Overview

VEXTEC’s Virtual Life Management technology is the missing piece that makes all the other computational products even more valuable by making accurate durability prediction possible.

Until now, there has never been a computational capability to accurately measure, predict and improve the durability of manufactured products.
Manufacturers use various tools and methods to give them information about the products they’re making, but until now, they have not had the computational means to accurately predict the long term durability, or lifetime cost of what they were making. They are able to generate CAD drawings of their components, but they don’t know exactly how changes in those dimensions might affect long term durability, performance, or total cost of ownership. CAM systems speed machines to produce more accurately rendered parts, but these parts do not perform identically, even under identical conditions. They are able to measure the stress imparted on a particular component during use, but they cannot calculate how the component, let alone the whole product line, will react to that stress. They employ statistical analysis to identify trends, but can only see those indicators after the fact, in hindsight. Manufacturers try to make up for all this uncertainty through physical testing, but testing is time consuming and expensive. Because only a relatively small number of tests can be realistically afforded, the results are often inconclusive or misleading. The billions of dollars spent each year on repairs, replacement parts, warranty charges, recalls, dissatisfied customers and brand destruction illustrates just how badly this new capability is needed.

Despite their best efforts, today’s manufacturers operate at the mercy of the inherent variability of their products. The same kind of variability that ensures no two fingerprints are alike, also means no two products will ever be alike, either, no matter how painstakingly they are made. This variability is inherent in the material these products are made from, and it affects every aspect of the product’s behavior. Furthermore, at every stage of the product’s lifecycle, more and more variability is introduced. For instance, manufacturing processes don’t operate exactly the same way from day to day or even from hour to hour. And when they get out into the marketplace, none of the products are used the same way, or under the same conditions.

To make matters even more complex, seemingly identical parts don’t fail in exactly the way. Simple logic tells us that if a manufactured fleet of 1000 products were really identical, all the parts would fail at the place where the greatest stress was imparted. But that’s not what happens. Each part reacts to even identical stress differently because at the microstructural level where damage originates, all the parts are unique. Looking at various materials at this microstructural level reveals that materials are made up of grains arranged in a particular pattern, and that pattern determines the material’s strength, or lack thereof.

By simulating the characteristics of materials components are made from at the microstructural level, VEXTEC can predict how the actual physical component will perform under various conditions. That understanding has led to a scientific breakthrough with profound and far-reaching economic consequences.

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VEXTEC’s Virtual Life Management™ simulation technology.
Being able to simulate how materials react to usage or stress at their microstructural level is the key to being able predict the life expectancy of any part in a complex system. Put enough of those parts together and we can simulate the life of an engine, a vehicle, or an entire product line or fleet. That information has profound financial implications for every aspect of manufacturing from product design to warranty.

Virtual Life Management is now possible for several reasons. First, computing power has accelerated in performance and decreased in price to the point where complex simulations of this type are not only economical, but practical as well. Second, physical testing simply takes too long and costs too much, and in the end, only presents a handful of data points at best. “What if” scenarios cannot possibly be explored without repeated testing under alternative conditions. Third, and most importantly, VEXTEC’s patented work in computational material science now makes it possible to derive very quickly a whole universe of life cycle predictions of everything from a single part to an entire fleet.

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We use our Virtual Life Management™ technology to create Virtual Twin™ product simulators.

Imagine being able to accurately predict the useful life of a single part, or an entire engine, vehicle, or even a whole fleet—before they’re ever built. Imagine being able to create maintenance schedules and warranty programs based on logical conclusions from accurate simulations of future performance. Imagine building more reliable products, and getting a reputation for such products. Those are just a few of the many, many benefits VEXTEC’s Virtual Twin product simulators have to offer.

Because a Virtual Twin is based on the laws of physics and probability, it accurately reflects the attributes of its real life counterparts. But because it’s built out of 0’s and 1’s, it also offers all the familiar benefits of computerized efficiency. A Virtual Twin allows an examination of experimental and real life scenarios, and it can identify and isolate the factors that contribute to durability, thereby determining the ideal combination of product attributes, before the first unit is ever built.

Using a Virtual Twin will reduce trial-and-error, along with the dead end expenditures that typically accompany product development. Rather than rely solely on physical testing to identify design issues, physical testing can be focused with a new degree of efficiency to confirm virtually derived conclusions. A Virtual Twin offers similar impacts in manufacturing, identifying the cost/benefit of various processes, tolerance controls and supply chain specifications. As an in-service management tool, a Virtual Twin allows continuous evaluation of maintenance and supply chain logistics, including safety operating margins, warranty exposure, even identifying problematic parts for repair, replacement or redesign. Armed with this information, manufacturers can finally understand and predict the performance, durability, failure and lifetime costs of whatever they’re making, in time to affect their financial consequences.

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