Roadmap to semi-automatic generation of digital twins for brownfield process plants

Sierla, Seppo; Azangoo, Mohammad; Rainio, Kari; Papakonstantinou, Nikolaos; Fay, Alexander; Honkamaa, Petri; Vyatkin, Valeriy

doi:10.1016/j.jii.2021.100282

Cited by 34 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Secondly, the approach uses a data analysis layer in charge of the dynamic model creation, and finally, a data decision layer to evaluate the process planning based on evaluation rules. Sierla et al [ 60 ] propose a method for semi-automatic DT specification for process plants. The approach takes the available documentation, such as PDFs and other human-readable formats, and analyzes the information to propose a DT.…”

Section: Digital Twin Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design, Modeling and Implementation of Digital Twins

Segovia

García-Alfaro

2022

Sensors

122

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A Digital Twin (DT) is a set of computer-generated models that map a physical object into a virtual space. Both physical and virtual elements exchange information to monitor, simulate, predict, diagnose and control the state and behavior of the physical object within the virtual space. DTs supply a system with information and operating status, providing capabilities to create new business models. In this paper, we focus on the construction of DTs. More specifically, we focus on determining (methodologically) how to design, create and connect physical objects with their virtual counterpart. We explore the problem into several phases: from functional requirement selection and architecture planning to integration and verification of the final (digital) models. We address as well how physical components exchange real-time information with DTs, as well as experimental platforms to build DTs (including protocols and standards). We conclude with a discussion and open challenges.

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Section: Digital Twin Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design, Modeling and Implementation of Digital Twins

Segovia

García-Alfaro

2022

Sensors

122

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“…To simplify the design process of digital twins, generation of digital twins from 2D and 3D CAD plans/models is addressed in [17], by means of generating graphs from available plans/models that pose a basis for graph matchmaking. This approach has been slightly improved, generalized, and matured in [18], targeting generation of digital twins for brown-fields production systems in general, yet considering piping and instrumentation diagrams still as a use-case. The use of AutomationML can support design of the digital twin and make their design process more efficient and easier [19].…”

Section: Digital Twins For Production Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digitalized Automation Engineering of Industry 4.0 Production Systems and Their Tight Cooperation with Digital Twins

Novák

Vyskočil

2022

Processes

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Smart production systems conforming the Industry 4.0 vision are based on subsystems that are integrated in a way that supports high flexibility and re-configurability. Specific components and devices, such as industrial and mobile robots or transport systems, now pose full-blown systems, and the entire Industry 4.0 production system constitutes a system-of-systems. Testing, fine-tuning, and production planning are important tasks in the entire engineering production system life-cycle. All these steps can be significantly supported and improved by digital twins, which are digitalized replicas of physical systems that are synchronized with the real systems at runtime. However, the design and implementation of digital twins for such integrated, yet partly stand-alone, industrial sub-systems can represent challenging and significantly time-consuming engineering tasks. In this article, the problem of the digital twin design for discrete-event production systems is addressed. The article also proposes to utilize a formal description of production resources and related production operations that the resources can perform. An executable version of such formalization can be automatically derived into a form of a digital twin. Such a derived digital twin can be enhanced with operation duration times that are obtained with process mining methods, leading to more realistic simulations for the entire production system. The proposed solution was successfully tested and validated in the Industry 4.0 Testbed, equipped with four robots and a transport system, which is utilized as a use-case in this article.

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“…The approach towards the generation of a digital twin for brownfield process systems presented in this study was adopted from the general road map presented by Sierla et al [8]. Brownfield process systems are functioning plants that may have been developed and built before modern digital systems and may thus lack design information in an Industry 4.0 format.…”

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confidence: 99%

A Methodology for Generating a Digital Twin for Process Industry: A Case Study of a Fiber Processing Pilot Plant

et al. 2022

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Digital twins are now one of the top trends in Industry 4.0, and many companies are using them to increase their level of digitalization, and, as a result, their productivity and reliability. However, the development of digital twins is difficult, expensive, and time consuming. This article proposes a semiautomated methodology to generate digital twins for process plants by extracting process data from engineering documents using text and image processing techniques. The extracted information is used to build an intermediate graph model, which serves as a starting point for generating a model in a simulation software. The translation of a graph-based model into a simulation software environment necessitates the use of simulator-specific mapping rules. This paper describes an approach for generating a digital twin based on a steady state simulation model, using a Piping and Instrumentation Diagram (P&ID) as the main source of information. The steady state modeling paradigm is especially suitable for use cases involving retrofits for an operational process plant, also known as a brownfield plant. A methodology and toolchain is proposed, consisting of manual, semi-automated and fully automated steps. A pilot scale brownfield fiber processing plant was used as a case study to demonstrate our proposed methodology and toolchain, and to identify and address issues that may not occur in laboratory scale case studies. The article concludes with an evaluation of unresolved concerns and future research topics for the automated development of a digital twin for a brownfield process system.

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Roadmap to semi-automatic generation of digital twins for brownfield process plants

Cited by 34 publications

References 61 publications

Design, Modeling and Implementation of Digital Twins

Design, Modeling and Implementation of Digital Twins

Digitalized Automation Engineering of Industry 4.0 Production Systems and Their Tight Cooperation with Digital Twins

A Methodology for Generating a Digital Twin for Process Industry: A Case Study of a Fiber Processing Pilot Plant

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