In the production facilities of tomorrow, all of the components and systems will be connected. Digital twins – i.e., digital representations of components or systems – play a key role in this context, from design to initial setup and operation. They help to optimize systems and simplify life cycle management. We conduct research in this field and are committed to implementing manufacturer-agnostic solutions. In the future, we want to offer our customers a digital twin factory where they can quickly and easily integrate digital twins of their custom-configured Festo products into their engineering environment.
Increasingly comprehensive functionalities are leading to a tremendous increase in the requirements mechanical engineering companies have to meet and the investments they need to make. This is why we want to provide digital twins for our components and systems in the future. Physics-based models accurately replicate the capabilities of the components. As a result, they significantly shorten customers’ project lead times and increase productivity. Before a customer ever handles a piece of hardware, they can simulate the system, test it, and make any necessary changes. For example, they can perfectly and efficiently design and program handling systems using the virtual model. Mechanical engineers can find and correct faults at an early stage, thereby significantly contributing to the efficient and stable operation of the subsequent system.
Digital twins are much more than just 3D models that move virtually. They are digital representations that offer a wealth of information about the components, including a clear description of their capabilities, their role within the machine, their behavior, simulations of their kinematics and kinetics, and their communication.
The Industry 4.0 machine architecture is based entirely on digital twins that, thanks to their standardized communication interface, make life easier for our customers virtually over the entire life cycle of a machine – from virtual setup and machine management to data collection and the resulting value-added services such as maintenance or diagnostics. Up until now, machines have lacked digital continuity, which makes it difficult to fully connect all objects in a factory. This is why Festo is working on a seamless and universal communications technology. One interface that has already been standardized is the functional mock-up interface (FMI) used to connect physical models in a manufacturer-agnostic manner. The administration shell is used as a central technical element to implement digital twins.
Digital twins already facilitate planning and the preparation of actual proposals. Intelligent algorithms allow the components to be designed and configured in an ideal and at the same time energy-efficient manner.
The virtual model allows the system operator to test whether they can move the slide, for example, without any programming effort, and to view the process data from the displacement encoder or the end position sensor. If they want to create the machine’s control sequences, the developer has component capabilities such as extending, rotating, or gripping at their disposal, allowing them to easily put together the desired sequence.
The condition monitoring system issues a warning before components reach the end of their service life while in operation. The digital twin of the machine can then order spare parts automatically, for example. If newer models of the components that need to be replaced are available at this time, the customer can first test the interaction of the new components in a virtual environment and purchase them where appropriate.
In addition, condition monitoring can interact with the digital twins’ simulation models to create predictive maintenance plans. Customers can also develop and test subsequent changes or reconfigurations to the machine in advance by means of digital twins on the virtual model and thus implement them more quickly.