The combination of cloud and digital twin technologies is advancing digital transformation in the industrial field. On the 4th, Microsoft Korea held an online press conference and introduced the’Azure Digital Twin’ solution and technology change trend through the case of collaboration with Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction.
On the 4th, Microsoft held a digital twin online press conference. (Clockwise from top right) Now I am the head of Microsoft IoT & MR Asia Technology Division, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Digital Innovation Chang Se-young Vice President, Lee Kun-bok, Microsoft IoT & MR Asia-Pacific Technology Manager
Digital twin is a technology that creates a’digital twin’ of real objects in the virtual world. It is characterized by synchronizing the working environment of objects, the data generated, and the current state with digital twins in real time, beyond simple external reproduction. In particular, through the application of digital twins, companies can conveniently remotely control facilities and respond more quickly to failures or preliminary signs through real-time data control.
At the conference, Jang Se-young, Managing Director of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction’s Digital Innovation Team, introduced in detail how Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction is incorporating digital twins into its own wind power business. Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction is paying attention to eco-friendly energy as a new growth portfolio related to climate change issues. Wind power generation is one of the projects Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction is focusing on along with solar and secondary batteries (ESS). It already has an integrated solution ranging from location selection to power plant construction and operation, and is achieving Korea’s only offshore wind power generation EPC (design, procurement, and construction) performance.
However, the difficulty is that offshore wind power generation, which accounts for most of the domestic wind power generation, comes with high maintenance costs. It is not easy to install a wind turbine with a diameter of over 100m per wing in the sea, but it is even more difficult to regularly maintain or repair it. Managing Director Jang said, “Offshore wind power is expensive and there are only a few operating experts,” he said. “Since it is difficult for people to go and manage directly, it was necessary to preemptively apply digital twin technology than other fields.”
Effect of digital twin application (data = storage of presentation data)
The real-time equipment and environment data of the wind generator combined with the digital twin is transmitted to the virtual twin model and the system manager. Based on this, facility managers can perform various event simulations in the twin model, and when improved modeling is available, it is a structure that can send it to the equipment to upgrade the system. This makes it possible to collect a variety of data without directly visiting a wind power plant in a long distance, and to secure higher operational visibility of the facility based on real-world environmental data.
Some of the pilot programs being developed by Microsoft and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction in the Tamra area were also revealed. Looking at the data, it can be seen that a detailed map of the region, the location of the wind power generator installed, and whether or not a problem has occurred and the location of a fault can be visually checked in detail. In the existing environment, it is only possible to check the inside by visiting the facility by an expert.
Part of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction’s and Microsoft’s Tamna Wind Power Plant Digital Twin Pilot Program (Data = Preservation of presentation data)
According to the head of IoT & MR Asia Technology Division, this digital twin-based management system is gradually spreading to various fields such as building, distribution, medical care, agriculture, finance, and smart city as well as large equipment industry. At the same time, as the range of data that can be controlled by digital twins is expanding, the necessity of cloud-based digital twins, which is required to manage them more efficiently, is also emerging. The’Azure Digital Twin Solution’ introduced by Microsoft Korea on this day is one of them. Since two years ago, Microsoft has formed a digital twin consortium with global companies such as Ansys, Dell, and Lenliz, and has been servicing Azure cloud-based digital twin platforms. Currently, more than 170 people are participating in the consortium.
The advantage of cloud digital twins is flexibility. In the recent digital twin environment, more diverse frameworks and libraries are used than before, and the cloud is the most powerful environment that can process large amounts of data collected from millions of sensors regardless of storage space and usage period. In addition, multiple technology provider partners are needed to build an advanced digital twin platform. Clouds that operate in various environments are also suitable for building APIs that efficiently connect them. Microsoft is focusing on this point and is working with a consortium to unify the fragmented digital twin solution.
“If the solutions of competitors are at the level of providing data visualization or simple modeling, Azure Digital Twin Solution is the only end-to-end solution that provides all of them,” said Kun-bok Lee, Head of Technology for Asia Pacific, Microsoft.
“We are preparing to create new business value through Microsoft’s partner network and stable infrastructure, and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction’s facilities and manufacturing know-how.” We are expecting stable operations to be realized around the digital twin.”
Meanwhile, Market & Market, a market research firm, predicts that the global digital twin market will grow by more than 38% on an annual average from $3.8 billion in 2019 (about 4.25 trillion won) to reach 35.8 billion dollars (about 40 trillion won) in 2025.