An approach for generating a tasks schedule model in web-based virtual manufacturing system of screw threads

In this paper, several web-based interfaces for user interaction and a task-oriented decision approach are proposed to build a tasks schedule model and then display the manufacturing process in a virtual environment, which is created by a geometric virtual-reality-based visualization technology for screw threads generation. The proposed tasks schedule model consists of four types of objects: virtual component, state manager, transfer operator, and flow controller. The virtual component has a geometric model with kinematics and their attributes. To control the geometric model, a component controller which models the logical aspects of a component is used. The component controller should be able to implement component-level orders by operating the geometric model. For the fidelity of the tasks schedule model, a transfer operator has a set of component-level command imitating the physical mechanism of a transfer. As a result, more accurate simulation results can be expected. The flow controller makes decisions on friable transfers based on decision parameters, which are maintained by the state manager. To have better structure and easier implementation, a virtual manufacturing platform can be modeled in a hierarchical and modular manner as an integrated system consisting of a product design suite, a web interface module, and a visualization module. Meanwhile, it provides a solution of learning of manufacturing sequences, cost effective, platform independent, and sharing visualized information over the internet for virtual manufacturing. Finally, the tasks schedule model has been implemented with an example in screw threads generation.