Graphical Simulation for Process Planning in Virtual Manufacturing

A graphical simulation system for process planning is presented. Only machined rotational parts are considered in this paper. Feature-based representation is used to build the solid model of the parts and is the basis of the process plan. A simulator is developed to simulate the sequence of the process plan. It provides a mechanism to verify the feasibility of the process plan and to check whether the finished part satisfies the part design specifications. The simulator not only alarms the occurrence of the failure but also provides the type and the reason of the failure in the process plan. The interactive, and graphic environment of the system is constructed in Silicon Graphics' IRIS Indigo workstation with GL graphics library. In the era of computer integrated manufacturing, such simulation system is especially useful for process plans that are generated automatically by computers.