The Aras Innovator application Digital Twin Core creates and manages individual physical part structures to create a digital record for any physical product operating in the field. This can include every change to the part as it evolves throughout its lifetime.
In a forthcoming release, Digital Twin Core introduces Life Controls, including Life Parameters, Life Polices, and Part Policies. Together, these life controls will help companies to track the operational life of each Digital Twin in the field.
For more information on why this feature is so compelling, check out our previous blog. To see a brief overview of Life Controls in action, check out the video below:
To watch this full-length demo, visit Planes, Trains, Ships, and Rockets—Extending Your Digital Twin.
Each component of Life Controls in the Aras Innovator Digital Twin Core application is defined below:
Life Parameters
Life Parameters are variables that keep track of how long the part has been operating for. These can include cycles, distance, revolutions, repetitions—like landings, for tracking an aircraft—hours or calendar dates; you get the idea.
There are a number of different Life Parameters included standard with the Digital Twin Core application, and – as always – administrators can build their own in Aras Innovator.
For example, the Life Parameter Cycles Since New measures from the beginning of the product’s operational life and cannot be reset, like the odometer on your car. Another, Cycles Since Repair, can be reset to begin at the repair event and measure when the next repair is due: the way a trip odometer in your car works. Still another one, Shelf Life, can flag you when a part is beyond its “use or sell by date” and must be withdrawn from service. Shelf Life Recertification is another parameter, which addresses the needs of adhesives or solvents in inventory to be used beyond a hard expiration date. Another one, Maximum Hard Cycles, indicates the operational limit of a part. And finally, Periodic Inspection indicates the date for part inspection whether it is in inventory or installed on an assembly.
Life Policies
When Life Parameters need to be applied to a part or parts, they are first grouped together into a single Life Policy. When applied to many parts, Life Policies help to standardize how all of the parts are tracked and measured.
Part Policies
When a Life Policy is applied to an engineering Part, it is known as a Part Policy. A Part Policy is, in effect, a plan or blueprint for how the part should be monitored and tracked. When the engineering part is used to create a Physical Part—or, a Digital Twin, in Aras—the Physical Part inherits the Part Policy and all of the associated Life Parameters.
Current Life Values
Creating a physical part in Aras Innovator that has an attached Part Policy generates the digital container in the Physical Part where the real-world values for each Life Parameter are recorded. These real-world values are known as current life values, and they track the age, in those original Life Parameters, of the part on hand.
Each Current Life Value represents the current, up-to-date value for the life parameter as it has been tracked against the part in the field.
Life History Log
When an event impacts the life parameter, like a repair that sets values back to 0, those values are retained in the Life History Log, which is planned for a future release.
Conclusion: Managing Digital Twin Complexity
In the Digital Twin Core application, child parts have their own Life Parameters recorded independently of their parent parts. This enables different use cases, such as when the child part is removed from the parent part and repaired, or when it is refurbished and later installed on a new parent part.
Using Life Controls, many different types of life data can be collected and logged throughout the operational lifespan of any physical product using the Aras Digital Twin core application. This foundation allows companies to collect critical operational data for analysis, interpretation, and insights—to ultimately guide product upgrades and improvements, new customer experiences, new service planning needs, and much, much more.
To watch this full-length demo, visit Planes, Trains, Ships, and Rockets—Extending Your Digital Twin.