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Engineer Innovation Podcast | Executable Digital Twin: A Smart Watch for Machines | Jan Croes
Many of us have become almost entirely reliant on our smart watches. My smart watch can tell when I’m stressed. It nags me about not getting enough sleep. It tracks how much I move. It monitors my heart rate 24/7 and predicts how much oxygen is being circulated around my body. And it pings me with an endless stream of social media notifications, that I really should be ignoring.
But what if this technology was available for machines?
At engineering school one of the first things, we learn is how we can measure torque and bending on a shaft using strain gauges that convert deformation into an electrical signal that can be measured (and calibrated). But in the words of our guest, Forcebit CEO Jan Croes:
“And sticking strain gauges on a shaft is not fast, it's not easy, and it's not reliable. Because what you have to do is you have to build up a sensor from scratch onto a shaft in an environment that is oily, that is messy, there is no room. And what you have to do is you have to completely put a barrier shaft, you have to mount strain gauges, you have to wire stuff, you have to balance it, you have to put duct tape around it, and you have to pray that things don't fly off.”
This edition of the Engineer Innovation Podcast is about the engineering challenges involved in designing Forcebit a device that aims to make measurements on rotary drive systems as fast and easy as putting on a smartwatch. This is an important application of the digital twin technology in which the combination of simulation and measurement allows virtual sensors to replace physical sensors and increases our understanding of complicated systems.
• The benefits of a combination of virtual and physical sensors over physical sensors alone.
• The engineering technology that allows Forcebit to function
• How data collected from Forcebit can lead to better engineering decisions.
• The sustainability implications of reducing over-engineering through improved data.
• How engineering simulation empowers startup companies to get their product to market more quickly.
This episode of the Engineer Innovation podcast is brought to you by Siemens Digital Industries Software — bringing electronics, engineering, and manufacturing together to build a better digital future.
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▶️ About Simcenter:
Engineering departments today must develop smart products that integrate mechanical functions with electronics and controls. They should utilize new materials and manufacturing methods and deliver new designs within ever shorter design cycles. This requires current engineering practices for product performance verification to evolve into a Digital Twin approach, which enables us to follow a more predictive process for systems-driven product development.
Simcenter™ software uniquely combines system simulation, 3D CAE and tests, to help predict performance across all critical attributes, early and throughout the entire product lifecycle. By combining physics-based simulations with insights gained from data analytics, Simcenter helps you optimize design, and deliver innovations faster and with greater confidence.
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