In addition to the immediate crises caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the world is facing the far-reaching consequences of advancing climate change. The European Union launched the "European Green Deal" in 2019 to fulfill its responsibility to curb climate change and prevent a further rise in the Earth's temperature. This aims to extend the current target of reducing the European Union's CO2 emissions by 40 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels to a reduction of 50 to 55 percent. For the manufacturing industry, the automotive and foundry industries in particular, sustainability and resource conservation are therefore becoming the focus of their future corporate orientation, in addition to the price increases for energy and raw materials.
Based on this, the goal is to increase output while simultaneously reducing energy consumption. This can minimize waste, stabilize and optimize processes and increase energy efficiency and profitability. The ReGAIN project focuses on achieving this by digitizing the respective production systems for gravity die casting, sand casting and die casting.
Project duration: 01.10.2023 bis 31.08.2026
Funding provider: BMWK - Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz
Projekt sponser: VDI Technologiezentrum GmbH
Project Partners
Network partners:
PINTER GUSS GmbH, Bridgefield GmbH, BREOS GmbH, Universität Kassel GTK, LGL Gmbh, Fraunhofer IFF, BDG e.V., CMO-SYS GmbH, IDECO Gmbh, Fraunhofer IIS, Oskar Frech Gmbh, G.A. Röders Gmbh, HEITEC PTS Gmbh, Hochschule Kempten, MAGMA Gmbh, TUBS IFS, VDMA e.V., Wollin Gmbh.
Associate Partners:
ae group ag, AWEBA Gmbh, BeSu solutions Gmbh, Bühler AG, FONDIUM Gmbh, Julius Schüle Druckguss GmbH.
The ReGAIN research project is pursuing the approach of digitally linking foundry production systems based on CATENA-X to increase efficiency, flexibility, resilience and sustainability. The aim is to integrate these complex production systems into a comprehensively networked value creation system and to use the digital transparency created to implement new digital production concepts. This is the only way to meet the growing demands on the resilience and sustainability of future-proof production systems while simultaneously maximizing manufacturing flexibility and interoperability. As a result, the holistic digital solution approach can be used to tap into previously untapped energy and resource efficiency potential for an ecologically sustainable foundry industry in line with the 2021 update of the European Green Deal. ReGAIN will lay the foundations for a digital product to for every foundry product in the future and made available using Catena-X. To achieve these goals, the project will
(i) Create standardized conceptual and logical data models.
(ii) Develop AI and simulation approaches to optimize multiple target variables and an AI app ecosystem for ML and data analytics.
(iii) Transfer the results into industry-wide and cross-industry standardization and technology transfer.
AI process models and ReGAIN services are developed with the aim of achieving high forecasting accuracy in order to be able to digitally describe the cause-and-effect relationships between component quality and process control in line with requirements. In addition, interactions between the production system and the process are considered, for example to forecast the energy requirements of process variants and to describe the interactions between the state of the production system, the process and the component quality. Acquired raw data is therefore refined and knowledge is already generated in the process models, which can be used in the AI product models. The results are to be integrated and visualized in apps and assistance systems in order to validate the applicability of the solutions and thus demonstrate the benefits for foundries and their employees.
For the model-based dynamic energy simulation, the entire process chain is modelled using a combined discrete-event and agent-based simulation in order to be able to virtually simulate environmental impacts and energy requirements. The simulation makes it possible to estimate and analyse the environmental impacts depending on process parameters and influencing variables. The model serves as a basis for various scenario analyses in order to check the effect of measures to reduce energy requirements and environmental impacts (e.g. CO2 emissions) with the help of the analyses. In addition, the models developed should also be able to take into account alternative heat and electricity paths (see energy flexibility) in order to assess the CO2 emissions associated with electricity and heat and derive recommendations for action. The influences of different process controls as well as alternative electricity and heat sources, their availability and price are considered. The results of the simulations are used by the IWF with the help of substitute modelling in meta-models, with which energy-related problem shifts can be avoided through local process optimisations.