In their basic function of conveying fluids or gases, pumps and vacuum pumps perform elementary tasks in numerous technical processes in the process industry, building technology, the semiconductor and manufacturing industries, the food industry and water management. Additional functionalities, such as self-monitoring, the generation of status and diagnostic information, offer great potential for optimizing operating processes. Information for the identification of pumps is essential for device management, measured values for energy consumption are an important source for energy management applications, etc. Highly functional pumps are also multivariable devices (e.g. pressure, volume flow, temperature, etc.) because they require information about the process during operation. Their versatile use and special significance make pumps and vacuum pumps an important asset in the current developments around Industry 4.0 (I4.0).

I4.0 stands for the intelligent digital networking of products and processes to optimize the value chains of manufacturers and users. The central object of current developments is the I4.0-component, a composition of Administration Shell and asset. The Administration Shell represents the asset - e.g. a pump or vacuum pump - in the digital I4.0-world. Among other things, it consists of submodels that describe different aspects or functions of the asset in the form of standardized properties. They form the basis for a common language of pumps.

In 2019 pump manufacturers of the VDMA trade associations Pumps + Systems and Compressors, Compressed Air and Vacuum Technology have specified a manufacturer-independent Administration Shell for pumps and vacuum pumps for applications in the process industry, building technology, the semiconductor and manufacturing industries, the food industry and water management. The work focused on three main I4.0 application scenarios for the digital integration of pumps and vacuum pumps into the I4.0 information world: the support of continuous and dynamic engineering over the life cycle, optimized operation through transparency and adaptability of delivered products, and the provision of value-based services.

Based on acknowledged and applied National, European and International Standards the descriptions and definitions were used to develop submodels for pumps in the Administration Shell project. The developments are based on fundamental work in the I4.0 environment, which describes the general structure of the administration shell. On this basis, pump-specific submodels are developed. These are based on different standards which describe aspects and requirements of pumps. In this OPC UA Companion Specification the contents of the individual sumodels of the Asset Administration Shell were transferred to the information model of OPC UA.

Alongside the development of this OPC UA Companion Specification, the submodels and properties of the Asset Administration Shell for pumps and vacuum pumps were integrated into the product classification system ECLASS. Following the ECLASS Release 12.0 this OPC UA Companion Specification can be extended by the ECLASS references.