ANSYS Bringing Simulation to ThingWorx’s IoT and Digital Twins

PTC and ANSYS join forces to bring simulation to IoT and IIoT applications.

An IoT enabled pump connected to ANSYS bringing real world data into the simulation of the digital twin. (Image courtesy of ANSYS.)

An IoT enabled pump connected to ANSYS bringing real world data into the simulation of the digital twin. (Image courtesy of ANSYS.)

Days before PTC’s flagship event LiveWorx, news is already out about what we can expect to see from two computer-aided engineering software giants.

It appears that PTC and ANSYS will be bringing their simulation technology into the Internet of Things (IoT) via ANSYS’ CAE platform and ThingWorx’s digital twin capabilities.

Specifically, the release states that ANSYS’ technology will be added to applications built within the ThingWorx platform via a connector.

The obvious benefits of such a marriage could include:

  • Ensuring designs are holding up to simulated predictions
  • Bringing real world data into simulations for more accurate results, shaping future designs
  • More intelligent products that optimize performance and operations based on simulated results
  • Products that better predict maintenance cycles
  • Analysis or predictions of current operating conditions
  • Improved diagnosis of faults

This could also create a feedback loop between the built products and the design team. During the design phase, engineers create a lot of data that can help predict a product’s operations. This data can be used to assist the machine learning and predictive modeling processes of ThingWorx.

Additionally, as the product gets underway in the field, real-world data can then feed back into the design and modeling data.

In other words, companies will be able to create a digital twin that links both physical products and digital information to better understand the product’s behaviour.

It should be noted that ANSYS is a big sponsor at this year’s LiveWorx, so it would be shocking not to hear more about this and similar stories during the event.

To see some live tweeting, follow #LiveWorx, @ShawnWasserman, @rtara and @JackHayes

To keep track of our articles on LiveWorx 2017 follow @engineeringcom, @engdessoftware, @ENGcom_IoT or tune back into ENGINEERING.com.

To learn more on the IoT, read: 10 Questions to Ask an IoT Platform Provider.

Written by

Shawn Wasserman

For over 10 years, Shawn Wasserman has informed, inspired and engaged the engineering community through online content. As a senior writer at WTWH media, he produces branded content to help engineers streamline their operations via new tools, technologies and software. While a senior editor at Engineering.com, Shawn wrote stories about CAE, simulation, PLM, CAD, IoT, AI and more. During his time as the blog manager at Ansys, Shawn produced content featuring stories, tips, tricks and interesting use cases for CAE technologies. Shawn holds a master’s degree in Bioengineering from the University of Guelph and an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.