Clean, Green Cooling for Cutting Tools

In a multi-dimensional operation like metal cutting, there are many possibilities for improving a technique or a technology, but it takes some imagination to arrive at something never-before considered. Cooling cutting tools is standard practice, but how can a shop address the cost and consequences that accompany the necessary use of metal-cutting fluids?

EcoCooling is a new concept for cooling cutting tools, in which ionized air cools and lubricates the tools and workpieces, displacing the use of ordinary metalworking fluids. It is a dry, clean, and environmentally friendly way to lubricate metal using ionized, cooled air without any emulsions. According to the developers, it has potential to transform machine tool design and development, and metal component manufacturing.

EcoCooling is the result of long-term, interdisciplinary effort by a team of Finnish researchers — Oy ECE EcoCooling Engineering Ltd. — whose previous R&D efforts include HMI technologies used for networkable handheld devices.

The new system has been the subject of industrial R&D since the late 1980s. It has been tested in real-life processes and assessed in third-party testing, and is ready now for global commercialization.

“Workshops have wanted to get rid of fluids and many have tried to find a solution to the problem, but with poor results,” according Leo Hatjasalo, co-founder and CEO of EcoCooling. “Now we have the answer to this demand, since EcoCooling can be used even with the hardest known metals like chrome, titanium and tungsten carbides.”

The global market for metalworking fluids is estimated at approximately $12 billion this year, and some estimates project the global market for machine tools will grow from $120 billion today to $150 billion by 2026. Expansion is driven by the accelerating need for components used in aerospace, automotive, and transportation industries, but also in consumer products, electronics, energy, health care and medicine, and numerous other manufacturing sectors.

“EcoCooling is based on the fact that ionized air penetrates the cutting zone and forms a dry lubricant that decreases cutting friction and generated heat, at the same time speeding up the oxide layer formation,” Hatjasalo explained. “The process is patented on all continents, and at the moment we are validating it to include all types of machine tools.”

The developer emphasized that EcoCooling is not only a way to cut the costs of fluid emulsions, but also to improve productivity through higher cutting speed, reduced wear of cutting tools, and minimized maintenance costs.

“Since the metal chips are not contaminated by any fluids, they also can be fully recycled without cleaning,” he says. “Because no oil is used, another big advantage is that it eliminates toxic fluid waste and fumes, in addition to minimizing CO₂ emissions.”

For machine tool designers and operators, the new technology will make it possible to build smaller and cheaper machines, because the EcoCooling unit is very compact and adaptable. “The unit does not need any service and it has proved to prolong the lifetime of the cutting tools significantly,” Hatjasalo said, adding that the new system can be easily retrofitted to older machine tools.”

During the past few years, EcoCooling trials have been carried out with success in numerous commercial applications, around the world and in some demanding uses. Specific trials for machining operation have concentrated on turning machines. Having demonstrated cost savings and substantially lower environmental impact, the aim now is to create a versatile EcoCooling product family to serve all machine tool types. 

“We are planning to integrate the system to suit different CNC machine tools and to create optimal solutions for all machine tools and workshop environments,” Hatjasalo said. “However, for that purpose we need more funding than we can raise on our own. Therefore, the next step is to find an industrial partner to help us to commercialize EcoCooling globally and to develop the ways the technology can be used.” 

Learn more at www.ecocooling.fi