Enhancing Car Designing and Production with Digital Twin

The automotive industry is constantly changing, and car designers and manufacturers are looking for new ways to enhance their processes. Digital Twin is becoming increasingly popular in improving car production processes because of its ability to simulate parts, components, and systems in the car-making process.

This blog post will explore how Digital Twin can enhance car design and production, understand the current process for designing and producing cars, and discuss the potential benefits of leveraging Digital Twin technology.

What is Digital Twin?

A Digital Twin is a virtual representation of a physical object, system, or process that uses simulation and data analytics to capture the state, behavior, and evolution.

In car design and manufacturing, Digital Twin is a virtual replica of an existing physical asset, such as a car, created using data from a real-world object. Digital Twin can be used to simulate and analyze a car’s performance, detect anomalies, and optimize its processes.

Types of Digital Twin

Digital Twin technology can be broadly divided into three categories: product, production, and performance Digital Twins.

Product Digital Twin

Product Digital Twins are simulations of a physical product or system used to design a car from the ground up. They enable automobile engineers to accurately model the components and systems of a vehicle, identify anomalies, and improve design and engineering decisions. Furthermore, these simulations reduce the number of errors in the physical prototype as they allow virtual testing without making any modifications or enhancements.

Production Digital Twin

Production Digital Twin simulate the entire car manufacturing process, such as materials handling, assembly line processes, etc. These models help manufacturers optimize their production processes by collecting data from various simulations. In addition, they can also be used to plan layout changes and analyze response times at different steps of the production cycle to identify bottlenecks or weak points and redesign them accordingly.

Performance Digital Twin

Performance Digital Twins are virtual copies of actual vehicles used to replicate the performance of cars in real-world conditions, such as environmental factors like road conditions, traffic patterns etc. This helps develop more efficient cars by giving engineers accurate and reliable data from different tests, which can then be used to optimize algorithms for autonomous driving.

Understanding the Car Design and Production Process

Currently, car manufacturers design and produce cars using various methods such as CAD (Computer Aided Design), CNC (Computer Numerical Control) programming, and machine tools.

After designing the car using these tools, manufacturers create a physical prototype to validate checks before full-scale production. Although this approach is suitable for specific scenarios, there are several challenges faced by car designers and manufacturers during production.

Challenges faced in the Production Process

One significant challenge faced is the high cost of producing a physical prototype due to its time-consuming nature. Manufacturers have to repeat multiple cycles of modifications or enhancements, leading to increased costs and delays in production or development.

Another challenge faced is in detecting anomalies within production systems. In a traditional setting, it requires complex inspections and tests to detect problems that can lead to costly rework or even product recalls.

Leveraging the Potential of Digital Twin to Streamline Car Designing and Production

The potential of Digital Twin technology to streamline car designing and production is limitless. With it, designers and manufacturers can digitally simulate car parts and systems to optimize development.

For example, cars powered by Digital Twin can detect errors during production more quickly than traditional methods. Additionally, leveraging the technology for virtual testing of drivetrains or other components can help identify any anomalies before they manifest in the real world, leading to cost savings for rework or product recalls.

Also, it lets teams to look at different simulation scenarios and learn more about how their processes work. This helps them improve the accuracy of their designs while reducing the cost and time of making physical prototypes.

Companies that have adopted the Digital Twin Technology

Here are some car companies that have used this technology to improve how they design and manufacture cars.

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz has been leveraging NVIDIA’s technologies to develop software-defined vehicles further. At CES 2023, Mercedes-Benz announced that they would take advantage of NVIDIA’s Omniverse platform with Digital Twin capabilities to digitize their production, design, planning, and optimization processes.

The Omniverse platform lets you simulate and do virtual engineering from start to finish, and the Digital Twin features allow you to model with real-world accuracy at a large scale. With these tools, Mercedes-Benz can digitize its production processes, from product development to the customer experience, in a real-time environment.

Any changes made in the digital environment are accurately simulated before being tested in real-life situations. Additionally, this technology enables developers to plan assembly facilities before construction and create virtual prototypes of vehicles before they enter production. With these capabilities, Mercedes-Benz is one step closer to achieving an all-encompassing, digitally defined vehicle lineup.

BMW

BMW is taking a unique approach to Digital Twin technology by leveraging NVIDIA’s software and hardware. By creating virtual models of every car manufactured by BMW, they can track each vehicle’s performance and characteristics to customize customer experiences better.

Additionally, they are using Augmented Reality (AR) technologies for assembly workstations and plant maintenance processes. This enables them to streamline maintenance procedures by providing visualized simulations of each step in the production process and AR-mediated step-by-step instructions that take technicians through the necessary steps for repair and service tasks.

Ultimately, BMW is utilizing Digital Twin technology to provide better customer experiences, improve manufacturing efficiency and reduce time spent on maintenance.

Ford

Ford’s Digital Twin system allows engineers to simulate how different vehicle components interact with one another during operation without the need for physical prototypes or testing. It also enables them to collect customer data over time and store it on cloud to identify potential issues before they become problems in real-life situations and improve the customer experience.

Abstract

Digital Twin has revolutionized car design and production processes. With real-time data analysis and predictive insights, people in the automotive industry can now make better decisions about their products. This helps them reduce costs while increasing manufacturing efficacy.

As we look ahead to the future of automotive engineering, it’s clear that the Digital Twin, an industry 4.0 technology will play an indispensable role in transforming how cars are designed and produced.

Sapizon Technologies is a leading company developing Digital Twin solutions for different industries. Visit Digital Twin at Sapizon for more details.