal rate is not much slower. At such a low current region,
it has not until now been possible to realize such a steady gap control. The Z stage
replacement is shown in Fig.5. It changes smoothly during the cutting process.

Figure 4. Cut Surface On Tungsten Rod

Figure 5. Z axis placement on cutting

4. Conclusion
1. A minimum 20nsec width and 10nsec pitched pulse generator was prepared.
2. A 15nsec protection response can prevent damage under the short circuit
condition.
3. The discharge delay time control is stable even in the low current region.
4. Fine surface cutting of a tungsten rod was obtained.

References
1. T.Masuzawa: New Evolution of EDM Tech., J.J.S.P.E. Vol.64, No.12, p1713-1714
2. T.Masuzawa: Development of EDM System for Mass Production of microholes,
SEISAN-KENKYU Monthly Journal of I.I.S., Unv. Tokyo, Vol. 52, No. 9, p34-37
3. Discharge Handbook No.2, P63, I.E.E.J., ISBN4-88686-308-6

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