The Drum Unit OTS is a complete training solution combining a first-principles simulation of a 690 MW sidewall-fired boiler and balance of plant with an efficient training course that represents a lifetime of operations experience.

This unique package is ready to use out of the box: it comes pre-configured on a personal computer with both electronic and printed training material. Every major plant system is represented, from the steam turbine train to stator water cooling. The emulated controls are based on modern distributed control system (DCS) principles. The straight-forward operator human-machine interface (HMI) allows training to focus on plant system interaction and understanding the cause and effect of various control modes and runbacks.

SIMULATOR COMPONENTS

Physical, first-principles based models
Every major plant system plant system is contained in the simulator package.

• Drum boiler and furnace
• Combustion air, flue gas, and regenerative air heaters
• Coal transport and gas ignitors
• Steam turbines, extractions, and drains
• Turbine lube oil
• Condensate and feedwater
• Circulating water
• Generator, exciter, and external electrical grid
• Turbine supervisory and environmental monitoring
• Sootblowing

SIM4ME Instructor Station
The integrated SIM4ME Instructor Station provides an intuitive, comprehensive environment that is user-friendly to operators, instructors, and engineers. Designed with model data inheritance as a key concept, it is expandable with engineering workflow in mind: design, operational analysis, dynamic simulation, operator training, performance monitoring, and real-time optimization.

Dual Processor PC With 19" LCD Monitor, Fully-configured, Setup-free Software
The Drum Unit OTS comes pre-configured on a dual processor PC. It is ready to use right out of the box. No software setup is required. By using industry standard applications, such as Windows, MySQL, and Java, this software package offers seamless expandability for additional operator stations, if desired. With a development license, the end user can easily customize the OTS, adding to or modifying the pre-configured simulator systems.

Malfunction Any Piece of Equipment or Transmitter
Any piece of equipment, control logic, or transmitter can be malfunctioned. Malfunctions can be initiated immediately, time delayed, or triggered as a result of a particular plant condition, such as main steam pressure reaching 500 psi, or a control valve reaching 50%. The intuitive malfunction interface, as well as a set of predefined, common malfunctions, provide for quick and efficient training.

Alarming and Sequence of Event Capability
The Drum Unit OTS supports alarm screens with fixed position annunciator windows. Audible alarms flash until the operator acknowledges the panel. The sequence of event (SOE) records the alarming sequence to ease the determination of the first out event.

DCS-type Controls
The emulated control system is based on a modern DCS. Some control loop examples include:

• Unit coordinator and demand limiter
• Unit demand limiter
• Fuel, air, and furnace pressure masters
• Turbine coordinated control
• Boiler trip and purge logic
• Furnace protection
• Burner management system (BMS) logic includes ignition, pulverizer, and burner control
• FD, ID and PA, and gas recirculation fan control
• Vital power monitor
• Detailed startup procedure
  A step-by-step startup procedure guides you through a startup of each process system. The procedure details permissives required to bring each system on line through placing the unit in coordinated control.
• Optional faceplate customization
  The Drum Unit OTS comes with a complete set of comprehensive HMI screens and faceplates, developed for a variety of controllers and equipment. Examples include M/A stations, PID controllers, MOVs, circuit breakers, and master stations. Faceplates can be optionally upgraded to mimic the plant-specific faceplate graphics, to adopt the “look and feel” of any plant control system for enhanced operation training.

Complete Operator Training Program
A complete operator training program includes training modules, operating procedures, tests, and documentation. These modules are designed to evaluate, train, and certify operators with consistent and objective criteria. Training modules teach concepts in:

• Equipment operating theory
• System design
• Control loop configuration
• Control room protocol
• Plant startup and shutdown
• Diagnosing and troubleshooting process problems and runback scenarios

BENEFITS

Low Cost High-fidelity Platform for Operator Training
The real cost of lost production due to under-trained operators is often debated. However, it is impossible to deny that even one incident can be quite significant and costly. As an example, consider a 500 MW plant, with a 75% capacity factor, a power price of $30/MW-HR, a single trip incident, and a 12 hour startup time to recover to pre-trip production:

Value of Lost Power Production from One Incident = $135,000
[Value of Lost Power Production = Power Price ($/MWHR) * Trips*Time/Trip (HR) * Power (MW) * Capacity Factor]

The Drum Unit OTS is reasonably priced by SimSci-Esscor to provide the tools to prevent such losses.

Flawless and Efficient Unit Start-ups and Shut-downs
The simulator allows operators to become experts with process operations through repeated startups and shutdowns. Difficult portions of any procedure can be repeated until the operator displays the skills required to bring a unit safely online. Customers frequently report first-time startups are nearly flawless after training with our simulator packages.

Improves Heat Rate and Plant Availability
The Drum Unit OTS is based on rigorous first-principle models and modern DCS concepts, allowing you to unlock the fundamental understanding required to maximize plant performance. Operators gain competence and confidence in all aspects of plant operations, which improves plant capability to follow Automatic Generation Control (AGC).

Operator Certification
The Trainee Performance Monitoring (TPM) package, bundled with the Drum Unit OTS, generates both electronic and printable certificates. Any number of operators can be tested and re-tested with identical criteria and operating conditions to baseline and measure their improvement.

Automated Training Program
With the automated training program, operators can train on any shift, day or night; the instructor need not be present. Sets of exercises can be initiated, restoring the simulator to preset conditions, with delayed malfunctions to equipment, if desired. The results are saved electronically allowing the instructor to review the operator actions and the time it took to recover from a simulated plant upset. A TPM report, or certificate, is also generated.

Learn From Operational Mistakes with Exercise Replay and Review Capability
Training exercises can be replayed instantly to review operational mistakes allowing the instructor to guide inexperienced operators in the correct protocol to recover quickly from simulated plant upsets.

Improve Operator Response to Malfunctioned Equipment or Transmitters
Any piece of equipment, control logic, or transmitter can be malfunctioned to improve operational response to plant upsets.

Minimizes Equipment Damage
The cycling of plant equipment, coupled with inexperienced control room operators threatens profitable and safe plant performance. Through training operators in the proper startup of plant equipment - verifying lube oil systems are on line; the temperature differential across a turbine is within safe operational range; and recognizing critical turbine speeds - the lifetime of plant equipment is extended.