When you hear “digital twin,” think of this as a digital replica of physical assets such as pumps and compressors, processes, people, places, systems and devices. Through these replicas, the operation of these things are modeled and simulated through their lifecycles.
For these simulations to be effective, they must represent reality. To this end, feedback to the model is important for keeping it up to date and realistic. While a digital twin solution enables a look at the current operating state, it can also look into the future to help determine how the real process is likely to respond given current and new operating parameters.
Digital twin solutions can be used in the capital project lifecycle as well as during ongoing operations and maintenance. In the project phase, control strategies can be designed and refined before the process is ready for commissioning and startup. The simulations of the control strategies and process models can also be used to train operators to operate the facility post startup.
With the digital twin running in parallel with the live process and control system, engineers can undertake optimization and run “what if” scenarios to look for opportunities to improve operating performance. Digital twin solutions can be applied to operational excellence initiatives in many areas of the business.
As part of Emerson’s Plantweb digital ecosystem, here are four different digital twin solutions based on industry and challenge to address. For oil & gas exploration and production companies, Paradigm K is a native, cloud-based application capable of monitoring, processing and interpreting large volumes of data “at rest” (archived) and “in motion” (live data from sensory devices) in real time. It provides a digital twin of an oilfield that uses seismic measurements to understand what is happening underground. This information enables the capability to forecast production within minutes.
For power, water & wastewater utilities, digital twin solutions in the Ovation DCS enable faster plant startups and unit load changes, reduce abnormal situations and unplanned outages, facilitate offline testing, and enable evaluation of simulated plant prior to construction. It helps transition personnel and technology during times of change, and improve operations through development, testing, and training.
For midstream companies providing hydrocarbon transportation through the value chain, PipelineManager is a digital twin solution that enables leak detection, optimizes pipeline throughput, and enhances pipeline integrity monitoring. It provides a detailed picture of current operations, tracking products, fluid composition, ownership, pigs, scrapers, anomalies, and more down the line.
For companies in other process and hybrid manufacturing and production industries, the DeltaV DCS with embedded simulation combined with Mimic simulation software enables plant operations to reduce the cost and risk of improving the operation and control of the plant and support upskilling of the work force.
Visit the digital twin solutions and Plantweb digital ecosystems sections on Emerson.com for more on how you can improve your project and operational performance with these technologies. You can also connect and interact with other digital twin experts in the Services group in the Emerson Exchange 365 community.
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