If you can do it in in real life, you can do it with a digital twin. Digital twins validate and extend real-world CNC machines, making the creation and use of these simulations a worthwhile investment for machine shops and their customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Digital twins offer functionality beyond parts program validation, offline operator training and cycle time estimation. \u201cThe things that could stop the setup process and the production of parts can be simulated in the virtual world [as well],\u201d explained Chris Pollack, technology application team manager at Siemens. \u201cThere\u2019s not any piece of the machining process that can\u2019t be simulated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Digital twin simulation capabilities<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Until a digital twin is leveraged, it is not necessarily known how a part will fit in the machining space or fit in the enclosure\u2014how the part will be held or if the tool will even reach it. \u201cWe need to prove whether the assembly and the sub-fixtures can even fit in that environment,\u201d Pollack said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MyVirtual Machine runs what Siemens calls its NC kernel, which differentiates it from third-party simulation packages. \u201cThe software that makes the CNC make decisions has the CNC\u2019s brain in digital space,\u201d Pollack continued. \u201cWe\u2019re leveraging the brain of the CNC, because it has our kernel running inside of this environment. It\u2019s more than just the look ahead. It\u2019s the decision the system makes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The digital twin can simulate material removal, gouge detection, holder detection, fixture collision detection and more. The only limit of the digital twin is quality control of simulated parts. \u201cThe [simulated] part will always be perfect,\u201d Pollack said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pollack explained that the digital twin can\u2019t predict a hard spot. However, \u201c[users] can implement in-process probing (Figure 1) and can validate the process for continual system checking where they simulate cutting a feature, drop a probe into it to measure it and validate it. If the virtual part is good, continue. If it isn\u2019t good, jump back in the program, adjust the tool and rerun the part.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Executing tool and part program management<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Digital twins are what make smart virtual CNC machines virtual (Figure 2). They mimic the real-world environment. Part program and tooling management are the same as in real life; the program in the digital twin must match the real-world machine. Interfacing via network and\/or a pooled server from which part programs are pulled allows the digital twin to be incorporated into the same solution as the real-world machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Pollack, the function that makes program and tooling management work is using OPC UA on the digital twin. \u201cI can \u2018handshake\u2019 the digital twin to an external cloud-based server and can mimic the same communication that I would do in the real world,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Digital twin sources<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who creates the digital twin\u2014machine builders, system integrators, or end users? Pollack said that historically, machine builders didn\u2019t make the digital twin. \u201cTypically, [digital twins] are left to advanced end users, system integrators, or a third-party solution provider [to create],\u201d he explained. \u201cBut there is a paradigm shift taking place right now.\u201d The digital twin concept was an afterthought: The machine was built, commissioned, is running, then someone decides to have a digital representation for the engineering or programming department, and they would use the machine\u2019s CAD models to create a digital twin using the software they desire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen we released the SINUMERIK ONE control, the first natively digital CNC, the concept of manufacturing for an OEM changed,\u201d Pollack said. \u201cSINUMERIK ONE allows full commissioning of machine components in a digital environment before the machine is built. Using Create MyVirtual Machine, builders can conceptually design an entire machine and run real-world parts on it in a digital world to do proof of concept. The digital twin the end user employs, Run MyVirtual Machine, organically gets created because the builder has already done the front-end work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pollack explained that at least 75% of the builders who have moved to the SINUMERIK ONE control are using the digital twin from a design and engineering concept to create the machine. \u201cIt\u2019s a tool they didn\u2019t have before,\u201d he explained. \u201cPossibly 40% of our high-end users have made the switch to SINUMERIK ONE because the control is designed for high-end applications.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Digital twin\u2019s role in CNC machine commissioning<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Machine builders and end users can now do complex setups in the virtual world that would otherwise be done in a real-world environment. All a machine builder or user has to do is import the 3-D models so the machine can be commissioned as if they were tying a real control to the machine components. \u201cAn OEM can do benchmarking to see if a new kinematic design is making part programs run faster,\u201d explained Pollack. \u201cAnything that can be done in the real world can be done in the smart virtual machine\u2014without having to turn a wrench.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OEMs and\/or users can debug the programmable logic controller (PLC), add new features and can get into the backbone of the control and adjust machine parameters. \u201cIf I could do it in the real world, I can do it here,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the real world, a probe in the spindle touches the part to set zeros and do alignments. We simulate the probe virtually. We can do that now in this virtual world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you can do it in in real life, you can do it with a digital twin. Digital twins validate and extend real-world CNC machines, making the creation and use of these simulations a worthwhile investment for machine shops and their customers. Digital twins offer functionality beyond parts program validation, offline operator training and cycle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21413,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Untitled-13.jpg",500,313,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Untitled-13.jpg",500,313,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Untitled-13.jpg",500,313,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Untitled-13-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Untitled-13-300x188.jpg",300,188,true],"large":["https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Untitled-13.jpg",500,313,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Untitled-13.jpg",500,313,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Untitled-13.jpg",500,313,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Untitled-13.jpg",500,313,false],"graptor-sq-xs":["https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Untitled-13.jpg",100,63,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Admin CG","author_link":"https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/author\/admin-cg\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"news<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"If you can do it in in real life, you can do it with a digital twin. Digital twins validate and extend real-world CNC machines, making the creation and use of these simulations a worthwhile investment for machine shops and their customers. Digital twins offer functionality beyond parts program validation, offline operator training and cycle…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21411"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21414,"href":"https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21411\/revisions\/21414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web3unplugged.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}