Integration of extended reality and CAE in the context of industry 4.0

Simulation plays a major role in the development of new products and is considered one of the nine technological pillars of Industry 4.0. By encapsulating a plethora of digital tools, simulation has transitioned towards what is known as Computer Aided Engineering (CAE), which further enables engineers to validate the design and ensure product performance. The development of cutting-edge digital technologies, such as Extended Reality (XR), has also gained attention aiming at the facilitation of human-machine interface (HMI) and the creation of communication channels for improved remote collaboration. The contribution of this study lies in the design and development of a cloud-based framework for the integration of CAE tools with Mixed Reality (MR), specifically, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), focusing on industrial refrigeration systems design and editing applications. Furthermore, the developed solution provides augmented 3D visualizations overlaid on the existing installations. The proposed framework supports the virtual co-existence of engineers during the design phase, thus enabling collaboration and mentoring between experienced and young engineers. Additionally, it can be realized as a Cloud platform, which supports the distribution of several services such as storage of CAD files, simulation results, and the XR application for the setup and visualization of simulation results.