During the production of connectors made of copper and copper alloys, a lot of different data is collected along the entire production chain - from the raw material to the finished component. This data primarily relates to the material properties and the quality of the product. Another important topic is sustainability, which is becoming increasingly important in the industry.
The aim of the project is to develop a so-called ‘digital twin’ for the production of a connector. This is a digital image that reflects the entire life cycle of the product. The focus here is on the digital representation of the individual production steps and the connection of the data between these steps - always with a view to the real conditions in the industry.
One advantage is that digitalisation already exists in some areas, for example through computer simulations (such as FE simulation) for certain forming processes. What has been missing so far, however, is a standardised digital structure that links all these individual steps together and maps the entire process chain.
The existing knowledge about the digitalisation of individual process steps - i.e. the ‘small building blocks’ - is to be used to create a comprehensive, digital solution for the entire production process. This project is particularly important because, compared to the previous ‘KupferDigital’ project, the perspective of the industry is more strongly included here. And that is precisely what is crucial in order to implement such digital systems more quickly in practice.
The project was launched on February 1, 2025 and will run for three years.