Visualization of Plant Dynamics Using Soft Screens for...
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International Journals of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering ISSN: 2277-128X (Volume-7, Issue-6)
Research Article
June 2017
© www.ijarcsse.com, All Rights Reserved Page | 748
Visualization of Plant Dynamics Using Soft Screens for
PFBR Operator Training Simulator H.Seetha, N.Jasmine, Pidapa Raghava Reddy, M.Uma Maheshwari, T.Jayanthi
Computer Division, IGCAR, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu,
India
DOI: 10.23956/ijarcsse/SV7I5/0222
Abstract— Simulator model development, implementation and simulation can be visualized in two ways, non-real time
and real time. Non real time representation of data in operator training simulator development would not serve the
purpose of the operator training. However it's a very good approach for the component design, post accident analysis
and to value the characteristic of the component. Process plant operator training requires the character
representation as ditto to the reference plant behavior. Any deviation in the training data will affect the operator plant
practices and intern the safety of the plant as well as safety of the working place also. Real time visualization of entire
plant data in one point for nuclear power plant simulation is going to enhance the plant knowledge, competency of the
development team, reduces the time required for model tuning and a best aid on tool to clear verification and
validation process. Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) full scope replica type operator training simulator
simulates plant dynamics in real time and commissioned at BHAVINI training facility for operator training. This
paper discuss about the requirement of flow diagrams and result screens development to visualize, analyze, tune,
validate and verify the PFBR plant dynamic as per the scope of the simulator and ANSI standard for operator
training requirement. It also details about the advantage of having soft screens in various forms in development stage
and the vision of research and development activities in this area of interest.
Keyword: Real time simulation, PFBR, plant dynamics, visualization, operator training simulator.
I. INTRODUCTION
PFBR Operator Training Simulator(OTS) i.e. KALpakkam BReeder SIMulator (KALBR-SIM) is developed in
Simulator, Wireless Network section along with Reactor Design Group of Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research to
provide efficient training to the plant operating personals. Simulation of process plant dynamics requires proper planning
of various model development stages, testing methodologies, model tuning and Verification & Validation (V&V) of the
same. Here comes the necessity of soft screen implementation to speed up the above said stages for the simulator
development team to populate the simulated plant parameters in the one centre point to visualize the simulated results,
understand the plant scenario and verifying the models as per the simulator ANSI standard. By this screens the simulated
plant scenarios are monitored and basic verifications such as entire reference plant thermal / mass balance, control &
logic verification, monitoring of level of all storage tanks, necessary auxiliary system monitoring and the efficiency of all
the components. (Fig.1)
Fig 1 PFBR Flow sheet
II. PROTOTYPE FAST BREEDER REACTOR
PFBR is India's first fast breeder reactor with 500 MWe capacity, pool type reactor utilizing sodium as main heat
transport medium and uses mixed Uranium, Plutonium oxide as fuel. Heat Transport system consist of Primary Sodium
System, Secondary Sodium system and Steam Water System. Primary sodium system has two primary sodium pumps,
Seetha et al., International Journals of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering
ISSN: 2277-128X (Volume-7, Issue-6)
© www.ijarcsse.com, All Rights Reserved Page | 749
four intermediate heat exchangers, cold sodium pool, reactor core and hot pool. Each secondary loop includes two
intermediate heat exchangers, one secondary sodium pump and four once through steam generators. Steam Water System
adopts a reheat and regenerative cycle using live steam for reheating. Energy transfer is done through Electrical System
using turbo alternator set of capacity 500 MWe.
III. PFBR OPERATOR TRAINING SIMULATOR
KALBR-SIM is a full scope replica type operating training simulator with the coverage of neutron system to electrical
power generation system of PFBR and the training control room is replica of the main control room with respect to the
color, flooring, tiles, and display meters. KALBR-SIM acquired the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) safety
committee clearance for operator training and effectively utilized for the PFBR operator training to uplift and maintain
the plant operator skill set.
