In many companies, the engineering process follows a classic workflow: a system is first planned and designed before the circuit diagrams and system electrics, software development, assembly, electrical wiring and commissioning follow. The developed PLC and robot software is then tested and finalized manually on the real system. In view of the advancing "digital engineering" and the associated workflow and data structure optimization, however, a rethink will have to take place in order to continue to be successful on the market.

Opportunities of virtual commissioning

By using a software tool for creating a digital plant twin - such as "fe.screen-sim" from F.EE - the engineering workflow is changed from the sequential workflow described above to parallel processing. The advantages are obvious: shorter throughput times, process validation at an early stage of the design and a commissioning process that - based on software tested offline with the digital twin - shines with significant time and cost savings. "We often find that - due to the coordination of the departments involved in the engineering process - internal communication in the companies also changes for the better during the implementation of virtual commissioning," says Dipl.-Ing. Peter Meier, Head of Software Development Simulation and Virtual Commissioning at F.EE.

And although many companies have already recognized the advantages of virtual commissioning, they still fear the supposedly associated effort and ask themselves how the simulation tool can be integrated into their engineering workflow. "There are also excellent opportunities here in terms of using existing data and automated model creation," explains Meier.

Mastering the flood of data

In order to achieve the goal of virtual commissioning - namely the creation of a model that largely corresponds to the physical system - a large amount of information and data is required. This ranges from the system layouts to technology diagrams of the conveyor elements as well as complete robot offline programs. And, of course, the 3D model must be provided in a format that can be read by the simulation software.

In addition to handling large volumes of data, the frequent lack of data consistency in the systems used, including information loss and media disruptions, poses a challenge. Nevertheless, it makes sense to use data that is already available in the process when creating digital twins, as this saves enormous amounts of time, among other things. The efficient use of this data for model creation therefore depends largely on the functional scope of the simulation software used. "Another important optimization factor is consistent data preparation and structuring throughout the entire engineering process," adds Peter Meier.

If no data that can be used for modelling is available at an early stage of the engineering process, an idealized model is first created - for example to initially validate the PLC programming - which becomes increasingly detailed as the project implementation progresses.

Use design data

The flexible and direct integration of existing CAD data from the mechanical design into a simulation tool is a key component in increasing efficiency when creating the digital twin, thanks to the time savings this brings. To avoid loss of information, a native connection of common CAD systems to the simulation software is advantageous. This eliminates the often lossy conversion to an intermediate format and ensures that the digital twin contains all the data of the later real system. Other positive side effects of direct data import are the associated optimization of internal processes and the reduction of interdepartmental coordination effort while ensuring the best possible flow of information.