Implementation of Digital Twins for Industry 4.0 in the Engineering Study Program

In a fast-changing digital era - the characteristic of Industry 4.0, the impact of new technology on mechanical design is tremendous. The use of virtual prototypes to get closer to a first-time-right design is extended to become a real digital twin with the introduction and embedding of IoT from the design stage. Simulations are typically used for design, and in certain cases, offline optimization. Digital twins are used for the entire design-execute-change-decommission lifecycle in real-time. It is the task of engineering education to introduce this technology to students. Due to a combination of many technologies, the challenge is to find an appropriate model for diversity. As a model to cope with the multi-disciplinary character of digital twins from the design stage on, a movable photovoltaic installation with a solar tracker is used. This twin contains the different stages from virtual prototype to digital twin in a setup that can be implemented in a project-based education methodology.