Digital Twins of Manufacturing Facilities

The Fraunhofer IFF is helping PCK Raffiniere GmbH build a digital twin of its manufacturing facility in Schwedt. The digital twin creates new value added for design, operation and training, thus furthering the facility’s viable future development.

In a first step, a digital model of the facility and the surrounding region was created. The visualization includes the 20 km² premises with current aerial photographs, buildings, infrastructures and equipment components. Finally, information on the site plan and on local companies and their services were integrated in the model. A clearly visualized digital regional information system was ultimately produced, which can be explored interactively. Among other things, it is used to convey local information, present individual sections of the facility, infrastructures, companies and their performance and thus as a new public relation tool.

The digital twin is additionally used to design additions to the facility. New ideas and concrete construction projects are simply integrated in the model and analyzed. It is being used to facilitate the design of a new technical training center, for instance. Initial designs are converted into 3D and placed in the model. Virtually interactive walk-throughs enable all parties to discuss designs efficiently.

Along with the overview view, the richly detailed rendering of equipment is particularly useful. Basic and advanced training especially profits from digital models that support teaching. Specific detail views and functional models successively complete the digital twin to convey more in-depth information on individual components and processes. A vacuum evaporator can be explored down to the component level, for instance. The equipment’s design and function can be very engagingly explored virtually interactively during training.

What is more, the digital twin has various connections to other systems as well as to real equipment too. Process simulations can be connected in offline or online mode, for instance. The offline simulation is used to describe equipment performance. The resulting interactive function model is employed for training, for instance. The online connection is used to integrate the real equipment’s sensor values in the digital model. The digital twin thus delivers a current real image of the real equipment. Status data can additionally be used for data analyses or to initiate communication processes for specific services.