基于单台PC机的DCS火电机组仿真机的开发

在基于计算机网络的培训仿真机基础上 ,集成了各个工作站的功能 ,设计出基于单台PC机的火电机组培训仿真机 ,为火电机组运行人员的个人操作培训提供一种方便的学习手段。实践证明该仿真机是正确可靠的 ,能够较好地满足火电机组运行人员自我培训的需要     

核电厂培训模拟机设计和开发

简述了核电仿真的目的和意义以及核电厂模拟机的分类,并概述了核电厂培训模拟机基本的性能和功能要求。通过1个工程实例对核电厂培训模拟机的系统结构、软硬件组成、功能设计等进行全面描述。最后,对核电厂培训模拟机的发展趋势进行了展望。     

Application of expert systems to process control

This paper describes the EXTASE system, an expert system for alarm processing in the vacuum distillation tower of a refinery. The system is able to find the cause(s) of an active alarm as well as the dependencies between alarms that were originated by the same disturbance in the process. Starting with an analysis of the operato's activity while performing information synthesis tasks, a computer model is abstracted. This model is based on a very simple hypothesis-driven search strategy. The search relies on causal relationship called “couplings” which encode the operator's basic knowledge about the behavior of the process. This approach allows the system to account for possible sensor failure in the diagnosis of process alarms.     

Predicting nuclear power-plant operator performance using discrete event simulation

A study was conducted to evaluate the use of discrete event simulation (DES) to predict human performance in a nuclear power plant control room environment. Computer simulation models of two disturbance scenarios were built using a simulation software program, Micro Saint. In parallel, data were also collected at a full-scope training simulator at the Halden man-machine laboratory (HAMMLAB) in Halden, Norway, using crews of commercial nuclear power plant operators from the Loviisa nuclear power plant in Loviisa, Finland. Comparisons were made between predicted operator performance data generated by the simulation models and crew performance in the HAMMLAB experiment to determine the degree of agreement between the simulated data and the data from operators. The models were then used to extrapolate advanced control room conditions and alarm systems that were not tested in the HAMMLAB experiment. This report summarizes these findings and provides recommendations for improvements to the DES approach for use by a regulatory agency.     

The effect of an adjustable sitting angle on the perceived discomfort from the back and neck-shoulder regions in building crane operators

In a previous working environment study of building crane operators, it has been found that approximately 70% experienced discomfort from the locomotor system. Comments by the interviewed crane operators indicated that it is, among other things, the forward flexed sitting position during lifts close to the crane that causes discomfort. This investigation sought to apply knowledge from the forestry industry concerning the beneficial effects of improved operator's seats to the work situation of crane operators.

On a construction site with three cranes, an operator's seat with adjustable sitting angle was installed in one of the cranes. Estimation of perceived strain-discomfort in the lumbar region of the back as well as in the neck-shoulder region was assessed according to Borg's scale. Data were collected from the crane operators seated in their ordinary operator's seat, seated in the test seat, and seated in another crane with an ordinary type of seat. The results showed that in 1/3 rd of all lifts, the crane operator was sitting bent-forward with little opportunity for relief via a backrest or armrests. The highest estimated discomfort values in the study were also obtained in an ordinary operator's seat on days with a high proportion of lifts close to the crane. When working in the test seat, none of the subjects gave an estimate higher than 0·5 (discomfort equivalent to very, very weak). An adjustable operator's seat could be a good alternative to a fixed seat, and more tests would be desirable.     

Safety implications of cultural and cognitive issues in nuclear power plant operation

This research project was designed to investigate cultural and cognitive issues related to the work of nuclear power plant operators during their time on the job in the control room and during simulator training (emergency situations), in order to show how these issues impact on plant safety. The modeling of the operators work deals with the use of operational procedures, the constant changes in the focus of attention and the dynamics of the conflicting activities. The paper focuses on the relationships between the courses of action of the different operators and the constraints imposed by their working environment. It shows that the safety implications of the control room operators' cognitive and cultural issues go far beyond the formal organizational constructs usually implied. Our findings indicate that the competence required for the operators are concerned with developing the possibility of constructing situation awareness, managing conflicts, gaps and time problems created by ongoing task procedures, and dealing with distractions, developing skills for collaborative work.     

