Development of an active boring bar: the DAMP IT project

Boring often requires using slender tools, making the process more prone to the onset of detrimental vibrations, especially chatter. DAMP IT project aims at developing an intelligent boring bar, capable of reducing the occurrence of such vibrations, by integrating an active damping system inside a standard tool body. This goal will be achieved by providing the tool with sensors and actuators, controlled by a dedicated control logic. The project is ongoing, at the current stage the preliminary analysis of the system requirements has been carried out and exploited to define the features of the control logic and design the intelligent boring bar. At the current stage the active tool has been manufactured, assembled and preliminarily tested. The next steps will entail the experimental validation at the end user facility in a close-to-industrial application. DAMP IT is funded by Regione Toscana and the consortium is composed by University of Firenze and four industrial partners, to ensure an adequate industrial validation and exploitation beyond the project.