Preparing for a larger coke-oven gas holder
Before bringing a new 60,000 m³ gas holder into operation in the Netherlands, TATA Steel commissioned Mobatec to build an operator training simulator. This retrospective looks at how the project enabled control-room and field operators to prepare together before the actual start-up.
The new gas holder replaced a unit that had been in operation for 40 years. Its larger capacity was intended to improve continuity and stability across the coke-oven gas network. TATA Steel wanted to reduce the risk of a prolonged start-up and the financial consequences of a delay by training operators in advance.
A simulator connected to Citect SCADA
Mobatec developed a simulation model of the plant and connected the simulator to Citect SCADA, the supervisory control and data acquisition system. The simulator was delivered in close cooperation with TATA Steel operators, bringing their operational knowledge into the preparation for the new gas holder.
Training could therefore take place using the Mobatec process model with controls coming from an exact copy of theCitect DCS before operators started working with the new installation. The aim was to give the team practical preparation for start-up, with the simulator providing a setting in which to explore how the process and its controls worked together.
Including field operators with MobaTAGnology
The simulator included MobaTAGnology so that field operators could take part alongside the control-room operators. Communication between these roles was an important part of the training: instructions from the control room and actions in the field belong to the same operating sequence.
At the stage described in the customer’s testimonial, the new gas holder had not yet been handed over to the energy department, and operators could not access the construction site. A poster showing photographs of the different installation parts was placed beside the control room. Field operators used NFC tags to represent operations on those parts during the simulator exercises.
This arrangement allowed joint training to begin while access to the actual installation was still restricted. It connected the field operator’s part in an exercise with the control-room training, using the photographic poster as the field-training setup.
The customer’s account at the time
English translation of the original Dutch testimonial.
Within 12 weeks, Mobatec delivered a working simulator of the Citect process-control model for our new coke-oven gas holder. We needed this simulator because, after 40 years, we are getting a new, larger gas holder and want to train the operators in the control room and in the field to work with it.
At present, the gas holder has not yet been handed over to the energy department, so we are not yet allowed onto the construction site. A poster with photographs of the different parts of the installation has therefore been put up beside the control room. We let the field operator “operate” those parts using TAGS.
Over the coming weeks, we will let the operators do plenty of experimenting with this simulator to see whether theory and reality match up.
The first comment was made yesterday: “Watch out, the control computer is in IT maintenance mode; be careful you don’t actually wreck the process.” How’s that for realism?
Read the original Dutch quote
Binnen 12 weken hebben we een werkende simulator van ons Citect-procesbesturingsmodel van de nieuwe kooksgashouder door Mobatec opgeleverd gekregen. Deze simulator was nodig, omdat we na 40 jaar een nieuwe, grotere gashouder krijgen en we de operators binnen en in het veld willen trainen met deze gashouder.
Op dit moment is de gashouder nog niet aan het energiebedrijf overgedragen, dus mogen we nog niet op de bouwplaats. Daarom is er naast de bedieningsruimte een poster opgehangen met foto’s van de verschillende installatiedelen, die we door de fieldoperator door middel van TAGS laten “bedienen”
De komende weken gaan we de operators flink met deze simulator spelen om te kijken of de theorie en de werkelijkheid met elkaar overeenstemmen.
De eerste opmerking was gister al geplaatst: “Pas op, de besturingscomputer staat in onderhoudsmode van de IT afdeling, pas maar op dat je het proces niet echt om zeep helpt”. Hoezo, realistisch?
Planning operator training before start-up
For this project, simulator development and joint operator training were part of preparing for a major plant change. The testimonial records a working simulator delivered within 12 weeks and the team’s plans to use it before the gas holder entered their operation.
To discuss a plant-specific operator training simulator, a SCADA-connected model or training that brings field and panel operators together, contact the Mobatec team.
