Virtual Plant Simulation for Real-Time Operation Pattern Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
It is challenging for operators in plants such as petroleum, petrochemistry, and gas facilities to understand the plant's state in real time and execute optimal operations, particularly during abnormal conditions, which can lead to production stoppages and safety issues.
Innovation Solution
An information processing device that calculates the behavior of an actual plant by simulating various operation pattern plans using a virtual plant, allowing for the association of operations with their execution times and outputting these plans and results for informed decision-making.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If workers operate the plant based on actual measured values alone, then the operation simplicity is maintained, but the ability to understand plant state and choose appropriate operations deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual plant that is a digital copy of the actual plant, replicating its structure, equipment, and operational characteristics. This virtual model allows workers to simulate and understand plant behavior without directly manipulating the actual plant, thereby maintaining operational simplicity while significantly improving understanding of plant state through visual and interactive representation.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtual plant serves as an intermediary between the worker and the actual plant. Instead of directly interacting with complex physical systems, workers interact with the simplified virtual interface, which mediates by translating real plant data into comprehensible visual representations and simulating operational outcomes before actual execution.
2Reliability
If multiple operation patterns are simulated and analyzed, then the decision quality improves, but the time required for operations increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary simulation of multiple operation patterns before actual execution. By pre-calculating and evaluating different operational scenarios in the virtual plant, the system identifies the most appropriate operation pattern in advance, ensuring high decision quality while reducing actual operation time since the optimal choice is already determined through prior simulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The simulation system dynamically adjusts the analysis based on current plant conditions and the specific operation patterns being evaluated. Rather than performing exhaustive analysis of all possible operations, the system adaptively focuses computational resources on the most relevant scenarios, balancing decision quality with time efficiency.
3Manufacturing precision
If simulation calculations are performed for multiple operation patterns, then the operational accuracy improves, but the computational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The simulation process is segmented into distinct modules: data acquisition from the actual plant, virtual plant model updating, operation pattern generation, simulation execution, and result evaluation. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently and enables parallel processing of multiple operation patterns, reducing overall computational complexity while maintaining high operational accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
An information processing device calculates a behavior of an actual plant by simulation using a virtual plant following an operational status of the actual plant with respect to each of a plurality of operation pattern plans including operation information in which operations on the actual plant and times of execution at which the operations are executed are associated with each other. The information processing device outputs the operation pattern plans and respective calculation results in association with each other.