Web-based virtual operating of CNC milling machine tools

This paper attempts to propose a virtual operating system applied to operation training of manufacturing facility and manufacturing process simulation. The system is based on VRML and browser/server structure, so user only needs to install a free plug-in, and run the package normally via Microsoft Internet Explorer. Initially this paper studies the system framework, structure models and concept models. Then, a communication approach based on VRML, Java and HTML, which is key to realize the virtual operating of CNC machines, has been presented. The algorithm of material removed simulation based on VRML Z-map is also presented in this paper. It has the advantages such as a lower memory requirement, and a faster computation speed. Finally, in order to validate the feasibility of the proposed approach, the CNC milling machine has been taken as an illustrative example for the prototype development.