Digital Twins of Complex Systems: Data, Modeling, Algorithm and Application

A special issue of Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292). This special issue belongs to the section "Computer Science & Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 January 2025 | Viewed by 2635

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, SAR, China
Interests: intelligent fault diagnosis; digital twin; AI for science
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Guest Editor
Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
Interests: prognostics and health management; signal and image processing; machine learning; deep learning; information fusion; digital twin

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Guest Editor
Advanced Manufacturing Experimental Center, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing 400065, China
Interests: intelligent manufacturing; deep learning; structural vibration control; finite element simulation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The concept of digital twins has swept across various industries over the past decade, sparking widespread attention and discussion. It provides powerful insights and decision support for simulation, optimization, and operations through creating a highly synchronized virtual counterpart of the physical system. However, for complex systems in a broader sense, such as CNC machines, vehicles, or human organs, achieving true digital twins is a massive system engineering task, involving the exploration and simulation of the complex mechanisms of the system. In such cases, the high precision and feasibility of digital twins are difficult to reconcile. To fully realize the empowering effects of digital twin technology, it is essential to sufficiently consider the inherent characteristics and actual needs of complex systems and to build implementable digital twin applications based on various data, system modeling, and algorithms. In this process, advanced data analysis techniques, modeling methods, and artificial intelligence algorithms play an indispensable role.

We believe that many researchers are currently conducting in-depth research and applications concerning digital twin technology from different perspectives, such as data, modeling, and algorithms. These research efforts, though targeting different domains or objects, all contribute effectively to the digital twin field. Therefore, we welcome all relevant research that can accelerate the progress of digital twin research, which may involve data simulation, algorithms, modeling methods, applications, and more. Specifically, the scope includes, but is not limited to, the following:

(1) Modeling frameworks/methods of digital twins;

(2) Simulation data generation and use;

(3) Artificial intelligent algorithms/applications in digital twins;

(4) Equipment health management and pattern recognition;

(5) Quality control and digital twins;

(6) Product lifecycle management;

(7) Healthcare and digital twins;

(8) Visualization and interaction techniques of digital twins;

(9) 3D modeling and lightweight technologies;

(10) Other technologies or applications in the digital twins of complex systems.

Dr. Xin Zhang
Dr. Yadong Xu
Dr. Congying Deng
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • digital twin
  • simulation
  • complex systems
  • artificial intelligence
  • deep learning
  • data-driven
  • product lifecycle management
  • equipment health management
  • healthcare
  • visualization and interaction

