Redefining Digital Twins - A Wind Energy Operations and Maintenance Perspective

Tuton, Eamonn; Ma, Xinhui; Dethlefs, Nina

Abstract

Digital Twin (DT) technology has seen an explosion in popularity, with wind energy no exception. This is particularly true for Operations & Maintenance (O&M) applications. However, this expanded use has been accompanied by loose, conflicting, definitions that threaten to reduce the term to a buzzword and prevent the technology from meeting its full potential. A number of attempts have been made to better define and classify DTs, however, these either oversimplify the term or tighten criteria, leading to the exclusion of many DT applications. A new definition framework dubbed the Digital Twin Family Tree is therefore proposed. This widens "Digital Twin"to a general umbrella term for the technology, accompanied by specific definitions. DT Tags are also used to provide individualised characteristics for implementations. A sector-specific definition was devised for component and system monitoring and predictions in wind energy O&M dubbed a CS-DT and suitable DT Tags created. The proposed framework was used to review existing research in literature, demonstrating the potential for increased understanding, explainability, and accessibility of DTs for expert and non-expert stakeholders.

Citation

Tuton, E., Ma, X., & Dethlefs, N. (2024, May). Redefining Digital Twins - A Wind Energy Operations and Maintenance Perspective. Presented at The Science of Making Torque from Wind (TORQUE 2024), Florence, Italy

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: The Science of Making Torque from Wind (TORQUE 2024)
• Start Date: May 29, 2024
• End Date: May 31, 2024
• Acceptance Date: Mar 29, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Jun 10, 2024
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jun 12, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 14, 2024
• Journal: Journal of Physics: Conference Series
• Print ISSN: 1742-6588
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2767
• Issue: 5
• Article Number: 052001
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2767/5/052001
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4708560