At the Hannover Messe trade show last week, Siemens unveiled a digital model of its next-generation FREYR Battery factories that was developed using NVIDIA technology.
Munich-based Siemens said it created the model partly to highlight a strategic partnership with FREYR. Siemens has become FREYR’s preferred automation supplier, enabling the Oslo, Norway-based group to scale up production and maximize plant efficiency.
Built by Siemens, the demo used the NVIDIA Omniverse development platform to provide an immersive experience of the FREYR factories and follows the joint vision for an industrial metaverse unveiled last year by Siemens and NVIDIA.
Siemens demonstrates with data from FREYR
Siemens incorporated operational data from FREYR's factory in Norway as part of the industrial metaverse experience at its booth during Hannover Messe 2023. The event's organizers claimed that it was the world's largest industrial technology trade show.
Integrating Siemens Xcelerator and NVIDIA Omniverse, the demo featured 3D representations of the infrastructure, plant, machinery, equipment, human ergonomics, safety information, robots, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and detailed product and production simulations.
These technologies will help FREYR to meet surging demand for high-density, cost-effective battery cells for stationary energy storage, electric mobility, and marine applications, said the companies.
Amid growing worldwide sustainability initiatives and the rapid electrification of transportation, the battery industry will grow to $400 billion by 2030, projected McKinsey & Co. Battery cell manufacturing is a critical step in the battery value chain, with manufacturers investing billions of dollars in new battery-cell plants to meet this new demand.
Into the metaverse at Hannover Messe
In the demonstration, Siemens showed how teams can harness digital twins in the industrial metaverse using models of existing and future plants.
Within moments, FREYR can set up a meeting with potential investors or customers to take place within the digital FREYR plant and explore the simulated facility’s exterior before entering to view current production processes at work.
The interior flythrough conveys the facility’s size and scale, noted NVIDIA. The physically accurate simulation shows how machines and robots inside the factory move, and it can even simulate complex processes, the company said. Sensors capturing machine information allow for real-time performance visualization and ergonomic assessments.
In addition, Siemens demonstrated how a plant manager can use the model for production planning. It highlighted how a plant manager can rapidly evaluate plant performance using a custom Siemens application, which provides at a glance an overview of the facility’s operation.
From there, the manager can start a Microsoft Teams meeting with colleagues at a manufacturing “cell”—which puts key people, machines, and supplies in one strategic location—inside the virtual factory.
The team can then examine a robotic arm experiencing low cycle-time issues, access machine performance data, identify specific cycle-time problems, and view a live video stream with accompanying sensor data.
“This showcase at Hannover Messe is only the beginning, as more industries embrace and implement the industrial metaverse,” said NVIDIA. More information about its partnership with Siemens is available online.
About the author
Rev Lebaredian is vice president of Omniverse and simulation technology at NVIDIA, where he leads the Omniverse product, engineering, and research teams. From the dawn of the computer graphics revolution to the present day, Lebaredian has always been at its cutting edge.
For the past five years, Lebaredian and his teams have been combining the rendering, physics simulation, and AI technologies pioneered by NVIDIA into a single platform for creating and simulating physically accurate virtual worlds: NVIDIA Omniverse. Prior to NVIDIA, Lebaredian spent his career in Warner Brothers Digital, Disney Dream Quest Images and his own venture, Steamboat Software.
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