Design and Construction of a Virtual Reality Wire Cut Electrical Discharge
Machining System
Yung-Chou Kao
Department of Mechanical Engineering National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences
Kaohsiung City, Taiwan Email: yckao@cc.kuas.edu.tw
*Jo-Peng Tsai
Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering
Far East University Tainan County, Taiwan *Email: perng@cc.feu.edu.tw
Hsin-Yu Cheng
Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering
Far East University Tainan County, Taiwan Email: hycheng@cc.kuas.edu.tw
Chia-Chung Chao
Department of Mechanical Engineering National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences
Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
Abstract—Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (WEDM) uses a metallic wire to cut a product profile such as extrusion dies and blanking punches. The cost of possession and maintenance of the WEDM equipment is generally high. Hence, it is important to reduce the machine operation training cost, to provide simulation verification, and to investigate the correctness of the NC codes. This paper presents the development of a Virtual Reality (VR) based WEDM system which can emulate a real WEDM machine. The research result can be adopted to serve as a cost-effective tutoring system that has the benefits of improving the inefficient and dangerous drawbacks in operating the real machine. The developed system can provide an effective application in digital education and training environment for academics and industries.
Keyword-Virtual Reality (VR), Virtual Machine Tool, Digital Education and Training
I. Introduction
The application of virtual reality (VR) is getting popular in the learning and training domains with its interactive 3D nature. The characteristics of the 3I (Immersion, Interaction and Imagination) [1] induce the people to fall into a realistic scene through stimulating the senses such as sound, touch and space, etc. There are many researches focused on the application of VR to education [2,3]. From the economic point of view, it can decrease the training cost resulted from using real machine operation practices [4]. Furthermore, it could also enhance both the learning interest and teaching effect for students [5].
This paper focuses on the research and development of a virtual WEDM based on VR technology. The main objective of this research is to provide a virtual 3D interactive system platform so that the user can experience the operating process of a virtual machine prior to operating the real machine. With this virtual learning and training system, this research has the benefits such as enhancing the learning interest, reducing the danger of the real machine operation, avoiding the accident and maintenance cost resulted from the improper operation. Furthermore, it has the high potential in replacing the real machine for the operation training.
This paper adopted the object-oriented analysis and design tool, and Unified Modeling Language (UML) [6] to analyze and to virtualize an industrial wire electrical discharge machining system. This research used CAD software to build the 3D solid model of the machine tool, and then adopted VR software to construct a virtual scene. The NC controller and its operation interface were developed through the adopted programming language. The interactivity of the virtual controller, scene and machine are integrated in this research. The development method proposed in this paper is shown in Figure 1. 2010 International Symposium on Computer, Communication, Control and Automation
978-1-4244-5567-6/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE 3CA 2010
References
[1] G.. Burdea and P. Coiffect, Virtual reality technology, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 1994.
[2] Z. Pana, A. D. Cheokb, H. Yanga, J. Zhua, and J. Shia, “Virtual reality and mixed reality for virtual learning environments”,Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Vol. 30, 2006, pp.
20–28.
[3] M. Weyrich and P. Drews, “Virtual reality simulations and animations in a web-based interactive manufacturing engineering module”, Computers and Educations, Vol. 43, No. 4, 2004, pp. 361-382.
[4] M. Berry, M. Hellström, J. Göthlin, R. Reznick, and L. Lönn, “Endovascular training with animals versus virtual reality systems: an economic analysis”, Journal of Vascular and Interventional
Radiology, Vol. 19, No. 2, 2008, pp. 233-238.
[5] P. Bridge, R. M. Appleyard, J. W. Ward, R. Philips, and A. W. Beavis, “The development and evaluation of a virtual radiotherapy treatment machine using an immersive visualization environment”, Computers
and Education, Vol. 49, No. 2, 2007, pp. 481-494.
[6] G. Booch, J. Rumbaugh, and I. Jacobson, The UML user guide, Addison-Wesley, 1999.