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 8982 KiB  
Article
Heat Transfer Simulation and Structural Optimization of Spiral Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchanger
by Huaquan Jiang, Tingting Jiang, Hongyang Tian, Qiang Wu, Congying Deng and Renliang Zhang
Electronics 2024, 13(23), 4639; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13234639 - 25 Nov 2024
Viewed by 321
Abstract
The spiral fin-and-tube heat exchanger is a widely used heat transfer device in heating and cooling applications, and its performance is influenced by multiple structural parameters, including the pitch, thickness, and height of the fins, the diameter and thickness of the base tube, [...] Read more.
The spiral fin-and-tube heat exchanger is a widely used heat transfer device in heating and cooling applications, and its performance is influenced by multiple structural parameters, including the pitch, thickness, and height of the fins, the diameter and thickness of the base tube, and the transverse and longitudinal tube spacings. This study comprehensively explores how these factors affect the heat transfer performance of the spiral fin-and-tube heat exchanger and aims to determine its optimal configuration of structural parameters. First, orthogonal experiments are arranged based on these factors to conduct the corresponding finite element numerical simulations and to determine the effects of these factors on the heat transfer and resistance performance of the spiral fin-and-tube heat exchanger. Subsequently, support vector regression (SVR) is introduced to predict the heat transfer factor and the resistance factor, with the aim of benefiting the construction of a multi-objective optimization model for optimizing the two factors simultaneously. Then, a comprehensive performance indicator is used to transform the multi-optimization problem to a single optimization problem, and the genetic algorithm is adopted to solve an optimal configuration of the heat exchanger structural parameters. Ultimately, the finite element numerical simulation is utilized to validate the accuracy of the optimization. Case studies are conducted on a specific spiral fin-and-tube heat exchanger. After the optimization, the heat transfer factor is improved by 44.44%, and the resistance factor is increased by 14.19%. However, the comprehensive performance indicator is increased by 38.79%. Full article
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17 pages, 25113 KiB  
Article
Intelligent Parking Service System Design Based on Digital Twin for Old Residential Areas
by Wanjing Chen, Xiaoxu Wang and Maoqiang Wu
Electronics 2024, 13(23), 4597; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13234597 - 21 Nov 2024
Viewed by 352
Abstract
Due to the increasing number of vehicles and the limited land supply, old residential areas generally face parking difficulties. An intelligent parking service is a critical study direction to address parking difficulty since it can achieve the automatic management of parking processes and [...] Read more.
Due to the increasing number of vehicles and the limited land supply, old residential areas generally face parking difficulties. An intelligent parking service is a critical study direction to address parking difficulty since it can achieve the automatic management of parking processes and planning of parking spaces. However, the existing intelligent parking service systems have shortcomings such as low information quality, low management efficiency, and single service mode. To address the shortcomings, in this paper, we conduct a systematic study on utilizing digital twin (DT) technology to improve the intelligent parking service system. The main contributions are threefold: (1) We analyze the function requirements of the intelligent parking service for old residential areas, such as visual monitoring, refined management, and simulation optimization. (2) We design a DT-based intelligent parking service system by collecting data on physical parking space, constructing the corresponding virtual parking space, and building the user interaction platform. An old residential area in Guangzhou, China is used as a use case to show that the designed parking service system can meet the function requirements. (3) Through mathematical modeling and simulation evaluation, we utilize two typical intelligent parking services including dynamic parking planning and driving safety assessment to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system. This study provides innovative solutions for parking management in old residential areas, utilizing DT technology to not only improve information quality and management efficiency, but also provide a theoretical basis and practical reference for the intelligent transformation of urban parking services. Full article
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20 pages, 4536 KiB  
Article
Research on Electric Vehicle Powertrain Systems Based on Digital Twin Technology
by Chong Li, Jianmei Lei, Liangyi Yang, Wei Xu and Yong You
Electronics 2024, 13(20), 4103; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13204103 - 18 Oct 2024
Viewed by 792
Abstract
As a critical component of electric vehicles, the powertrain has a significant impact on the overall performance of vehicles. In addressing the challenge of lengthy testing cycles, this study develops a para model of the powertrain, utilizing digital twin (DT) technology, thereby establishing [...] Read more.
As a critical component of electric vehicles, the powertrain has a significant impact on the overall performance of vehicles. In addressing the challenge of lengthy testing cycles, this study develops a para model of the powertrain, utilizing digital twin (DT) technology, thereby establishing a framework for simulation testing of multi-controller intermodulation. We establish functional definition coverage testing by designing specific functional requirement use cases, and we validate the failure mechanism via fault injection use cases. The results indicate that the DT testing platform can effectively simulate the operational interactions among various controllers within the powertrain system. In comparison to traditional field testing, the digital twin-based testing methodology offers enhanced operational efficiency and allows for the examination of testing conditions that are impractical to implement in real vehicles, particularly in the context of fault injection testing, thus facilitating the early detection of potential safety risks within the system. The advancement of this technical solution holds significant practical implications for the future mass production and development of electric vehicles. Full article
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20 pages, 27260 KiB  
Article
An Improved Product Defect Detection Method Combining Centroid Distance and Textural Information
by Haorong Wu, Xiaoxiao Li, Fuchun Sun, Limin Huang, Tao Yang, Yuechao Bian and Qiurong Lv
Electronics 2024, 13(19), 3798; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13193798 - 25 Sep 2024
Viewed by 529
Abstract
In order to solve the problems of a high mismatching rate and being easily affected by noise and gray transformation, an improved product defect detection method combining centroid distance and textural information is proposed in this paper. Based on image preprocessing, the improved [...] Read more.
In order to solve the problems of a high mismatching rate and being easily affected by noise and gray transformation, an improved product defect detection method combining centroid distance and textural information is proposed in this paper. Based on image preprocessing, the improved fuzzy C-means clustering method is used to extract the closed contour features. Then, the contour center distance description operator is used for bidirectional matching, and a robust coarse matching contour pair is obtained. After the coarse matching contour pair is screened, the refined matching result is obtained by using the improved local binary pattern operator. Finally, by comparing whether the number of fine matching pairs is consistent with the number of template outlines, the detection of good and bad industrial products is realized, and the closed contour extraction experiment, the anti-rotation matching experiment, the anti-gray difference matching experiment, and the defect detection experiment of three different products are designed. The experimental results show that the improved product defect detection method has good performance in relation to anti-rotation transformation and anti-gray difference, the detection accuracy can reach more than 90%, and the detection time is up to 362.6 ms, which can meet the requirements of industrial real-time detection. Full article
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