Fig.2 PFBR Main Control Room panels and its soft screen
Fig.3 Core temperature distribution screen Fig.4 Plant at normal state
IV. SIMULATOR DEVELOPMENT
Simulation of plant dynamics requires basic three development phases such as process model development, simulator
logic sheet generation and virtual panel screen creation. Virtual panel (VP) screens are playing a role in simulator to
speed up the model development, model character fine tuning, standalone testing, integrated sensitivity testing in a
system level and plant level. It also stimulates the developer team to visualize the performance in a wider range to meet
the simulator scope in all aspects. VP screens have also been utilized to take the simulator development in to the
destination phase where the simulator results are monitored by the operator and feedback commands are initiated from
the hardware panels through I/O system. (Fig2). Here comes the necessity of integrated visualization entire simulation
process of panel arrangement, panel space utilization, & distribution of plant signals, positions of annunciation signals /
indicators / control switches, signal communication mechanism to be implemented to integrated with simulator modules
etc .,
Seetha et al., International Journals of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering
ISSN: 2277-128X (Volume-7, Issue-6)
© www.ijarcsse.com, All Rights Reserved Page | 750
V. NEED FOR VISUALIZATION
As per AERB recommendation the Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) operator training simulator has to be commissioned at
least one year prior to the actual plant commissioning schedule and training the operator & getting certification for the
plant operator process has to be performed. This requirement forces the simulator development process to implement the
design data of the NPP and not to wait for the plant data to come. Implementing design data in simulator requires
assumption of data in wherever like boundary assumption, structural assumption etc. Intern it requires for multiple
validation and verification of the simulation state in the development stage itself to match the performance of the
simulator with the pattern in which the plant dynamic follows. Simulator Model development stage requires result
verification in a constant interval where noticeable/planned model development level has been achieved and gives us a
clear cut view of where the process in and how to proceed. It also aids the developer to perform unit testing then there to
reduce the error at the time of integrated overall testing of the entire plant model testing (fig-3 & fig-4). Verifying the
simulation state as per the reference plant dynamics Reducing error at the beginning stage itself elevates the confidence
of the simulator development team and provides a positive pathway to the development process. To fulfill this, test result
soft screens has been created to maintain the simulation goals and standards.
Fig.5 Reactor start-up conditions Fig.6 Sub condition level monitoring
Nuclear power plant Operator training simulator standard i.e. ANSI 3.1/1998 and IAEA TECH-DOC-995 selection,
specification, design and use of various nuclear power plant training simulators has been adopted for PFBR operator
training simulator and errors are well maintain in the range of 2 -5% in steady state and 10-15% in plant transient state.
Maintaining in KALBR-SIM is achieved by multiple level of testing like stand alone black box testing of process / logic /
soft screen for hardware panel, integrated testing in steady state, malfunction testing and design basis transient testing.
Distributed Digital Control System methodology is followed in PFBR plant, parameters are classified with respected to
its important, distributed to Local Control Panel (LCP), Local Control Centre (LCC) & Main Control Room (MCR)
monitored by the experienced plant operators and hence the safety of the plant is maintained. Development stage
Validation and Verification (V&V) of the simulator is very much mandatory prior to the V&V by internal / external
committee to get the clearance by assuring the error within the defined target limit. Here soft test screens play a major
role to support simulator testing team to check their models and tune it according to the modeling specification to
conform the healthiness.
Fig-7 Reactor start-up and NFM signals Fig-8 Plant at shutdown state
Seetha et al., International Journals of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering
ISSN: 2277-128X (Volume-7, Issue-6)
© www.ijarcsse.com, All Rights Reserved Page | 751
In KALBR-SIM also test soft results screens are created to visualize the plant status at the development stage to verify
the intermediate results in component level and system level. Verifying the inlet/outlet mass balance of each component,
thermal balance of the plant, pressure maintenance in important components, status of the motors, and inlet / outlet
parameters of all plant component of PFBR subsystems like neutronics, primary / secondary sodium system, steam water
system, electrical system, reactor startup system (Fig-5 & 6), core temperature monitoring system, Decay heat removal
system etc are carried out by the various form of soft result screen. Virtual panel modeling and simulation tool is used to
develop these GUI's to represent the plant components and integrated with the process model to get the real time data in
every 200 millisecond.
Fig-9 Secondary sodium loop-1 flow sheet Fig-10 Detailed Primary & Secondary Sodium System
VI. VISUALIZATION BY FLOW DIAGRAM
Sensitivity of the entire plant process has been visualized by the different system flow diagrams. Entire plant low
diagram covers the reactor core to the electrical power production system. For ease of understand the simulated flow
diagram of PFBR OTS represented in 3 screens; reactor in steady state, reactor in startup state (Fig-7), reactor in
shutdown state with Operation Grade Decay Heat Removal System (OGDHR) (Fig-8). Screens are develop to provide
the details of all the major component details like inlet / outlet temperatures, flows and Pressures of all major components,
level of the storage tank, power removal by the decay heat removal system etc.
