A Technical Seminar Report on

DIGITAL TWIN
Submitted to
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad
In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of degree of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
In

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Submitted by

KONDI NAVEEN
(20B65A0311)
Under the esteemed Guidance of

Dr. ASIT KUMAR PARIDA

Associate Professor

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

NALLA MALLA REDDY ENGINEERING COLLEGE

(Affiliated to JNTUH, Hyderabad & Approved by A.I.C.T.E)

(Accredited by N.B.A & Graded “A” by NAAC)

DIVYA NAGAR, GHATKESAR (MANDAL), MEDCHAL-MALKAJGIRI (DIST)-500088

2022-2023

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

With the deep sense of gratitude, I acknowledge the guidance, help and active cooperation
by the following people whose guidance has sustained the effort which led to the successful
completion of this work.
I am very thankful to my guide Dr. ASIT KUMAR PARIDA, associate professor in
Mechanical Engineering Department, Nalla Malla Reddy Engineering College, for his valuable
guidance and suggestions.
I specially thankful to Dr. T.V.S.M.R BHUSHAN, Associate Professor and Head of
Mechanical Engineering Department during the progress of project, for his timely suggestion
and help inspires me to complete this project.
I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Dr.M.N.V. RAMESH, Principal, Nalla Malla
Reddy Engineering College, for his consistent help and encouragement.

KONDI NAVEEN
(20B65A0311)

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S.no: Contents Page.no:

1. Introduction to Digital Twin 04

2. Digital Twin types 05

3. Applications of Digital Twins 06

4. Digital Twins in manufacturing 07

5. Use cases of Digital Twins in manufacturing 08

6. Tools needed to develop Digital Twins 09

7. Benefits of Digital Twins 10

8. Conclusion 11

9. References 12

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 1. INTODUCTION TO DIGITAL TWIN

Digital twins were anticipated by David Gelernter's 1991 book Mirror Worlds. The concept
and model of the digital twin was first publicly introduced in 2002 by Michael Grieves, at
a Society of Manufacturing Engineers conference in Troy, Michigan. Grieves proposed the
digital twin as the conceptual model underlying product lifecycle management (PLM).

A digital twin is a virtual representation of a real-world physical system or product

(a physical twin). If you think that sounds a lot like 3D renderings of computer-aided design
(CAD) models, you’d be right. But where digital twins differ crucially from simple 3D models
is that they also combine the physical elements and the dynamics of how that object or device
operates in the real world. In other words, you can see, almost in real time, precisely how an
object or device responds throughout its lifecycle. Just as an asset changes in response to factors
like the weather, the ambient temperature, operator idiosyncrasies, and so forth, so too does its
digital twin.

Figure 1: Digital Twin of a Gas Turbine

The example of a real time digital twin, is an object being studied for example, a gas turbine
may be outfitted with various sensors related to vital areas of functionality. These sensors
produce data about different aspects of the physical twin’s performance, such as external
weather conditions, RPM, and energy output. This data is then relayed to a processing system

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and applied to the digital twin for simulation, integration, testing, monitoring,
and maintenance. Digital twins are the result of continual improvement in the creation of
product design and engineering activities.

2. DIGITAL TWIN TYPES

Digital twins are commonly divided into subtypes that includes:

a) Digital twin prototype (DTP): The DTP consists of the designs, analyses, and processes
that realize a physical product. The DTP exists before there is a physical product.

b) Digital twin instance (DTI): The DTI is the digital twin of each individual instance of the
product once it is manufactured. The DTI is linked with its physical counterpart from the
remainder of the physical counterpart's life.

c) Digital twin aggregate (DTA): The DTA is the aggregation of DTIs whose data and
information can be used for interrogation about the physical product, prognostics, and learning.
The specific information contained in the digital twins is driven by use cases. The digital twin
is a logical construct, meaning that the actual data and information may be contained in other
applications.

Figure 2: Digital twin monitoring

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 3. APPLICATIONS OF DIGITAL TWINS

a) Aerospace and aviation:

Aerospace tasks are intrinsically complex. End products like aircraft and spacecraft are
massively expensive to design and build, making it all the more imperative to get work done
right the first time in order to avoid costly delays. From design and engineering all the way
through to assembly and maintenance, digital twins improve decision-making by allowing
teams to visualize and interact with computer-aided design (CAD) models and other datasets
in real-time 3D.

b) Automotive industry:

In the automotive industry, digital twins are used to simulate and test new design concepts
before they are built by using existing data, optimize production processes, and even predict
how a vehicle will perform in different conditions. The top benefit of using digital twins for
automotive OEMs is the ability to save time and money by identifying and addressing potential
issues before they occur. It plays an increasingly important role across every workflow in the
automotive lifecycle, from design and manufacturing to marketing and maintenance.

c) Manufacturing industry:

The physical manufacturing objects are virtualized and represented as digital twin models
(avatars) seamlessly and closely integrated in both the physical and cyber spaces. Physical
objects and twin models interact in a mutually beneficial manner.

d) Urban planning and construction industry:

Geographic digital twins have been popularised in urban planning practice, given the
increasing appetite for digital technology in the Smart Cities movement. These digital twins
are often proposed in the form of interactive platforms to capture and display real-time 3D and
4D spatial data in order to model urban environments (cities) and the data feeds within them.

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e) Healthcare industry:

The concept of digital twin in the healthcare industry was originally proposed and first used
in product or equipment prognostics. The availability of digital twin technologies makes it
possible to build personalized models for patients, continuously adjustable based on tracked
health and lifestyle parameters.

