The ability to build virtual realities with the use of computers has been around for more than two decades. What started as a feature of computer games has become the norm in many industries. Simulating physical or functional performance in a computer - a digital twin - delivers benefits that include reduced costs, increased reliability, and better efficiency. Megger is the first testing company entering this area with the SMRT digital twin in IED protection schemes, and has enabled business to continue carrying out a range of tasks despite the travel bans and social distancing measures that have arisen during the COVID pandemic.

 

What is a digital twin? 
A digital twin is a digital copy of a physical asset. This concept has been used for a long time within the power industry, for instance when designing the physical layout of a substation. If the digital copy is well made and the tool used when creating the environment virtually enables the drawings to be generated automatically, it should be a perfect fit, without rework when it is physically built in reality. Within Megger, we are using this approach where our mechanical design engineers use Solidworks software to enable case set designs.

Simulation of power networks functionality is frequently used to justify designs and calculate relay protection setting, amongst other things. If we again relate to internal engineering, we use software like SPICE to virtually test behaviours and performances of our electrical circuits to fine-tune them to maximize performance and minimize risks. The benefit is that the system is proven to work, and if the setup in the virtual world is well designed it is highly likely to work in reality.

Around a year ago Siemens took the simulation of their protective relay to a new level. They created a digital twin of their SIPROTEC 5 series using the same protection algorithms and user interface as the real asset, all in a cloud environment. They approached Megger to be their partner to integrate relay testing in the cloud, which is a project we were very excited to be involved in. Since commencement of the project a digital twin of the SMRT/FREJA series has been developed, and now during October we have the first beta version available.