Holistic Digital Twin Graph Merging for Industrial Asset Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current industrial facility management systems lack a holistic representation, leading to information fragmentation across different tools and lifecycle stages, and physical installations often deviate from initial plans, hindering operational efficiency and maintenance.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method and system that converts asset-related data from various tools into a common graphical representation, using a graph matching algorithm to merge assets into a unified digital twin, enabling a holistic view of the industrial facility, including hardware and software components, and allowing predictive analytics for improved design, maintenance, and operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple different software tools are used to plan and operate an industrial facility, then each tool can perform its specific design and engineering functions, but the information becomes fragmented across different tools and there is no holistic representation of the facility
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges data from multiple specialized software tools (CAD, automation design, electrical engineering, PLC programming) into a single holistic digital twin model. This combines the functional capabilities of each specialized tool while integrating their data into a unified representation of the industrial facility, eliminating information silos and providing a comprehensive view of the entire system.
Solution Approach 2:
The digital twin serves as a universal platform that can represent and integrate data from various lifecycle stages and different software tools. It provides a multi-functional capability to store, correlate, and analyze information from product design, automation engineering, electrical planning, and operational phases within a single holistic model.
2Productivity
If physical installations are made based on various plans from different tools, then the facility can be built and operated, but the physical installation may deviate from the various plans
Solution Approach 1:
The digital twin continuously correlates physical sensor data from the installed facility with the virtual model containing information from all planning tools. This feedback mechanism detects deviations between the physical installation and the planned design, enabling real-time identification and correction of discrepancies to maintain plan adherence throughout operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The holistic digital twin is created before physical installation by integrating all design information from various planning tools. This preliminary virtual model serves as a reference blueprint that guides the physical installation process and enables pre-validation of design consistency before implementation.
3Loss of information
If a holistic digital twin is created by integrating data from multiple tools and data sources, then a unified representation of the facility is achieved, but the complexity of data conversion and matching increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a digital twin model as an intermediary structure that standardizes and harmonizes data from multiple specialized tools. This intermediary representation layer provides a common framework for integrating heterogeneous data formats, reducing the complexity of direct data conversion between different software tools by establishing a universal intermediate format.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for generating a holistic digital twin of an industrial facility that includes a plurality of assets, wherein the said system includes conversion units configured to convert asset related data collected from different tools utilized to plan and/or operate the industrial facility in a tool specific data format and asset related data provided by data sources of the industrial facility in a data source specific data format into a common graphical representation, a matching unit configured to match the common graphical representations of the converted asset related data to provide a mapping between the assets of the industrial facility, and a merging unit configured to merge the mapped assets of the industrial facility into a unified graph to provide the holistic digital twin of the industrial facility.