4. DIGITAL TWINS IN MANUFACTURING

The physical manufacturing objects are virtualized and represented as digital twin models
(avatars) seamlessly and closely integrated in both the physical and cyber spaces. Physical
objects and twin models interact in a mutually beneficial manner. In the manufacturing
process, the digital twin is like a virtual replica of the near-time occurrences in the factory.
Thousands of sensors are being placed throughout the physical manufacturing process, all
collecting data from different dimensions, such as environmental conditions, behavioural
characteristics of the machine and work that is being performed. All this data is continuously
communicated, collected by the digital twin, by then allowing the following cycle of product
design and promotion to be optimized for higher performance of the manufacturing plant.

Figure 3: Digital twin in manufacturing

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 5. USE CASES OF DIGITAL TWINS IN MANUFACTURING

Digital twins can be used in manufacturing in several ways:

a) Improving System Designs:

Teams in manufacturing use digital twins to plan out and test new production lines. This
means they can find potential problems and areas to optimize before they create the physical
system, saving time and money. In the same vein, warehouse designs can be planned more
easily and effectively with digital twins. Digital twin visualization techniques can make
problems much more visible. They also help improve communication within the whole team.

b) Testing New Products:

Before, teams had to go through a lengthy trial and error process to test manufacturing a new
or updated product in an existing system. With digital twins, manufacturers can test out updated
configurations while lowering the risk of costly miscalculations. Simulating many different
scenarios is faster and easier than physical testing.

c) Monitoring and Preventative Maintenance:

Manufacturing teams have long been collecting vital information about their machinery, such
as humidity, motion, vibration, etc. Now, with IoT connected devices and digital twins, this
information can be incorporated into a comprehensive view of a system, complete with real-
time data. Outliers, spikes in usage, or unexpected behavior become easier to notice earlier on.
If a problem begins to develop for a component, teams will be aware of it before it has the
chance to halt production or become a hazard.

d) Product life cycle management:

Using digital twin technology, manufacturers can provide augmented reality (AR) programs to
maintenance technicians. Through AR glasses, technicians can view the most up-to-date
models of the machine laid over the one in front of them. This ensures they always have the
right specs as they need them. Then they redesign, optimize and develop the new version of
the product

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 6. TOOLS NEEDED TO DEVELOP DIGITAL TWINS

The tools needed to develop digital twins are:

a) CAD or 3D modelling tools:

Engineering and design teams will already have CAD or other 3D design programs as a
foundation of their manufacturing process. Companies building digital twins create pipelines
in which CAD designs are exported into other tools in the pipeline. Such a pipeline has many
advantages. One of them is not having to make the same changes twice in two different tools.
If a change has to be made in a CAD design, it can be brought over seamlessly into the enhanced
digital twin. Another benefit is the speed of overall development.

b) IoT and sensors:

The term IoT, or Internet of Things, refers to the collective network of connected devices and
the technology that facilitates communication between devices and the cloud, as well as
between the devices themselves. The sensors used in IoT technologies detect and measure any
change in the environment and report on their status. This means everyday devices like,
vacuums, cars, and machines can use sensors to collect data and respond intelligently to users.

c) Game Engines:

Because of their powerful rendering abilities and advanced physics engines, game engines like
Unreal supercharge the capabilities of digital twins. They make visualizations easier to
understand by bringing them to life and enabling an emotional connection with the thing they
represent.

d) Version control:

All of the data collected and created in the digital twin process (and there is a lot of it) needs
to be managed carefully. A version control system allows you to manage changes to files over
time and store these modifications in a database.

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 7. BENEFITS OF DIGITAL TWINS

The benefits of digital twins are incredibly far-reaching and extend throughout a product’s
entire lifecycle, from design, to build, and finally to operation.

Here are just some of the benefits of digital twins:

1. Improved design: Digital twins allow you to quickly test designs using simulations, without
the need for costly prototypes.

2. Improved build: Digital twins allow you to project how a change in the manufacturing
process might impact things like efficiency, quality and yield.

3. Better early detection and warnings: Digital twins can quickly alert you to any
abnormalities or failures in the asset, allowing you to address before it becomes a major (and
potentially costly) problem.

4. Predictive maintenance: Digital twins not only gives you real-time insight into how an
asset is performing, but it also allows you to model your interventions, so you can see the full-
scale of their impact and minimise downtime losses.

5. Aggregated data: Aggregated data is valuable. As Dimitri Volkmann of GE notes: “If your
organisation is monitoring multiple systems of the same type of assets, for instance a fleet of
jet engines (each of which has an individual digital twin), you can start to learn from all of
them as a cohort, find similar patterns or trends, and that analysis can lead to refining models
for higher fidelity in the future.”

6. Post-manufacturing visibility of products: For many products, once they leave the factory,
there is no more insight into how that product is being used by consumers – until something
goes wrong. Digital twins can change that, by giving manufacturers visibility into their real-
world usage, allowing them to further optimize the product, predict when it might be in need
of service, and quickly fix any problems that do arise.

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 8. CONCLUSION

Digital twin technology provides accurate results and its real-time monitoring makes it possible
to be used in different fields to improve productivity, customer experience and enhance the
business of any industry. This technology enables the physical component to be accessed
remotely ahead of any failure that would occur in the system reducing the chances of failure.
By 2022 digital twin technology is expected to be implemented in almost all the fields to
improve quality.

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 9. REFERENCES

• Introduction to Digital Twin

https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/focus/industry-4-0/digital-twin-technology-
smart-factory.html

• Applications of Digital Twins

Top 10 Applications & Use Cases for Digital Twins | Unity

• Digital Twins in manufacturing

E-book of Digital Twins in Manufacturing by Prof. Dr. Hab. Vytautas Ostasevicius.

• Tools needed to develop Digital Twins

https://www.perforce.com/blog/vcs/digital-twin-manufacturing

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