Conceptual Profiles in Object-Oriented Metamodeling of Industrial Assets

The distinction between information models of device types and device instances poses a significant challenge in digitally representing industrial assets. This paper analyzes the modeling relationships between types and instances of industrial field devices, e.g. mass flow sensors, using metamodel theory, highlighting conceptual gaps in current modeling methods. By delving into object-oriented metamodeling, the implicit and explicit relationships across varying abstraction layers are clarified, illustrated with examples from the process industry. As a conceptual solution, an extended modeling framework is proposed, separating structural and conceptual-semantic aspects. This approach allows for distinct profiles of type and instance-related information and offers a categorical approach for the categorization of updates of asset information.