Today, most companies understand that their data can be invaluable. At the Digital Transformation Lab (DTL), we are doing research within sensors, measurement equipment, and algorithms that identify, interpret and exploits critical data.
DTL is a large-scale industrial and academic collaboration between Ringkøbing-Skjern Business Council, Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality, Aarhus University, and a range of industry partners: HydraSpecma, Landia, Millpart, Velux, and Vestas.
The purpose of the laboratory is to do research in what the future of industry looks like and lay the foundation for the development of product prototypes using increased digitalization, new materials, and production technologies.
DTL focuses on Digital Twin technology. A digital twin allows for the creation of a digital replica of a product or production process that can be developed and tested.
With a digital twin, we can, among other things, simulate products or processes, reducing the need for producing numerous prototypes.
And with enough data, we can predict when a product will fail – and prevent it!
This is called "predictive maintenance," which saves operational costs and optimizes the process.
The next step in implementing a digital twin is to let the computer monitor operations. Here, the computer gains a degree of autonomy to continuously adapt and optimize the process.
Today, incredible amounts of data are generated in our daily lives without us thinking much about it: from our watches, phones, household appliances, vacuum cleaners, and refrigerators. And we communicate with our computers through intelligent chatbots.
In business, we can harness data from windows, pumps, hydraulics, wind turbines – or even an entire factory production line.
Right now, we have the digital tools to revolutionize the way we work!
The technologies and data behind a digital twin can be extremely complex. But the historical background of the concept is straightforward: Apollo 13 was in orbit around the Moon and malfunctioning! Now, the three astronauts onboard needed to be rescued.
In Houston, a team of scientists had so much data available about the spacecraft that it was equivalent to a digital twin. By examining the digital twin, engineers designed a physical solution that the astronauts could execute in space.
Among other things, the engineers designed a CO2 filter from materials known to be onboard Apollo 13 and sent assembly instructions to the spacecraft. Using duct tape, a book cover, and other odds and ends, the astronauts assembled the filter – and saved their lives.
