Tech Briefs Magazine - December 2022 - 13

air domain in our facility, " said Holloway.
" This enabled us to study how
environmental conditions would be affected
by multiple variables, from the
weather outside, to the number of machines
operating, to the way machines
were positioned inside the shop. A
model that accounts for those variables
helps factory
staff adjust ventilation
and production schedules to optimize
conditions, " he explained.
A Simulation App that
Empowers Factory Staff
The DRAMA team made their model
more accessible by building a simulation
app of it with the Application
Builder in COMSOL Multiphysics (Figure
4). " We're trying to present the
findings of some very complex calculations
in a simple-to-understand way, "
Holloway said. " By creating an app
from our model, we can empower staff
to run predictive simulations on laptops
during their daily shifts. "
The app user can define relevant
boundary conditions for the beginning
of a factory shift and then make ongoing
adjustments. Over the course of a
shift, heat and humidity levels will inevitably
fluctuate. Perhaps factory staff
should alter the production schedule
to maintain part quality, or maybe they
just need to open doors and windows to
improve ventilation. Users can change
settings in the app to test the possible
effects of actions like these. For example,
Figure 5 presents isothermal
surface plots that show the effect that
opening the AM machines' build chambers
has on air temperature.
A Step Toward a " FactoryLevel
Digital Twin "
While the current app is an important
step forward, it does still require
workers to manually input relevant
data. Looking ahead, the DRAMA team
envisions something more integral, and
therefore, more powerful: a " digital
twin " for its AM facility.
" To make our factory environment
model a digital twin, we'd first provide
it with ongoing live data from the
actual factory, " Holloway said. " Once
our factory model was running in the
background, it could adjust its forecasts
in response to its data feeds and
suggesting specific actions based on
those forecasts. "
" We want to integrate our predictive
model into a feedback loop that inTech
Briefs, December 2022
cludes the actual factory and its staff.
The goal is to have a holistic system that
responds to current factory conditions,
uses simulation to make predictions
about future conditions, and seamlessly
makes self-optimizing adjustments
based on those predictions, " Holloway
said. " Then we could truly say we've
built a digital twin for our factory. "
Simulation at Work on the
Factory Floor
As an intermediate step toward building
a full factory-level digital twin, the
DRAMA simulation app has already
proven its worth. " Our manufacturing
partners may already see how modeling
can help with planning an AM facility
but not really understand how it can
help with operation, " Holloway said.
" We're showing the value of enabling
Time=30 s
a line worker to open up the app, enter
in a few readings or import sensor
data, and then quickly get a meaningful
forecast of how a batch of powder will
behave that day. "
Beyond its practical insights for manufacturers,
the overall project may offer
a broader lesson as well: By pairing its
production line with a dynamic simulation
model, the DRAMA project has
made the entire operation safer, more
productive, and more efficient. The
DRAMA team has achieved this by deploying
the model where it can do the
most good - into the hands of the people
working on the factory floor.
This article was written by Alan Petrillo,
Content Writer, COMSOL Inc. (Burlington,
MA). For more info visit www.
comsol.com.
Isosurface: Temperature (degC)
19.85
17.24
14.63
12
z
x
y
Time=60 s
Isosurface: Temperature (degC)
z
x
y
Figure 5. The simulation app can capture thermal variations of the machines over time. These isothermal
surface plots show changes in temperature at 30 seconds (top) and 60 seconds (bottom)
after opening the build chambers of every AM machine in the facility. (Image: COMSOL Inc.)
www.techbriefs.com
13
47.25
41.75
36.25
30.75
25.25
19.75
14.25
8.75
3.25
-2.25
9.39
6.77
4.16
1.54
-1.08
-3.69

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Tech Briefs Magazine - December 2022

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