IDTA 02006-3-0 : Digital Nameplate for Industrial Equipment

This document is a part of a specification series. Each part specifies the contents of a Submodel template for the Asset Administration Shell (AAS). The AAS is described in [1], [2], [3] and [6]. First exemplary Submodel contents were described in [4], while the actual format of this document was derived by the "Administration Shell in Practice" [5]. The format aims to be very concise, giving only minimal necessary information for applying a Submodel template, while leaving deeper descriptions and specification of concepts, structures and mapping to the respective documents [1] to [6]. Common terms and abbreviations can be found in [7].

The target audience of the specification are developers and editors of technical documentation and manufacturer information, which are describing assets in smart manufacturing by means of the Asset Administration Shell (AAS) and therefore need to create a Submodel instance with a hierarchy of SubmodelElements. This document especially details on the question, which SubmodelElements with which semantic identification shall be used for this purpose.

This SMT will only be fully supported as of metamodel V3.0.

This Submodel template aims to provide asset nameplate information to the respective Asset Administration Shells in an interoperable manner. Central element is the provision of properties [7], ideally interoperable by the means of dictionaries such as ECLASS and IEC CDD (Common Data Dictionary). The purpose of this document is to make selected specifications of Submodels in such manner that information about assets and their nameplate can be exchanged in a meaningful way between partners in a value creation network. It targets equipment for process industry and factory automation by defining standardized meta data.

The intended use case is the provision of a standardized property structure within a digital nameplate, which enables the interoperability of digital nameplates from different manufacturers.

This concept can serve as a basis for standardizing the respective Submodel. The conception is based on existing norms, directives and standards so that a far-reaching acceptance can be achieved.

Beside standardized Submodel this template also introduces standardized SubmodelElementCollections (SMC) in order to improve the interoperability while modelling partial aspects within Submodels. The standardized SMCs include address and asset product marking.

In addition to the general information for Industrial Equipment listed in this document, it may be necessary to supplement the digital nameplate with additional information for specific areas of application, e.g. for explosion safety or radio. Information for the digital nameplate for additional areas of application are defined in supplementary submodel templates (e.g. [12])

The current version of the submodel template fulfills the international minimum requirements for information on nameplates, and therefore takes into account, for example, the minimum requirements specified in EU regulations and directives (e.g. (EU) 2023/1230) in accordance with the Blue Guide [13] published in the Official Journal of the European Commission.

According to [3], interoperable properties might be defined by standards, consortium specifcations or manufacturer specifications.

So called property dictionaries are used to identify information elements (see Terms and Definitions of [6]). Such property dictionaries include:

In this document, properties are aimed to be described by IEC CDD (Semantic IDs). Corresponding references to ECLASS are provided as Supplemental Semantic IDs.

Further relevant basic requirements for nameplates are described in [8] and [9].

Requirements specified by further regulations and directives will be taken into account in subsequent versions.

For clarity and an improved legibility readers suggested to go through this section at first before reading the following chapters.

UML diagrams feature box-like elements, called "classes". These classes, typically Submodels, SubmodelElementCollections or SubmodelElementLists, typically feature a set of Properties or further SubmodelElements. These elements can have specific cardinalities.

The single classes are hierarchally organized by aggregation relations, these can be seen as "contains" relation.

For a further overview on UML diagrams please refer to [6] and [10].

Further details about used table formats please refer to Annex A.

The Submodel template was motivated by the prior ZVEI project “Digital Nameplate”. While defining Submodels the following three aspects must be considered as suggested in [5]:

Use and economic relevance

A nameplate contains identifying, descriptive and indicating information about an asset. Given the variety of requirements from national and global institutions, conventional nameplate have reached their limits of presenting mandatory content. The Submodel “Nameplate” helps to standardize the information structure for modelling a nameplate in compliance with such regulations. As a result, a breakthrough of restrictions due to limited labeling field can be achieved. At the same time the availability of asset information is widened from local to global level enabling further partners along the value chain to have access to nameplate information. The machine readability can be realized without ambiguity with the help of semantic information.

Possible functions and interactions

The Submodel “Nameplate” provides information from a nameplate. Customers or potential customers can use this Submodel to acquire identifying, classifying information about an asset, such as the manufacturer name, model type or serial number and the provided product markings. Customers can also use this Submodel to verify the asset with their order. Beside the customers public authorities and inter-trade organizations may also share interest in this Submodel in order to examine the information integrity stipulated for a nameplate. Manufacturers use this Submodel to fulfill the legal commitment on the one hand, on the other hand this Submodel helps them to identify the right asset in case maintenance services or spare parts are needed.

