WalkInside 3D Immersive Training Simulator(ITS)

 

 

Building the Human Asset

For Owner/Operators, operational efficiency – in spite of significant investments made in automation – is very much controlled by field personnel aptitude. Most facility operations rely on critical manual operations that require human intervention for tasks that cannot be automated. Therefore, investing in personnel training is critical to sustained asset operability, producing immediate gains such as better performance and efficiency, lower preventable accident and shut-down rates resulting in higher return on employed capital. With the increasing shortage in experienced personnel in the process industry, the 3D virtual plant is the ideal environment for contextual training of field-support personnel, encompassing:
•site familiarization and equipment location awareness;
•collaborative communication skills development between field operators and control-room operators;
•skill improvement of routine operational and maintenance functions;
•rehearsal of safety and emergency procedures in medium/high stress situations.

 

Real-life training during operations is costly and time consuming, as a variety of problems must be solved quickly and safely, and undesirable interference with operations reduce on-site training opportunities.

 

Therefore, a 3D virtual plant model provides the ideal environment for training field-support personnel to rehearse their routine operations or to help them optimize their response to simulated emergency situations. With Walkinside ITS, operators are fully immersed in simulated real-life scenarios, supporting multiple avatars to test team performance and communication. To further increase the training realism in each plant-specific virtual environment, the 3D model is enriched with all the details of the existing plants and textured and colored, using texture information that is present in the CAD data or is derived from actual pictures. Ambient sound effects and alarm sirens complete the realism of the ITS, together with safety signs that contribute to the effectiveness of immersive safety training. 3D objects are procedurally added to the VR model to flag evacuation routes, emergency and firefighting equipment signs, etc. Escape paths are represented in their full length for rehearsal of evacuation procedures.

 

Walkinside uses ambient occlusion technology to render ‘near edge’ shadow effects, increasing the photo-realism of the model and facilitating the object and complex assembly recognition in shadowy portions of the 3D model.

 

Walkinside ITS is built around scenario editor functionality that is complemented with a visual editor that helps customize specific operational situations. With this editor program, the instructor designs real-life or simulated workflow situations with multiple training options. During the execution, a runtime component monitors the progress of each trainee in real time with a stop watch. During the training sessions, the instructor can increase the model realism for specific scenarios by changing the situational conditions in real-time and adding incidents or blocking some access paths. At the end of any training session, the runtime component can deliver customized score cards to rate individual operator performance. Using the Walkinside curve editor function, the instructor can design and store multiple 3D paths simulating field operator duties in the model to prepare for, and schedule and monitor on-site activities, such as inspection, maintenance, training and safety reviews for pre-established work flows and procedures. Such paths can be played back in the form of animated fly-throughs in the 3D model.

 

With Walkinside ITS, procedures can be tested and optimized, and operators can be trained and retrained over time on their daily job duties. Working with this contextual simulation tool, teams of people operating the plants will gain experience in collaborating in concurrent sessions, remotely or in the same class room, allowing knowledge and wisdom to be passed on from the more experienced personnel to newcomers. Outside operators and other operational team members can also use such simulators to assist in other asset management and operational activities.

 

Training scenario simulations in the virtual plant deliver a unique knowledge transfer solution, providing control, measurability and repeatability for greater asset operation safety. The realism of the real-time collaborative immersion in the ITS implementation can also take advantage of the new Walkinside 3D Stereo & multi-screen module for CAVE environments.

 

Compared with conventional training, VR training has proven to be more realistic, to provide greater training retention rate, to boost motivation, and to measurably increase employee skill levels. The resulting environment enables the development and implementation of best practices in the areas of safety and security – as the rehearsal of any sequence of events or simulated incidents can be realistically integrated in the Enterprise training practices, reducing potential operational and HSE liabilities.

 

Linking the Immersive Training Simulator to an Operator Training Simulator (OTS)

Dynamic process simulation customized models typically include a module specially designed for field operator training, taking advantage of the same techniques used for control room operators training, displaying relevant graphics and faceplate interfaces. However, in a modern 3D immersive dynamic board operator simulation package, bi-directional communication is established between the simulator and the corresponding 3D graphics model using object linking and embedding (OLE) for the process control component (OPC). This OPC specification includes a standard set of objects, interfaces and methods for use in process control applications to facilitate interoperability.

 

All “live action” components (valves, gauges, sight glasses, etc.) are dynamically linked to the process simulation such that the action of turning a valve in the 3D training simulation will register in the process simulation as an instruction to increase or decrease flow, etc. The user can therefore virtually walk to a manual valve in the 3D model and close it, and the dynamic process model will respond by interrupting the flow through that valve. The resulting change in the valve is represented in the interactive piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs), with the updated faceplate displayed from the process simulation application. Such an integrated tool not only allows the rehearsal of routine plant operations but also helps improve skills and reduce risks for rarely performed, but safety-critical tasks such as during emergency shutdowns.

 

WalkInside6.0 Product Overview 

 

 

About Plantsoft
Plantsoft Software Co., Ltd. is the most experienced China-based service provider and reseller for software solutions used in the plant industry. We have the most professional development and technical support team in the industry. We provide a complete software solution for different stages in the entire life cycle of a engineering project, including bidding, concept designing, detail designing, construction, operating and maintaining, expanding/rebuilding, and retiring stages. Our solutions cover engineering management and coordination system, engineering design and analysis system, and project owner’s operation and maintenance management system. We also offer outsourcing service of 3D project designing.
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