default assignment MGA enables commissioning of digital twin
MGA in Würzburg wants to support its customers in the virtual operation of machines and systems in the future. Even if it cannot completely replace the real commissioning, it provides many advantages.
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(Photo: MGA)
MGA Ingenieurdienstleistungen GmbH in Würzburg wants to carry out the hypothetical commissioning. The default commissioning should be able to detect a large part of the potential sources of error in advance and, if possible, eliminate them. The basis is an image of a machine in a virtual three-dimensional space, the components of which perform movements in the simulation that correspond to the subsequent reality. The higher the accuracy in setting this digital twin and the parameters associated with the real machine, the more time can be saved on site.
Increase software quality
Lorenz Arnold, managing director of MGA, sees virtualization as a great opportunity to increase the quality of software created for clients. In doing so, it refers to the prerequisite for high software quality: testing. “The degree of maturity cannot be as high as the quality of the testing procedures,” Arnold says. Programmers create the possibility for this by translating the machine’s architecture into a virtual space. This aspect was the catalyst for Lorenz Arnold to put the hypothetical commissioning on the agenda.
Also in light of the current situation with unsustainable travel and accommodation conditions, owner and managing director Lorenz Arnold decided to start the virtual operation as a venture. “Shortening uptime does not only mean cost savings, because you can work better in the office than in a construction site, for example at the other end of the world. For me, it is very important to be able to work more parallel in the process of creating a machine product. ‘, he explains.
Virtual commissioning cannot replace real
However, virtualization is an additional complex task that requires proven knowledge from both mechanical engineering and information technology. It cannot completely replace a real assignment, as MGA employee Gerrit Jache explains: “A hypothetical assignment can be as good as a model. Some things are hard to implement. And the more undefined the data, the more difficult the simulation.”
Managing Director Arnold adds: “Some things can only be tested and adjusted on the machine. This can have something to do with local conditions.” For example, he cites letter-sorting and packing machines: “How you handle paper depends on humidity and also on the nature of the paper, which depends Turn on the resource. Site conditions in Siberia differ from those in the southern seas. Of course, we cannot foresee such influencing factors during the hypothetical commissioning. “
Even if implementation efforts for virtualization are still relatively high at the moment, it is likely that it will be possible to create a virtual assignment in a timely, faster and more cost-effective manner. “On the one hand, mechanical engineering is fascinated by the hypothetical commissioning method, but on the other hand it avoids effort. I fully understand these concerns. But we have noticed: the more we engage with it, the faster it advances — with clear cost advantages to the client,” says Arnold. The managing director is convinced. that machine makers will not be able to deal with hypothetical commissioning in the future.
(ID: 47476877)
