==== Front Sensors (Basel) Sensors (Basel) sensors Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) 1424-8220 MDPI 33291327 10.3390/s20236975 sensors-20-06975 Article A Machining State-Based Approach to Tool Remaining Useful Life Adaptive Prediction Li Yiming * https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2652-2125Meng Xiangmin Zhang Zhongchao Song Guiqiu School of Mechanical Engineering & Automation, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China; m.ether0330@gmail.com (X.M.); Brunozhang@yahoo.com (Z.Z.); gqsong@mail.neu.edu.cn (G.S.) * Correspondence: liyiming@mail.neu.edu.cn; Tel.: +86-024-8367-1699 06 12 2020 12 2020 20 23 697531 10 2020 04 12 2020 © 2020 by the authors.2020Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).The traditional predictive model for remaining useful life predictions cannot achieve adaptiveness, which is one of the main problems of said predictions. This paper proposes a LightGBM-based Remaining useful life (RUL) prediction method which considers the process and machining state. Firstly, a multi-information fusion strategy that can effectively reduce the model error and improve the generalization ability of the model is proposed. Secondly, a preprocessing method for improving the time precision and small-time granularity of feature extraction while avoiding dimensional explosion is proposed. Thirdly, an importance coefficient and a custom loss function related to the process and machining state are proposed. Finally, using the processing data of actual tool life cycle, through five evaluation indexes and 25 sets of contrast experiments, the superiority and effectiveness of the proposed method are verified. remaining useful lifeLightGBMloss functioncurse of dimensionalitymulti-information fusion ==== Body 1. Introduction Remaining useful life (RUL) prediction is an important research direction in the field of prognostics and health management (PHM). Especially in modern Computer numerical control (CNC) machining, this tool is a key component of CNC machine tools, and its life management plays an important role in the efficiency of CNC machine tools, workpiece quality and cost control. Therefore, RUL prediction of the tools in the early stage is of great significance. In recent years, with the development of sensor technology and signal processing technology, many RUL prediction methods have been put forward one after another. These papers have contributed to sensor technologies, signal processing and decision-making strategies for process monitoring [1,2,3]. The estimation of RUL can be divided into two categories—i.e., physical model-based methods and data-driven methods [4]. Usually, the physical method-based model is a formula derived from failure physics to predict the theoretical damage evolution—e.g., ref [5] proposed a Taylor tool life formula-based method to estimate RUL of the tools. In ref [6,7], the Paris-Erodogan model was used to predict the crack path and crack size of bearings and gearbox pinions, respectively. The authors of [8] proposed a Paris-Erodogan model combined with the finite element model to represent the time evolution of tooth cracks in the gear. In ref [9], a method to extend the processing equation based on Taylor speed to predict the RUL of the tool is proposed. However, when modeling the degradation process, many practical factors, such as cutting parameters and processing steps, are easily overlooked [10]. This is one of the limitations of Taylor’s tool life formula. Additionally, most of the coefficients involved in the physical model are determined experimentally, which makes it difficult to match the complex industrial production environment. To solve the above problems, the data-driven method is proposed as an alternative approach. The data-driven methods build models by mining historical data of machinery—e.g., the artificial neural network (ANN) model trained by historical data was used in [11] to predict the RUL of machinery. Luo [12] used multiple sensors to collect information for collaborative merging to provide more accurate perceptions and make further optimal decisions. In ref [13], Luo et al. also proposed that the decision-making process of automated mechanical and electrical systems relies on multiple-sensor data, and the information from distributed sensors needs to be fused in a robust way. In [14], the RUL of CNC machining lathes and the associated confidence limits are estimated by using a dynamic Bayesian network. The authors of [15] proposed a three-stage method for assessing machine health degradation and using Cox’s proportional hazard model and a support vector machine (SVM) to predict RUL based on vibration signal fusion. Loutas [16] used a support vector regression (SVR) to estimate the RUL of rolling bearings and establish a data-driven approach. Soualhi [17] proposed a method combining Hilbert–Huang Transform (HHT), SVM and SVR to detect bearings and obtain an estimation of RUL by a further time series prediction based on SVR. In ref. [18], a tool wear detection system based on Relevance Vector Machine (RVM) classifiers is constructed, which realized the multi-classification of the tool wear state during cutting. In reference [19], the SVR model is used to predict tool wear. In ref [20], the neuro-fuzzy network is adopted to predict the tool wear and RUL. Lei [21] proposed a model-based method for predicting mechanical RUL. This method used the vibration signals from the accelerated degradation testing dataset of the rolling bearings to prove the accuracy of the proposed model. Wang [22] used an adaptive Expectation-Maximum (EM) algorithm and Bayesian update algorithm to update the parameters of the data-driven model and proved the effectiveness of the proposed method in improving RUL estimation accuracy and shortening convergence time. In addition to the abovementioned studies, in ref. [23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32], there are also many scholars who have conducted relevant research. However, the existing data-driven methods still have some limitations, and the problems that need to be solved can be summarized