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Interactive simulation-based-training tools for manufacturing systems operators: an industrial case study

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Abstract

Industrial process plants are increasingly becoming complex structures with high level of automation. Nonetheless, the final plant productivity and the overall equipment efficiency does not solely depend on an optimized engineering design/installation practice, but also on human operators supervision. In parallel, along with the classic demand to minimize costs and time-to-market during the design phases, issues concerning human safety and failure prevention play a crucial role, one of the highest target being the avoidance of dangerous process states. Within this context, Simulation-Based-Training (SBT) allows plant operators to learn how to command complex automated machineries within a secure virtual environment. Similar to its usage in medical, aerospace, naval and military fields, SBT for manufacturing systems can be employed in order to involve the user within a realistic scenario, thus providing an effective, lifelike, interactive training experience under the supervision of experienced personnel. In addition, also according to previous literature, industry-driven SBT may be effectively envisaged as a natural extension of the plant life-cycle simulation practice, comprising Design Simulation & Optimization, Virtual Commissioning, Operator Training, up to Plant Maintenance. In this context, since the overall system behavior depends both on manufacturing process dynamics and Control Logics, the main challenge for an effective SBT is related with the development of a real-time environment where control system responsiveness is fully reproduced. Owing to this consideration, this paper reports a successful industrial case study, concerning a novel SBT workbench used for steel plants operator training, discussing both the virtual prototyping phase and the development of a real-time simulation architecture. In particular, a hybrid process simulation is employed, where a virtual process model is coupled with physical PLC and Human–Machine Interface, thus achieving an accurate reproduction of the real plant/operator interaction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering “Enzo Ferrari”, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via Pietro Vivarelli 10, 41125, Modena, Italy

    Alberto Vergnano & Marcello Pellicciari

  2. Department of Mechanics, Energetics, Management and Transportation, University of Genova, Via All’Opera Pia, 15, 16146, Genova, Italy

    Giovanni Berselli

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  1. Alberto Vergnano
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  2. Giovanni Berselli
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  3. Marcello Pellicciari
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Correspondence to Marcello Pellicciari.

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Vergnano, A., Berselli, G. & Pellicciari, M. Interactive simulation-based-training tools for manufacturing systems operators: an industrial case study. Int J Interact Des Manuf 11, 785–797 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12008-016-0367-7

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