By using the SMC “Marking”, mandatory nameplate content can be modelled sufficiently. The modelling method was concepted in such manner that a wide range of national and international regulations and standards were taken into account.

In order to take regulations for nameplate from further standards or directives into account additional properties can be modelled with SMC “AssetSpecificProperties” and its child element SMC “GuidelineSpecificProperties” while reference to the additional standard document should be stored in the property “GuidelineForConformityDeclaration”. A separate SMC “GuidelineSpecificProperties” needs to be created for each additional standard and all SMC “GuidelineSpecificProperties” should be placed under the parent node “AssetSpecificProperties”.

Property specification

See clause 3 "Information structures and attributes".

The SubmodelElements described in section 3 are structured in the following way (see Figure 1):

For the overall Submodel template and its instances, some notes can be given:

Figure 2 shows the UML-diagram defining the relevant properties which need to be set.

Recommendation: For multiple elements, declaration as MLP is required by its semantic definition (based on IEC CDD and ECLASS). As the property value is language independent, users are recommended to provide maximal 1 string in any language of the user’s choice.

The SubmodelElements for this first level are described as follows. The table convention is explained in Annex A.2.

In order to provide information about a physical address, the SMT drop-in Address Information defined by [11] is to be re-used in the context of digital nameplate.

Note: SMC AddressInformation is part of SMC ContactInformation of SMT ContactInformations [11].

As the SMC AddressInformation provides interoperable address information about asset’s manufacturer, all properties within this SMC are defined as optional. This section defines properties that are mandatorily required to ensure the provision of physical address of the corresponding asset.

The following SubmodelElements shall be specified within SMC AddressInformation:

Figure 3 shows an example UML-diagram defining the relevant properties which need to be set mandatory.

Figure 4 shows the UML-diagram for SML Markings.

For the SML Markings, the list elements are described as follows. The table convention is explained in Annex A.2.

For a single SMC Markings__00__, the SubmodelElements are defined as follows. The table convention is explained in Annex A.2. Regarding property MarkingName, the preferable solution is to provide a valueId in IRDI originating from IEC CDD or ECLASS enumeration value list, e.g. "CE" (IRDI: 0112/2///61987#ABO409#003 or 0173-1#07-DAA603#004). In case none of the existing ECLASS enumeration values matches, filling plain string text into the “value” field of the property MarkingName can be accepted alternatively. It needs to be pointed out that ECLASS also provides marking definitions in terms of boolean property, e.g. “CE- qualification present” (IRDI: 0173-1#02-BAF053#008). In this case users should instead use a matching ECLASS enumeration value or, if not provided as enumeration, fill in plain string text.

The following example (see Figure 5) illustrates how to model product marking in an AAS. On the left side there is a sample nameplate which contains two markings to be modelled: the CE marking and the WEEE marking with a crossed-out wheeled bin. Next to the nameplate a table lists all properties and their attributes.

Figure 6 shows the UML-diagram defining the relevant properties which need to be set for asset specific properties.

For the asset specific properties, the SubmodelElements are described as follows. The table convention is explained in Annex A.2.

Figure 7 shows the UML-diagram defining the relevant properties which need to be set.

For a single set of guideline specific properties, the SubmodelElements are described as follows. The table convention is explained in Annex A.2. Beside the mentioned EU Machine Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 which this Submodel template is compliant with, there might be further information required by further stipulations and regulations depending on different asset. The SMC “AssetSpecificProperties” and its child SMC “GuidelineSpecificProperties” are therefore used to cover additional mandatory nameplate information while referencing the related stipulation or regulation.

In the following example (see Figure 8) a pressure equipment is addressed. Due to EU Directive 2014/68/EU the essential maximum/minimum allowable limits shall be provided for all pressure equipment. The example in Figure 8 shows a possible modelling of SMC “GuidelineSpecificProperties” in order to specify the minimum and maximum allowable pressure.

The used tables in this document try to outline information as concise as possible. They do not convey all information on Submodels and SubmodelElements. For this purpose, the definitive definitions are given by a separate file in form of an AASX file of the Submodel template and its elements.

For clarity and brevity, a set of rules is used for the tables for describing Submodels and SubmodelElements.

This annex lists the changes from version to version of the Submodel, together with major changes in the overall document.

Major changes:

Aasx file will be valid as of metamodel V3.1. V3.1 will allow to add idShort for SME within a SML, which is used in this file for better readability.