October 30, 2015 – EON Reality Inc. and TSC Simulation have partnered to create a series of Virtual Reality simulations based on standard designs for training process operators. The simulations feature seven commonly found items in a plant and include: Gas Compressor, Three Phase Separator, Crude Oil Column, Crude Oil Furnace, TEG Gas Dehydration, Binary Fractionation Column, and a Fractionation Train.
The simulations work by connecting a Virtual Reality scene with an accurate technical simulation of a real time Control Room, using the I3TE (Immersive 3D Training Environment) technology and software licensed by EON Reality from ExxonMobil Upstream Research. By operating the processing plant from the TSC Control Room screen, and by manipulating the hand valves and on-off switches located on the virtual plant, the system will respond with accurate flow, pressure, temperature, and vessel level readings that show both in the Control Room and on the virtual plant instrumentation. These simulations allow natural facility work teams to practice start-up, shutdown, and to run rare process events in order to better able to operate the plant and fault find in real time.
“TSC provides thermodynamically accurate modelling of the process in oil and gas installations, and links this with a control room screen emulation of the plant control systems, for control room operator training,” said Michael Bolton, Managing Director of TSC Simulation, an independent Dynamic Process Simulator provider into the upstream oil and gas industry. TSC has its own in-house simulation modelling software designed to run under Windows, with the specific target use for operator training.
Users experience this training using a number of different Virtual Reality display options, such as the EON Icube, a four walled immersive room, the EON Ibench Mobile, a table top immersive Virtual Reality system, and the Oculus Rift. These displays enable a trainee to experience working on equipment in a virtual plant facility and are helpful in situations where it is impractical to have a training facility near-by.
“Training and education, especially in industries like Oil and Gas, are the cornerstones of EON Reality’s Virtual Reality platform,” said Mats W. Johansson, CEO of EON Reality. “By improving the training of plant operators and technicians, we can help reduce injuries, reduce costs, and streamline the overall training process. This partnership with TSC Simulation lets us offer training on standard pieces of equipment to prepare even more operators and engineers for safe plant operation.”
Image credit: EON Reality
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Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.