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Micro-factory

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- Produce whatever you like, as small and few as you want, wherever you are. -

We proposed the conception of the "micro-factory" and miniaturized production systems in 1990 and have been trying to materialize the concept, which may realize downsized energy and space saving, distributed, eventually environmentally conscious, manufacturing systems (Figure 1).


Figure 1 Conception of Micro-factory

The microlathe, which is the smallest in the world, has developed to demonstrate the feasibility of micro-factory (Figure 2).
The micro-lathe comprises an X-Y driving unit driven by laminated piezoactuators, a main shaft device driven by a micromotor, and a toolrest. The micro-lathe measures 32.0 mm in length, 25.0 mm in depth, and 30.5 mm in height. It weighs 100 g. Powere consumpution of the main shaft device is approximately 1.5 W. The demensions are approximately 1/50, weight 1/10000 and power consumptioin 1/1000 of a conventional lathe.

Figure 2 Micro-lathe
　

A brass rod of 2.0 mm in diamereter was cut on the micro-lathe. As a result, it was obtained that the surface roughness in the feed direction was Rmax 1.5 um, and roundness 2.5 um. This cutting accuracy is equal to or better then that of a conventional lathe. The minimum processing diameter is approximately 60 um. An acetal resin rod also can be cut as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 4 shows a energy consumption rate of the micro-lathe. Because of using micro-motor, total energy is 1/1000 of a conventional lathe. The graph indicate that only about 5 % of energy is used for cutting even in case of the micro-lathe. In other words, in case of a conventional lathe, the ratio of energy for cutting must become smaller obviously. In the production of small parts, most of consumed energy is used for running the machine. Moreover, since downsizing can reduce the volume of the room for factory, Micro-factory would save the energy for air-conditioning.

Figure 3 Machined works

Figure 4 Rate of power consumption

　

Related papers
1) T. Kitahara, Y. Ishikawa, T. Terada, N. Nakajima, K. Furuta: Development of Micro-Lathe, Journal of Mechanical Engineering Laboratory, Vol.50(1996)No.5, pp.117-123.

last update 8/20/1998

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Primal Scientist: Kiwamu ASHIDA