Page 34 - ITAtube Journal 2/2019

Technical Papers
SMS group GmbH
Simulations, Virtual Reality and Augmented
Reality in mechanical engineering
Time-saving, cost-cutting and exciting
Dr. Mark Haverkamp
Plant Simulation Tube Rolling, Section Rolling and Forging SMS group GmbH
Every plant operator or mechanical engineer would be thrilled about being able to move freely about a factory and look into the interior of all the machines. How exciting would it be to be able to watch what exactly is happening inside a machine processing, for example, red hot material. Taking a bird’s eye view of a works’ entire logistical activities is another fascinating experience, the simulation team of SMS group can offer their customers. Not less appealing is the idea of being able to see one’s new plant or machine in operation before it has actually been built. All this has become possible thanks to virtual reality technology.
Four types of simulations and
what bene ts they provide
However, all this is not just done for the sake of excitement. It rather provides our customers, devel- opers and engineers a number of important economic and process-technological bene ts. Dr. Mark Haver- kamp, Head of the SMS group’s RDLP Unit, explains: “We save a lot of valuable time through what we call simultaneous simulation. This allows us to examine important functions, processes or logistical ows at a very early stage in a virtual plant set-up and make use of the thus identi ed optimization potential in our planning and design processes. All subsequent activities down to the commissioning of the plant will be accelerated as a result. Moreover, preliminary technical discussions with the customer become much more effective as we can explain technical solutions based on the realistic look of the virtual machine. With digitalization becoming increasingly widespread in industry, digital cloning or the gen- eration of digital twins of a plant are becoming key issues also in the operation of existing plants. For some of our customers, we have already implemented digital clones of their plants. This allows them to test new processes, new products and process opti-
mizations very cost-ef ciently and transfer those variants that have turned out to be successful in the tests to the real plant. Additionally, digital clones are excellent training means for the operating and maintenance staff.”
Within SMS group, the RDLP Unit is responsible for simulations in connection with forging, tube making and long product processes and plants. “We focus on four types of simulations, and four corresponding packages, which our customers and our own depart- ments may use in support of their activities,” states Mark Haverkamp.
Package 1 includes physical process and plant simulations.
Package 2 relates to simulations of logistics, which we perform to analyze and determine the layout of our plants.
Package 3 covers HIL (Hardware in the Loop) sim- ulations, which relate simulations to real auto- mation systems in order to optimize the process and establish trigger parameters for controls.
Package 4 comprises the areas of virtual reality, augmented reality and digital cloning. Here the main objectives are to provide the customers state-of-the-art digital support during running operation and new interactive approaches to maintenance and repair procedures.
Physical process and plant simulations
The process and plant simulations performed by the RDLP team are, simply put, representations of our plants and the processes they perform. They support the experts of SMS group, for example, in determin- ing the appropriate drive layout for a plant, trying out up to which maximal forces the process chains would still work properly and understanding under which conditions it would be necessary to install higher-power motors. Mark Haverkamp: “Our models make cost-intensive experiments redundant. There is no risk of damage and we can examine and test out each individual process parameter separately.”
ITAtube Journal No2/May 2019
34