ABSTRACT

Technological trends tend to attract convenient phrases whose usage ‘goes viral’, picking up more and more references across the world. In particular, the ‘Digital Twin’ is something that has been spoken about widely yet has rarely (if ever) been seen, for gearboxes at least.

For sure, the ‘Design Twin’ exists – a simulation model of the gearbox used during the design process. However, this is simply Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) as practiced by engineers since the late 1980s. 

The real Digital Twin should exist alongside the physical asset in monitoring and informing about the health of the gearbox in service. In this respect, much has been said and promised about Digital Twins, but very little has actually been delivered. 

This paper describes one of the projects that Hexagon has completed on behalf of a handful of clients for the implementation of gearbox Digital Twins. These clients are all long-standing users of Hexagon’s software for gearbox simulation, Romax, and are globally recognized brands and cover a wide range of different ground vehicles. 

Telematic data is uploaded from the vehicles to the Cloud, where it is automatically processed by a simulation model of the gearbox which gives the same results as the model used to design the gearbox by the design engineers. Fatigue data is converted into predicted reliability data, which can be presented to drivers/operators/owners via apps on common mobile devices, along with recommendations to ‘maintain’ or ‘replace’. More detailed data analysis allows unparalleled insight into how the vehicles are being driven, especially regarding the variability of operation. The whole process runs without human intervention or interaction. 

However, the transition from fatigue damage to reliability is not without its complications. This paper studies the data sources from standards and published technical papers and identifies an enormous variation in implied performance of the gears. Practical difficulties in using such data are also identified. The likely source of this variation is discussed, and practical solutions proposed. 

In the round, this paper outlines the potential for Digital Twins in vehicle transmissions and shows that, despite the hype and broken promises of the past, practical implementations are working today and the future looks enormously promising.

Author(s): Barry James, Louis Long, Alberto Satine Gioiosa

ISBN: 978-1-64353-154-0