Reuse of HiL simulation models in the operation phase of production plants

Industrial production plants are highly complex mechatronic systems. Due to the combination of mechanics, electronics, and software in the field of mechatronics, specific methods and tools are used in the development process. Nowadays, many solutions exist for describing the specification of production plants. In order to reduce the product and development costs as well as to increase their quality, the development process is strongly supported by models. These models enable an early validation of the required properties. Especially those models applied at the end of the development process or in virtual or hybrid commissioning represent the required behavior of the plant fairly in detail. Therefore, not only increasing attention is drawn to the reduction of efforts for modeling and simulation but to their reuse in similar developments, e.g. by providing construction kits for simulation or their application even in the lifecycle of the production plants. Unfortunately, this kind of reuse, e.g. during the operation phase, is not a focus of current research, although the potential of improving e.g. the operation phase is considerable. In this paper, an approach on how to apply models in the operation phase by synchronous and forward simulation is discussed and an example is presented.