Generic Digital Twin Architecture for Industrial Energy Systems

Abstract

Digital Twins have been in the focus of research in recent years, trying to achieve the vision of Industry 4.0. In the domain of industrial energy systems, they are applied to facilitate a flexible and optimized operation. With the help of Digital Twins, the industry can participate even stronger in the ongoing renewable energy transition. Current Digital Twin implementations are often application-specific solutions without general architectural concepts and their structures and namings differ, although the basic concepts are quite similar. For this reason, we analyzed concepts, architectures, and frameworks for Digital Twins in the literature to develop a technology-independent Generic Digital Twin Architecture (GDTA), which is aligned with the information technology layers of the Reference Architecture Model Industry 4.0 (RAMI4.0). This alignment facilitates a common naming and understanding of the proposed architectural structure. A proof-of-concept shows the application of Semantic Web technologies for instantiating the proposed GDTA for a use case of a Packed-Bed Thermal Energy Storage (PBTES).

Can a Byte Improve Our Bite? An Analysis of Digital Twins in the Food Industry

“… Virtual entity: The digital model is generated to replicate the physical geometries, properties, behaviors, and rules of the physical entity. Therefore, multiple models can be considered [ 85 ]. Service platform: Decision-support analyses support the monitoring and optimization of the physical entity with simulations, verification, diagnosis, and prognosis as well as prognostic [ 81 , 84 ].…”

Definition of the Future Skills Needs of Job Profiles in the Renewable Energy Sector

“…Energy suppliers can use the obtained data from digital twins for failure detection at the grid [13]. Therefore, digital twins are key enablers for the integration of renewable energy sources in smart grids, as they can predict, monitor, control, and diagnose energy supply [26]. Another application of digital twins is the monitorization of renewable energy generators as both physical damage and performance can be forecasted and modeled [27][28][29][30][31].…”

5-Dimension Cross-Industry Digital Twin Applications Model and Analysis of Digital Twin Classification Terms and Models

“…Further application domains so far addressed by research are for example Construction [37], [52]- [54], Healthcare [55]- [60], Oil and Gas Industry [61]- [65], and Logistics [19], [66]- [68]. Nevertheless, three main parts have been defined as essential to the Digital Twin concept in numerous research works [3], [6], [12], [69], [70] and are also referred to as the lowest common denominator of the Digital Twin concept in research [8], [9]. Michael Grieves illustrated them in 2003, and then again in 2015 (see Figure 1).…”

“…The broad field of applicability and its loose definition encourages extensive use of the term "Digital Twin." Digital Twin applications differ substantially in size, scope, and capabilities and are sometimes difficult to understand [3]. Zborowski [4] mentions the confusing aspect of the term Digital Twin, which means something different to everyone using it.…”