Model based systems engineering that utilizes virtual twin modeling broken down into subsystems can save engineers not only time but also money.
Modern electric vehicles (EVs) are complicated products. Many subsystems, of various technology types, must be brought
together into a single design. Collecting all these subsystems into a whole combined system is hard, especially before any prototypes have been made. Teasing out the knock-on effects of a change to one component on the whole design can be very difficult early in the design process. Simulation of a virtual representation of the design, often known as a virtual twin, enables the knock-on effects of a change to one subsystem on another, or the whole design, to be understood easily as the design evolves. Time, and money, is saved as a result.
This can be considered a form of model based systems engineering (MBSE). At its heart, MBSE sees the design as it stands digitalized in one form or another. A term often used for this digitalization is ‘digital twin’. Key to this is that the digital twin is the single source of truth i.e., it is the design as it stands at that point.
electric & hybrid vehicle technology international magazine – November 2023 Issue
In some instances this could be the digitalization of written records. In vehicles, this is often a collection of the design contents and specifications in a single managed digital place. If we consider the digital twin as the design itself, then we can consider the virtual twin a simulation model of the digital twin.
As the digital twin will often be categorized into groupings based on component function, the virtual twin in this case should be similarly organized. We can think of it in the same way as an engineering organization is structured; there will be the team working on the powertrain and so forth. A virtual twin can have a model for each of these groupings, referred to as subsystems. Together, all these models constitute the virtual twin.
Ideally in MBSE, the digital twin and the virtual twin should be digitally linked. Data comprising the digital twin can be used to parameterize the virtual twin and its constituent subsystem models.
To access the complete article, please visit: The many benefits of virtual twin modeling
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