This paper presents a novel approach to measure the cutting temperature in process and control it to some extent by using an internally cooled smart cutting tool with a closed internal cooling circuitiy. Numerical modeling based on the finite element analysiscomputational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is carried out by using ANSYS and FLUENT, then the suiface temperature distribution of the tool is fitted and the equivalent heat transfer coefficient of the tool surface contacting with cooling fluid is computed. Analytical thermal model of" the tool is established based on the lumped parameter method. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulation results are in good agreement, which demonstrate that the innovative smart tooling design concept can effectively sense the cutting temperature at the cutting tool tip in process and also be used to reduce and control the critical cutting temperature in cutting zone for adaptive machining of difficult-tomachine materials, such as titanium and Inconel alloys. Experimental cutting trials are carried out to further examine and validate the method and concept of applying the smart cutting tool system.

Cooling technology is vital in manufacturing industry, which can decrease cutting temperature, assist chip removal and reduce or eliminate the generation of cutting liquid waste during metal cutting process. This paper presents a novel turning tool cooled by combining circulating internal cooling with spray cooling, which can cool the cutting tool tip from inside and outside of insert and assist blow chips away from cutting zone. Thermalfluid-solid coupling analysis using ANSYS Fluent is employed to investigate cooling performance of the composite cooling turning tool. Optimization of the internal spray cooling structure is carried out by Taguchi Method based CFD simulations and the optimal geometric parameters are picked out. The prototype of the novel turning tool is fabricated through the integration of spray cooling technology into the previously developed circulating internal cooling turning tool. The cooling effectiveness and practicality of the proposed novel turning tool system are further examined and validated by cutting trials.

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The regularity of wire rope breakage of new-type rail conveyors used in orchards is not clear yet. The breakage may be mainly associated with the diameter and material of pulleys, wire rope tension, and linear speed, as well as exposure to acid rain and sandy soil. This paper took wire rope structure and operating parameters as the research object, designed and built a simulation conveyor wire rope winding test platform based on programmable logic controller (PLC), and verified the feasibility of the system to automatically control wire rope tension, and then conducted the wire rope winding test. According to the tests, a wire rope will have earlier wire breakage and faster wear if it works at a higher speed or in greater tension—a wire rope reached the scrapping criterion after 2,000 cycles of working at the speed of 29.35 m/s or at the tension of 6,500 N. Sandy soil and acid rain are also great contributors to wire breakage, and finer sandy soil or greater acidity of acid will cause more severe wire breakage—a wire rope reached the scrapping criterion after 3,300 cycles of work if exposed to acid rain with pH value of 2.0. Pulley diameter also counts: the smaller the pulley diameter is, the less wear the pulley will cause; and pulley material also plays a part—Q235 steel pulley may cause greater wear than a nylon pulley. Wear and plastic deformation of outer wires lead to surface material loss of a wire rope, thereby resulting in crack or even fracture of single wires, greater tension of other unbroken wires, and accelerated wear of the whole wire rope to the scrap criterion. The study aims to provide a reference for optimizing the safety performance of conveyors in orchards, as well as for maintenance and care of wire ropes in other applications.

Aiming at the demand of high efficiency green cooling cutting of difficult-to-machine materials, a novel composite cooling turning tool design concept based on circulating internal cooling combined with spray cooling is proposed in this paper. Thermal-fluid-solid coupling simulation models were developed based on FLUENT software, which are applied to investigate the cooling performance of two type of composite cooling tool which are single-nozzle type and double-nozzle type, and the circulating internal cooling tool. Simulations results shown that the tool-chip interface temperatures of the three tools are from low to high under the same conditions, followed by the composite cooling turning tool with double-nozzle, the composite cooling tool with single-nozzle and the circulating internal cooling tool. The double-nozzle type of the composite cooling tool exhibits a better cooling and lubrication performance.