Progress in the digitalization of drive technology is still being hampered by insufficient data availability and a lack of open standards. However, the "Drive 4.0" project aims to change this status quo. By creating a common data space for intelligent drive solutions, these hurdles are to be overcome.
Interoperability and common standards are the prerequisite for service-oriented business models in the field of digital production.
"This is particularly true in the field of drives, because they have a lot of sensor technology and intelligence," reports Martin Hankel, Head of Digital Business at Bosch Rexroth. "If we can achieve a precise, manufacturer-independent definition and availability of data here, we can significantly advance the digitalization of production."
This is precisely the aim of the "Drive 4.0" joint project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection. The partners want to create a shared data space for smart drive solutions that conforms to Gaia-X principles and forms the basis for the development of service-oriented business models relating to digitalized production and the networked value chain. In the real laboratory, research will be conducted into the selection, commissioning, operation and service of intelligent and networked drives.
The consortium leader of the project, which was launched at the beginning of 2023, is the Research Association for Electrical Engineering at ZVEI; the consortium partners are the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Nuremberg, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Systems and Device Technology IISB in Erlangen and TU Darmstadt. A further 16 renowned associated partners complete the research alliance.
Real-world laboratories show first use cases
"We attach particular importance to ensuring that our solutions are suitable for practical use," says Dr. Falk Eckert, who heads the project at the Research Association for Electrical Engineering. "That's why we will be testing our practical use cases in real-life laboratory demonstrators at various locations." Discussions with potential users initially resulted in 36 use cases, which were prioritized through a survey of the network partners and their customers. The first step is now to implement two of them: "Holistic energy-efficient design of drive solutions" and "Digitalized asset management". "These two key use cases promise industrial companies the greatest added value, both economically and ecologically," says Dr. Tassilo Schuster from Fraunhofer IIS, explaining the selection.
When designing drives, users of electric drives in mechanical engineering are always faced with the same question: Which drive is best suited to the technical challenges? "Manufacturers offer their own tools for selection, in which you have to enter a lot of values - which also differ from manufacturer to manufacturer," says Hankel. "The effort involved is so great and the recommendations are so incomparable that the machine manufacturers no longer feel like filling out the tools after the second manufacturer."
New demonstrators in Darmstadt and Erlangen
The aim of the first use case: in future, there should be a standardized set of data that machine and plant manufacturers and plant operators only have to determine once and can pass on to all drive manufacturers. In addition, the returned results should also be comparable. "This would also allow drive systems to be designed to be more energy-efficient in the future," says Lara Schmidt, research associate at Fraunhofer IIS. "Because it would then be possible to combine drive components from different manufacturers in order to fulfill a load and movement profile specified by the operator as energy-efficiently as possible."
The second use case aims to help make the increasing complexity of systems more manageable. To this end, a standardized data set is to accompany each drive throughout its entire life cycle and be continuously updated. "Digitalized asset management enables the central provision of all relevant information about an asset in a standardized format," explains Schmidt. "System manufacturers and operators can thus maintain an overview of the installed base. This helps to improve the efficiency of the drive system, reduces downtimes, increases safety and extends the life cycle."
Two demonstrators in Darmstadt and Erlangen will be used to test new services - also with AI support, for example in the design of drives and their commissioning. In addition to the technical challenges, expert Hankel also sees a fundamental need for potential users to learn: "Many companies are still afraid to let go of data. But that is precisely what is preventing the data economy from finally taking off. Drive 4.0 offers a protected space to explore the opportunities of new services."
Further information is available at www.zvei.org.