核电厂虚拟DCS翻译软件的设计与实现

核电厂模拟机是用于培训操纵人员的主要工具,是确保核电站安全、稳定、经济性运行的关键之一.为了打破国外对于核电模拟机关键技术的封锁,研发具有自主知识产权的核电模拟机DCS智能翻译工具具有十分重要的意义.设计开发的虚拟DCS翻译转换软件成功实现国产化DCS平台软件代码转化至核电模拟机平台,逼真地再现了DCS控制策略组态、配置和下装过程.     

Human factors approach for evaluation and redesign of human–system interfaces of a nuclear power plant simulator

Nuclear power production is a safety-critical process where ultimate execution of process change decisions lie with the operators. Thus it is important to provide the best possible decision support through effective supervisory control operator interfaces. This requires a human factors/ergonomics approach in the modernization of analog instrumentation and control systems of the existing nuclear power plants. In this article, we describe how this approach is being used for modernization of the ANGRA I power plant. Using a cognitive task analysis (CTA) approach, we observed operators working on an advanced control room of a nuclear power plant digital simulator and noted several opportunities for improvement in the human/system interfaces related to the graphics design, alarm systems and procedure integration. A redesigned prototype was constructed as an alternative to the current simulator and hardcopy procedure manuals. The design improves upon the graphical layout of system information and provides better integration of procedures, automation and alarm systems. The design was validated by expert opinion and a scenario-based comparison.

Relevance to industry

Human factors/ergonomics are not playing the role they deserve in the design of process control systems making them less controllable than they could be if human factors were adequately incorporated. The use of human factors approach in the design of process control systems throughout the industry presents many opportunities for improvements with regard to system effectiveness, efficiency, reliability and safety.     

A sketch-based approach to human body modelling

In this paper, we present a new approach and a novel interface, Virtual Human Sketcher (VHS), which enables those who can draw, to sketch-out various human body models. Our approach supports freehand drawing input and a “Stick Figure→Fleshing-out→Skin Mapping” modelling pipeline. Following this pipeline, a stick figure is drawn first to illustrate a figure pose, which is automatically reconstructed into 3D through a “Multi-layered Back-Front Ambiguity Clarifier”. It is then fleshed-out with freehand body contours. A “Creative Model-based Method” is developed for interpreting the body size, shape, and fat distribution of the sketched figure and transferring it into a 3D human body through graphical comparisons and generic model morphing. The generic model is encapsulated with three distinct layers: skeleton, fat tissue, and skin. It can be transformed sequentially through rigid morphing, fatness morphing, and surface matching to match the 2D figure sketch. The initial resulting 3D body model can be incrementally modified through sketching directly on the 3D model. In addition, this body surface can be mapped onto a series of posed stick figures to be interpolated as a 3D character animation. VHS has been tested by various users on Tablet PC. After minimal training, even a beginner can create plausible human bodies and animate them within minutes.     

A computational situation assessment model for nuclear power plantoperations

This paper presents a computational situation assessment (SA) model and a model-based SA metric for nuclear power plant operations. The model and metric development starts with a definition of the plant operator's SA centered decision making behavior. A computational SA model and a model-based SA metric are then developed to quantify and measure operator SA. Using the SA model as a core, we further develop an integrated operator/plant model that provides for explicit representation of the operator's fundamental functions of information processing, situation assessment, and decision making in a closed-loop plant/operator simulation environment. We evaluate the model and metric in a model-based simulation of a selected emergency scenario, and a model-based analysis of a range of contemplated nuclear power plant automation/aiding options     

The role of design-principles in designing courses that promote collaborative learning in higher-education

Design-patterns and design-principles represent two approaches, which elicit design knowledge from successful learning environments and formulate it as design guidelines. The two approaches are fairly similar in their strategies, but differ in their research origins. This study stems from the design-principles approach, and explores how learning is affected by curriculum-materials designed according to two main design-principles: (a) engage learners in peer instruction, and (b) reuse student artifacts as resource for further learning. These principles were employed in three higher-education courses and examined with 385 students. Data analysis was conducted in two trajectories: In the “bird’s eye view” trajectory we used a “feature” unit of analysis to illustrate how learning was supported by features designed according to the two design-principles in each of the courses. In the “design-based research” trajectory we focused on one feature, a web-based Jigsaw activity, in a philosophy of education course, and demonstrated how it was refined via three design iterations. Students were required to specialize in one of three philosophical perspectives, share knowledge with peers who specialized in other perspectives, and reuse the shared knowledge in new contexts. Outcomes indicated that the design in the first iteration did not sufficiently support student ability to apply the shared knowledge. Two additional design-principles were employed in the next iterations: (c) provide knowledge representation and organization tools, and (d) employ multiple social-activity structures. The importance of combining several design-principles for designing curricular materials is discussed in terms of Alexander’s design-pattern language and his notion of referencing between design-patterns.     

