Multiphysics Simulation of a Vertical Roller Mill in Matlab®/Simulink®

Abstract The development of innovative products increasingly requires interdisciplinary collaboration among the fields of mechanical engineering, electrical/electronic engineering, and software. The growing complexity of products, driven by increased automation, poses significant challenges. Many equipment manufacturers optimise their development processes using software tools. By leveraging simulations and virtual models, product development time can be reduced. Additionally, the number of costly test bench experiments can be significantly minimised. Furthermore, numerical simulation is gaining importance in the field of predictive maintenance. To fully harness the potential of simulation, it is crucial to accumulate experience across various products and processes and validate them using real-world physical test benches. In this contribution, a vertical roller mill (VRM) is modelled across domains. Subsequently, selected simulation analyses are conducted and validated against measurement data from the physical demonstrator and analytical or empirical calculation models. Additionally, the suitability of the virtual prototype for model-based virtual commissioning is examined. The multi-physical model was developed using Matlab®/Simulink®, including the toolbox Simscape and Stateflow.