as follows:(1) Traditional predictive models cannot achieve self-adaptiveness in different complex processes. A conservative protection strategy could cause excessive tool wear and lead to a rapid increase in cutting force, affecting the processing quality of the workpiece and reducing the yield of the qualified workpiece; excessive protection strategies could waste the RUL of the tool, increase unnecessary downtime and lead to a decrease in production efficiency and an increase in manufacturing costs. Finding RUL prediction methods related to the process will effectively improve the quality of workpiece, increase production efficiency and optimize workpiece costs. (2) Traditional data sources rely on a single type of data and are mostly single dimensions. Such a prediction model will lack the coupling nonlinear influence factors under a different process, resulting in the reduction in credibility in the prediction process, reduction in the confidence interval, the generalization ability of the model not being strong and the actual working conditions not being able to be accurately described. It is especially important to choose the right data dimensions and combinations. (3) When extracting small-time granularity features in the traditional way, the features extracted by the quadratic features are directly added to the previously extracted features, which causes the inconsistency of the sample sparsity, and reduces the generalization ability of the model, the over-fitting of the model, “curse of dimensionality” and other issues. It is necessary to find a preprocessing method to solve the dimensional explosion problem. In order to solve the above problems, this paper proposes a RUL prediction method that considers the related process and processing state. The contributions of this paper include:(1) A multi-information fusion strategy that can effectively reduce the model error and improve the generalization ability of the model is proposed. (2) A preprocessing method for improving the time precision and time granularity of feature extraction while avoiding dimensional explosion is proposed. (3) An importance coefficient and a custom loss function related to process and machining state are proposed. The new prediction model can realize the adaptive prediction of RUL under different processes. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 is a description of the proposed method. Then, the effectiveness of the proposed method is discussed in Section 3. Finally, Section 4 concludes the present work. 2. Units Proposed Method 2.1. Architecture of the Proposed Method This paper presents a LightGBM-based approach to RUL prediction related to process. Figure 1 shows the architecture of the RUL prediction method based on LightGBM, which consists of the following three parts: data preprocessing, model training and model evaluation. In part 1, load data, a combination of different data types of vibration data and current data, verifying the superiority of the multi-information fusion combination method, are used; using the sliding windows method-clustering algorithm to expand features and avoid "curse of dimensionality", the extracted feature matrix and the original feature matrix are merged in the model training phase. In part 2, secondary correction of residuals is made to adjust the distribution to meet the expected requirements of industry, choosing the LightGBM model that meets the fast and timely needs of the industry as the original model. The importance model and the custom loss function associated with the custom coefficient are proposed to adjust the original model. In part 3, different test sample sets are used to verify the new prediction model. (1) Visual analysis by using different quantitative indicators to ensure a more comprehensive assessment of the model’s error, fit and generalization ability. (2) Draw a histogram of the residual distribution, visually observe and evaluate the damage at both sides of the risk from the perspective of engineering significance. 2.2. SWM-CA In the traditional RUL prediction research, the existing literature mostly performs feature extraction in the time domain and frequency domain in a given time interval. However, some transient mutation characteristics of the data within a given time interval may be masked due to larger time being fine-grained, resulting in the inability to capture the characteristics of the abrupt signal, causing imperfect or under-fitting of the model. However, the sliding windows method will generate a large number of subdata segments. The new features extracted from a large number of subdata segments will cause inconsistency in sample sparsity, reduction in model generalization ability and model over-fitting such as the curse of dimensionality problem. Therefore, this paper proposes using the clustering algorithm (CA) to perform unsupervised analysis on all subsamples after sliding windows method (SWM) segmentation and to prevent feature redundancy caused by improved resolution while ensuring small-time granularity, preventing feature redundancy due to increased resolution and making the features perform well in the model. Unsupervised learning is used to classify the intrinsic properties and laws of data. The clustering algorithm divides the sample set D={x1,x2,…,xm} into a number of disjoint subsets, namely the sample cluster C={C1,C2,…,Ck}, and minimizes the squared error of the divided sample clusters [33]. (1) E=∑i=1k∑x∈Ci‖x−μi‖22 where μi is the mean vector of the sample cluster Ci, μi=1|Ci|∑x∈Cix. The effect of clustering is weighed by introducing the intra-cluster similarity DB index and the inter-cluster similarity Jaccard coefficient. The Davies–Bouldin Index (DB index) measures internal indicators for clustering performance, (2) DBI=1k∑i=1kmaxj≠i(avg(Ci)+avg(Cj)dcen(Ci,Cj)) where dcen() is used to calculate the distance between two samples, dcen(Ci,Cj)=dist(μi,μj); avg(C) represents the average distance between samples within cluster C. The Jaccard Coefficient is an external indicator for clustering performance measurement. (3) JC=aa+b+c (4) {a=|SS|,SS={(xi,xj)|λi=λj,λi∗=λj∗,i