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NumericalControlOneofthemostfundamentalconceptsintheareaofadvancedmanufacturingtechnologiesisnumericalcontrol(NC).PriortotheadventofNC,allmachinetoolsweremanualoperatedandcontrolled.Amongthemanylimitationsassociatedwithmanualcontrolmachinetools,perhapsnoneismoreprominentthanthelimitationofoperatorskills.Withmanualcontrol,thequalityoftheproductisdirectlyrelatedtoandlimitedtotheskillsoftheoperator.Numericalcontrolrepresentsthefirstmajorstepawayfromhumancontrolofmachinetools.Numericalcontrolmeansthecontrolofmachinetoolsandothermanufacturingsystemsthoughtheuseofprerecorded,writtensymbolicinstructions.Ratherthanoperatingamachinetool,anNCtechnicianwritesaprogramthatissuesoperationalinstructionstothemachinetool,Foramachinetooltobenumericallycontrolled,itmustbeinterfacedwithadeviceforacceptinganddecodingthep2ogrammedinstructions,knownasareader.Numericalcontrolwasdevelopedtoovercomethelimitationofhumanoperator,andithasdoneso.Numericalcontrolmachinesaremoreaccuratethanmanuallyoperatedmachines,theycanproducepartsmoreuniformly,theyarefaster,andthelong-runtoolingcostsarelower.ThedevelopmentofNCledtothedevelopmentofseveralotherinnovationsinmanufacturingtechnology:1.Electricaldischargemachining.2.Lasercutting.3.Electronbeamwelding.Numericalcontrolhasalsomademachinetoolsmoreversatilethantheirmanuallyoperatedpredecessors.AnNCmachinetoolcanautomaticallyproduceawidevarietyofpar4s,eachinvolvinganassortmentofundertaketheproductionofproductsthatwouldnothavebeenfeasiblefromaneconomicperspectiveusingmanuallycontrolledmachinetoolsandprocesses.Likesomanyadvancedtechnologies,NCwasborninthelaboratoriesoftheMassachusettsInstituteofTechnology.TheconceptofNCwasdevelopedintheearly1950swithfundingprovidedbytheU.SAirForce.Initsearlieststages,NCmachineswereabletomakestraightcutsefficientlyandeffectively.However,curvedpathswereaproblembecausethemachinetoolhadtobeprogrammedtoundertakeaseriesofhorizontalandverticalstepstoproduceacurve.Theshorteristhestraightlinesmakingupthestep,thesmootheris4hecurve.Eachlinesegmentinthestepshadtobecalculated.Thisproblemledtothedevelopmentin1959oftheAutomaticallyProgrammedTools(APT)languageforNCthatusesstatementssimilartoEnglishlanguagetodefinethepartgeometry,describethecuttingtoolconfiguration,andspecifythenecessarymotions.ThedevelopmentoftheAPTlanguagewasamajorstepforwardinthefurtherdevelopmentofNCtechnology.TheoriginalNCsystemwerevastlydifferentfromthoseusedpunchedpaper,whichwaslatertoreplacedbymagneticplastictape.Atapereaderwasusedtointerprettheinstructionswrittenonthetapeforthemachine.Together,all/fthisrepresentedgiantstepforwardinthecontrolofmachinetools.However,therewereanumberofproblemswithNCatthispointinitsdevelopment.Amajorproblemwasthefragilityofthepunchedpapertapemedium.Itwascommonforthepapercontainingtheprogrammedinstructionstobreakortearduringamachiningprocess,Thisproblemwasexacerbatedbythefactthateachsuccessivetimeapartwasproducedonamachinetool,thepapertapecarryingtheprogrammedinstructionshadtorerunthoughtthereader.Ifitwasnecessarytoproduce100copiesofagivenpart,itwasalsonecessarytorunthepapertapethoughtthereader100separatetimes.Fragilepapertapessimplycouldnotwithstandtherigorsofshopfloorenvironmentandthiskindofrepeateduse.Thisledtothedevelopmentofaspecialmagnetictape.Whereasthepapertapecarriedtheprogrammedinstructionsasaseriesofholespunchedinthetape,theThismostimportantofthesewasthatitwasdifficultorimpossibletochangetheinstructionsenteredonthetape.Tomakeeventhemostminoradjustmentsinaprogramofinstructions,itwasnecessarytointerruptmachiningoperationsandmakeanewtape.Itwasalsostillnecessarytorunthetapethoughtthereaderasmanytimesastherewerepartstobeproduced.Fortunately,computertechnologybecomearealityandsoonsolvedtheproblemsofNC,associatedwithpunchedpaperandplastictape.Thedevelopmentofaconceptknownasnumericalcontrol(DNC)solvethepaperandplastictapeproblemsassociatedwithnumericalcontrolbysimplyeliminatingtapeasthemediumforcarryingtheprogrammedinstructions.Indirectnumericalcontrol,machinetoolsaretied,viaadatatransmissionlink,toahostcomputerandfedtothemachinetoolasneededviathedatatransmissionlinkage.Directnumericalcontrolrepresentedamajorstepforwardoverpunchedtapeandplastictape.However,itissubjecttothesamelimitationasalltechnologiesthatdependonahostcomputer.Whenthehostcomputergoesdown,themachinetoolsalsoexperiencedowntime.Thisproblemledtothedevelopmentofcomputernumericalcontrol.Thedevelopmentofthemicroprocessorallowedforthedevelopmentofprogrammablelogiccontrollers(PLC)andmicrocomputers.Thesetwotechnologiesallowedforthedevelopmentofcomputernumericalcontrol(CNC).WithCNC,eachmachinetoolhasaPLCoramicrocomputerthatservesthesamepurpose.Thisallowsprogramstobeinputandstoredateachindividualmachinetool.CNCsolvedtheproblemsassociateddowntimeofthehostcomputer,butitintroducedanotherproblemknownasdatamanagement.Thesameprogrammightbeloadedontendifferentmicrocomputerswithnocommunicationamongthem.ThisproblemisintheprocessofbeingsolvedbylocalareanetworksthatconnectDigitalSignalProcessorsTherearenumeroussituationswhereanalog