An ODP-based Ontology for the Digital Product Passport

The challenges posed by climate change can only be met by changing the economic mindset to one that focuses on the idea of a circular economy (CE). Digitalization, data collection and data storage play a crucial role here: Product-related data should be collected in a consistent manner throughout the entire life cycle of the product and stored in a Digital Product Passport (DPP). The DPP should give all stakeholders of the CE access to the necessary data. Overarching modelling is required to ensure that a DPP can be used as a structure across application domains in an interoperable way. Ontologies can act as an interlingua between domains, incorporating the required domain knowledge and the full range of requirements for the DPP. Following a modular approach based on Ontology Design Patterns, this paper develops a DPP ontology with a focus on the R-strategies within the CE. Furthermore, the paper builds a bridge to the standardized approach of Industry 4.0, the modelling and storage of structured domain knowledge in Asset Administration Shells (AAS). Data can be seamlessly integrated and used for decision-making in each product life cycle phase. In addition, the reuse of existing concepts defined by others is demonstrated. The developed ontology is then evaluated on a CE use case.