What Types Of Digital Twins Are There?

Digital twins (DT) are a perfect example of how advanced technology is gaining traction through Industry 4.0. Based on simulation and virtual reality principles, DTs allow engineers to create a virtual copy of any object or scenario. It can be as simple as a single component, or it may put those components together for a reproduction of a whole product or piece of equipment. It can even replicate an entire workspace. Underpinning the technological concept is a continuous real-time exchange of data between the physical object and its digital twin.

How Are Digital Twins Used In Industry?

With the continuous data exchange going on between the DT and reality, the DT reflects all fluctuations in real-life conditions, while simultaneously applying to the physical entity any relevant data acquired by its implementation. This offers many benefits to the industry, especially for manufacturers who want to optimise the different stages of the production process. Although manufacturing is one of the main sectors adopting and developing DT technology, you’ll also find it successfully implemented in other sectors such as e-commerce, retail, logistics and healthcare. 

The main value to the industry of DT solutions is in pursuing process optimisation. In achieving this goal, other advantages may be triggered, such as predictive analytics or upgrading to smart automation. In the last few years, the original technology has greatly expanded its abilities, so you’ll now find that several types of DT solutions exist, differing generally by their scale of coverage. 

Types Of Digital Twin

Digital twins can be separated into four main categories:

Component Or Parts Twin

The parts or component twin replicates the smallest individual elements of your production cycle – things like valves, switches or sensors. Being able to access a component twin means you can monitor the performance of specific items and test them in real-time virtual conditions for parameters such as efficiency, stability and endurance. You can use this DT type to reproduce the behaviour of any item, enabling enhanced surveillance of its performance and timely maintenance. This, in turn, ensures your product quality and a stable production process.

Product Or Asset Twin 

Product or asset twins form the next level in the DT technological hierarchy. They replicate a collection of components or parts twins, combined into a more complex asset. For example, they could use the data generated by individual component twins to model something like a pump, an engine, or even a building. The product twin analyses the data collected from the interaction of the separate parts to assess the performance and efficiency of the whole asset. This gives improved insight to design engineers, who can then devise potential improvements and energy savings. It also enables enhanced productivity through optimisation metrics like mean time to repair (MTTR) and mean time to failure (MTTF).

System Or Unit Twin

System twins are the next step up in simulation, replicating the combination of virtual assets into a functional system or unit. These provide you with a large-scale overview of your plant or factory floor, so you can model various system configurations. This will help you achieve optimal efficiency and may highlight opportunities for new profit sources. You can examine specific operational aspects of a system to acquire the data that will enable more strategic decision-making. Over and above simply detecting malfunction and optimisation, system twins offer you a route to full process visibility.

Process Twin

On the top rung of the DT ladder is the process twin, which combines all your system twins into one. This type of DT is capable of exploring how these different systems collaborate and synchronise. You get an overview of all the workflows and processes in your premises, enabling you to analyse your output with greater depth and versatility. Using process twins means you can adjust inputs like the inflow of raw materials and acquire output data without jeopardising production quality or creating any disruption to the physical manufacturing process. Using this tool enables you to test out different business hypotheses harmlessly and at your own convenience. You can track your business metrics more efficiently and thus make decisions based on data rather than intuition or speculation.

Using Different Types Of Digital Twins

Digital twins have taken off in recent years, as Industry 4.0 has impacted more and more industrial sectors. In manufacturing, the most commonly adopted type of DT are component twins, being typically the least expensive step on the digital twin ladder. They enable smaller companies to explore first-hand the benefits of real-time monitoring and simulation and represent the building blocks of a larger and more advanced DT implementation.

Also gaining in popularity are product or asset twins, which allow the simulation of whole products or equipment. This in turn offers the ability of predictive maintenance, which reduces downtime and overall expenditure. They can also reduce warranty repair costs and enhance customer satisfaction. In the automotive sector, for example, manufacturers can maintain virtual copies of their vehicles and, by monitoring their performance, inform car owners if any maintenance is required before any breakdown.

Product twins offer the chance to change your business model, for instance, by tracking a product’s performance data and changing the way it’s marketed to your clients. They’re also playing a key role in creating what’s called the industrial metaverse, allowing the precise translation of physical structures into a virtual world. 

The more complex types of DT are mainly taken up only by large-scale enterprises that can afford the investment. System and process twins help them attain smarter automation and gain complete control of production processes and quality. They help reduce the level of defective products, relieve workers from unnecessary tasks, enhance safety and optimise energy consumption.

Digital twins offer benefits in accordance with their status in the hierarchy of types. The most basic types are an essential starting point for any business contemplating adoption because their design is cumulative. Once you’ve achieved the essential technological concepts, you can move on to more complicated, intertwined modelling of processes and production systems.