Page 182 - Towards A Sustainable Future 2024

The ESI team developed a programme to estimate the top- Despite investing significant time in conducting the
up mixture needed based on readings from the existing first round of data collection, the team’s efforts were not
mix. Figure 4 shows the sequence process. However, this wasted. Through this initial phase, the team noted that
endeavour posed significant challenges as the coolant the concentration of the coolant mixture tended to be
concentration obtained varied daily. This could be attributed higher than that recommended provided by the coolant
to several factors, including the type of machined parts and manufacturer. Further details are shown in Figure 5.
material used, the duration of machining, and temperature.
After the first round of data collection, the team dropped
the approach outlined in Figure 4 due to the difficulty in
achieving consistent results.

Figure 5: Current coolant concentration used vs
recommended range.

Upon recognising the potential to minimise coolant usage
by reducing concentration levels, the team proceeded with
a second round of data collection. This focused on adjusting
the coolant volume to determine the amount required to
achieve the desired mixture concentration. Table 2 provides
Figure 4: Initial approach for collection of coolant data.
a summary of the data collected using the two machines.

180