VIRTUAL MANUFACTURING AND ITS APPLICATION TO MAKING OIL PUMPS

摘要

Advances in manufacturing systems have led to the increasing importance of the information processing techniques. Many tasks in manufacturing have been transferred from workshops to computers, and now large portions of activities in manufacturing systems are presently considered for being carried out as information processing activities within computers. As a result, system architectures and virtual reality have emerged as necessary components in today's global manufacturing industry in an attempt to enhance both process and production operations. A system structure and related design methodology of a general virtual manufacturing system is proposed here. Prototype software based on the proposed system has been developed. The system was developed on a network-based platform, which can integrate with wide variety of software. Applications of the proposed system to virtual product design of oil pumps are then presented to demonstrate its feasibility and versatility.