Substantiation of the Concept of Object-Oriented Digital Twins of Electrotechnical Systems in Rolling Mills

The development of ferrous metallurgy, as with most industrial sectors, is progressing toward the adoption of IIoT technologies and the development of digital automatic control systems for electrotechnical and mechatronic complexes. This direction is implemented within the paradigm of digital twins (DTs), which enable the use of advanced design methods, virtual commissioning, and maintenance. The concept of relatively simple object-oriented DTs created using available software and applicable at individual stages of the equipment lifecycle has been substantiated. The relationship between the object-oriented approach and M. Grieves’ classification system has been determined. The contribution of this paper lies in the fact that this problem is addressed for the first time using the example of electrotechnical systems of rolling mills. Definitions of DTs are provided, along with a brief overview of digital platforms developed by leading manufacturers of metallurgical equipment. The development of object-oriented DTs based on Simulink Real-Time modules and domains of the Simscape library is substantiated. A methodology for their virtual tuning using Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulation is proposed. The results of developing an aggregated DT of interconnected electric drives of the upper and lower rolls (UMD and LMD) of the horizontal stand of the 5000 plate rolling mill are presented. An example of DT implementation in a programmable logic controller (PLC) based on a multicore processor using CODESYS 3.5 software is provided. The advantages and prospects of this approach are discussed. Validation of the results is performed by comparing processes during virtual tuning with oscillograms obtained from the actual mill. Satisfactory accuracy is confirmed, and recommendations for the broader application of the developed object-oriented digital twins are given.