火电机组激励式仿真系统的构建

针对目前火电机组仿真机的开发应用及现状,根据仿真机中分散控制系统(DCS)设备和功能的复制方式,提出局部激励式仿真系统新概念,并且在上海吴泾第二发电有限公司660MW火电机组的仿真机的研制过程中,构建了局部激励式仿真系统。经过两年多的运行测试,证明该仿真系统不仅能很好地满足电厂运行人员的培训要求,而且能提供热工人员对DCS进行大范围的仿真和实验手段,因此大大拓展了仿真机的培训功能,为仿真机的应用展示出新的前景。     

Using eye movement parameters for evaluating human–machine interface frameworks under normal control operation and fault detection situations

A human–machine interface framework provides general guidelines for what information should be put on an interface display screen. The framework is thus a first step towards the design of an effective and efficient interface. This paper reports on an experimental study of two proposed frameworks: the ecological interface design framework and the function–behaviour–state framework. In order to provide an unbiased comparative evaluation for both interfaces, the same application problem is used. The interfaces, based on each of the two frameworks, are implemented with as similar look-and-feel forms as possible in the presentation of information contents. Only the normal control operation and fault detection situations are considered at this stage of the study. In addition, in this study three categories of measures are used, namely: the performance measure; the physiological measure (the eye movement measure: the eye fixation and the pupil diameter change, in particular); and the subjective (or the user-rated) measure. The major results obtained from the study includes the following: (1) the information called the abstract function in the ecological interface design framework may not positively correlate to the performance improvement yet may increase the mental workload, (2) the function–behaviour–state framework seems more agreeable with the operator's mental model, and (3) operators may perform equally well with a function–behaviour–state interface but with a reduced mental workload. It is also found that the eye fixation measure is highly consistent with the performance measure and the subjective measure. The pupil diameter measure is found not to be significantly sensitive to the mental workload information; however, it appears sensitive to the mental workload information among individual participants and shows a consistent result with the other measures used.     

Performing a course material enhancement process with asynchronous interactive online system

Online systems have come to be heavily used in education, particularly for online learning and collecting information not otherwise readily available. Most e-learning systems, including interactive learning systems, have been designed to “push” course materials to students but rarely to “collect” or “pull” ideas from them. The interactive mechanisms in proposed instructional design models, however, prevent many potential designers from improving course quality, even though some believe that the learning experience and the comments of students are important for enhancing course materials. As well, students could actually contribute to instructional design.This paper presents a course material enhancement process that elicits ideas from students by encouraging students to modify course materials. This process had been tested on different higher education programs, both graduate and undergraduate. It aims to understand which programs’ students have a higher willingness to participate in this work and if they can benefit from this process. To facilitate this research, an asynchronous interaction system, teacher digital assistant (TDA), was designed for teachers to receive responses, recommendations, and modified materials from students at any time. The major advantage of this process is that it could embed students’ thoughts into the course material to improve the curriculum, which can benefit future students.     

Fuzzy functions with LSE

“Fuzzy Functions” are proposed to be determined by the least squares estimation (LSE) technique for the development of fuzzy system models. These functions, “Fuzzy Functions with LSE” are proposed as alternate representation and reasoning schemas to the fuzzy rule base approaches. These “Fuzzy Functions” can be more easily obtained and implemented by those who are not familiar with an in-depth knowledge of fuzzy theory. Working knowledge of a fuzzy clustering algorithm such as FCM or its variations would be sufficient to obtain membership values of input vectors. The membership values together with scalar input variables are then used by the LSE technique to determine “Fuzzy Functions” for each cluster identified by FCM. These functions are different from “Fuzzy Rule Base” approaches as well as “Fuzzy Regression” approaches. Various transformations of the membership values are included as new variables in addition to original selected scalar input variables; and at times, a logistic transformation of non-scalar original selected input variables may also be included as a new variable. A comparison of “Fuzzy Functions-LSE” with Ordinary Least Squares Estimation (OLSE)” approach show that “Fuzzy Function-LSE” provide better results in the order of 10% or better with respect to RMSE measure for both training and test cases of data sets.     