This also aids to verify the control logic implementation and process integration like tripping and change logic of motors,
excess air evacuation if vacuum is more than set point, changing the water flow path after initiation main path
malfunction and subsequent bypass line opening, storage tank excess dump at appropriate set point, making up the tank
when the normal level falls below set point, reactor safety parameter dynamics to initiate safety shutdown signal from
plant shutdown system and plant response in reactor state transition state. Detailed subsystem flow diagrams help the
team to verify the component level control logic implementation, component dynamics and its related response. (Fig-9 &
Fig-10)
Fig-11 Main, Hot and Cold reheat system Fig-12 Condensate system
Seetha et al., International Journals of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering
ISSN: 2277-128X (Volume-7, Issue-6)
© www.ijarcsse.com, All Rights Reserved Page | 752
Fig-13 Important plant parameter monitoring screen
VII. VISUALIZATION BY RESULT SCREENS
Soft result screens are supplement of the simulation process to verify the results in smaller group level where in case
of soft flow diagram plant system representations are already fixed by the plant design itself. The requirements from the
process simulation team for verification of the component dynamics were the basic requirement for the result screens to
develop either in component wise or in subsystem wise. These screens are efficiently used to carry out the verification of
the process models by the different system V&V teams with respect to mass balance of the system. Different result
screens for components / subsystem are created (Refer fig-11, 12 and 13) and aided the V&V process of KALBR-SIM
and made it easy for the developer to go ahead of the final V&V.
VIII. CONSISTENCY CHECK
Soft flow diagrams and test screens are not only used for model testing or Verification & Validation purpose of
training simulator it is extensively utilized to analyze the consistency of the simulator to take care of configuration
management. Simulator configuration management up to the period of actual plant commissioning is also important in
view of change in the design specification with respect to practical implementation.
To check the integrality and stability of the simulator in version control process it is planned extend the visualization
through GUI to consistency check of all simulated plant parameter in one center screens. Development of GUI
experience can be taken into the next level of development of intelligent HMI and a trend to automatic performance
analyzes of the simulator to maintain the integrity.
IX. BENEFITS OF SOFT SCREENS
Soft screens are easy to create and modify according to the requirement by the developer team as well as the V&V
team. Extra effort to integrate with the process, control & logic and operator console screen is required to populate the
simulated plant parameters in these screens. Screens created for the KALBR-SIM development process were well
appreciated and utilized by the verification & validation team and AERB committee. Flow charts are effectively used for
the students / public awareness program for nuclear power plant and for the visitors of the centre.
X. CONCLUSIONS
Efforts required to develop a software has been reduces good amount of development time in simulator model
development phase with well planned design, development and testing procedures. Soft test screens verification in
development stage has definite impact in the understanding of the process, confidence in the development process and
automatically takes to the defined route of the requirement specification. Developed soft flow / result screens for PFBR
operator training simulator has been utilized not only by the developer to verify the development process; utilized by the
V&V committee for the simulator clearance for operator training.
REFERENCE
[1] Scope Document on PFBR Operator Training Simulator - PFBR/08610/DN/ 1003/REV-A, IGCAR, 2007.
[2] PFBR Final Safety Analysis Report, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Department of Atomic Energy,
Chapter 5.2. Core Engineering, Rev 0, (2004).
[3] Design and Development of Virtual Panels for Handling Control Room in PFBR Simulator, Bindu Sankar,
Jaideep Chakraborty, H.Seetha, D.Thirupurasundari, T.Jayanthi, K.K.Kuriakose, S.A.V.Satyamurty,
International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Engineering (IJNESE), March-2014
Seetha et al., International Journals of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering
ISSN: 2277-128X (Volume-7, Issue-6)
© www.ijarcsse.com, All Rights Reserved Page | 753
[4] Efficient Plant Monitoring And Control Using Improved Human Machine Interface With Intelligent Features by
T. Jayanthi, K. Velusamy, H. Seetha, M. Uma Maheshwari, S.A.V. Satya Murty
[5] PFBR Final Safety Analysis Report, Chapter 14 "Event Analysis" PFBR/FSAR/R-0/Mar'10, IGCAR
[6] Full Scope Replica Type Operator Training Simulator for Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor - T.Jayanthi,
S.A.V.Satya Murty, and P.Swaminathan – Volume Release of Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy conference
conducted at Delhi in Sep. 2009.
[7] Simulation of Control Logics for Plant Transition State for PFBR Operator Training Simulator - N.Jasmine, H.
Seetha, K.R.S. Narayanan, Rashmi Nawlakha, Bindu Sankar, Jaideep Chakraborty, T. Jayanthi, S.A.V
SatyaMurty, P. Swaminathan Presented at ICRTIT-2011 held at MIT, Chennai and published in IEEE Xplore.