MIS系统权限管理及标准件

文章着重介绍了一种ＭＩＳ系统应用层的权限管理模型,该模型通过对用户对对象的操作权限的分析,将ＭＩＳ系统的权限要求分为四类：操作员用户的标识及确认,操作员对系统模块的执行权限,系统模块对数据库数据的存取权限及操作员用户对数据库数据的存取权限。另外,文章最后简要给出了在此模型上建立的一个应用系统权限管理构件。     

利用VRML虚拟电厂热力系统

虚拟现实技术是当今计算机科学研究的一个热点,将虚拟现实技术引入电厂热力系统运行中,为电厂运行人员的培训和高温高压环境中故障的预测与排除提供了一种全新的手段。该系统是一种360°全视角的三维立体模型,用户通过互联网就可以直接对电厂热力系统进行全方位立体考察。该系统使技术人员和运行人员以电厂实际运行环境为虚拟空间,从任意角度漫游和交互操作,帮助他们更好地掌握现场实情。     

Conceptual design of industrial process displays

Today, process displays used in industry are often designed on the basis of piping and instrumentation diagrams without any method of ensuring that the needs of the operators are fulfilled. Therefore, a method for a systematic approach to the design of process displays is needed. This paper discusses aspects of process display design taking into account both the designer's and the operator's points of view. Three aspects are emphasized: the operator tasks, the display content and the display form. The distinction between these three aspects is the basis for proposing an outline for a display design method that matches the industrial practice of modular plant design and satisfies the needs of reusability of display design solutions. The main considerations in display design in the industry are to specify the operator's activities in detail, to extract the information the operators need from the plant design specification and documentation, and finally to present this information. The form of the display is selected from existing standardized display elements such as trend curves, mimic diagrams, ecological interfaces, etc. Further knowledge is required to invent new display elements. That is, knowledge about basic visual means of presenting information and how humans perceive and interpret these means and combinations. This knowledge is required in the systematic selection of graphical items for a given display content. The industrial part of the method is first illustrated in the paper by a simple example from a plant with batch processes. Later the method is applied to develop a supervisory display for a condenser system in a nuclear power plant. The differences between the continuous plant domain of power production and the batch processes from the example are analysed and broad categories of display types are proposed. The problems involved in specification and invention of a supervisory display are analysed and conclusions from these problems are made. It is concluded that the design method proposed provides a framework for the progress of the display design and is useful in pin-pointing the actual problems. The method was useful in reducing the number of existing displays that could fulfil the requirements of the supervision task. The method provided at the same time a framework for dealing with the problems involved in inventing new displays based on structured analysis. However the problems in a systematic approach to display invention still need consideration.     

红沿河一期全范围模拟机的设计和开发

模拟机作为核电站操纵员进行培训的必备工具是电站生产准备期间的关键路径。红沿河核电站模拟机作为国内首个采用自主化DCS(数字控制系统)建设的设备,其设计有着自身的特点,其开发经验对于后续同类电站的模拟机建设有着一定的参考意义。就模拟机供货商的设计和开发流程进行了阐述,并就模拟机测试取得的经验进行了介绍。为从事模拟机制造、测试和管理工作的人员提供参考。     

FluNet: A hybrid internet simulator for fast queue regimes

Motivated by the scale and complexity of simulating large-scale networks, recent research has focused on hybrid fluid/packet simulators, where fluid models are combined with packet models in order to reduce simulation complexity as well as to track dynamics of end-sources accurately. However, these simulators still need to track the queuing dynamics of network routers, leading to considerable simulation complexity in a large-scale network model. In this paper, we propose a new hybrid simulator – FluNet – where queueing dynamics are not tracked, but instead, an equivalent rate-based model is used. The FluNet simulator is predicated on a fast-queueing regime at bottleneck routers, where the queue length fluctuates on a faster time-scale than end systems. This allows us to simulate large-scale systems, where the simulation “time step-size” is governed only by the time-scale of the end-systems, and not by that of the intermediate routers; whereas a queue-tracking based fluid simulator would require decreasingly smaller step-sizes as the system scale size increases. We validate our model using a ns-2 based implementation. Our results indicate a good match between packet systems and the associated FluNet system.