11.

SimPanel Platform

Introduction to power plant

simulator with SimPanel

GE OC-DCS Training Center, version 2, 2012

Understanding Power Plant Simulator

VietNam PVMTC 600MW Simulator China SHAOGUAN 1 set/5 models simulator (300MW/300MW/200MW/200MW/60MW）

Mini-DCS. Using same DCS cards with

site DCS, simulator is used to train
maintenance engineer, diagnose
hardware, hot backup to site DCS.

PSP, mobile simulator

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India Adani 330MW Simulator

A Simulator Room

Multi-media station

Local operation station

Operator stations
Instructor station

Engineer station
Basic usage of a simulator:
1. Operator training;
2. Control strategy optimization
support;
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Hardware Components Of A Simulator System
1. Instructor station: simulation server, simulation calculation, instructor
functions, operation evaluation
2. Engineer station: software maintenance, simulation commissioning, backup
with instructor station each other, operation evaluation
3. Operator stations：：DCS operation
4. Local operation station：：local operation
5. Multi-media station： ：work with 3 or 4, connecting to projector, virtual flame
monitor, water level TV, virtual hard alarm panel
6. Voice alarm station： ：work with 3, voice alarm

Projector screen

Air conditioner Air conditioner

Operator stations

Local stations Instructor station

& engineer station

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Design diagram of a simulator room
Real Meaning of 1:1High precision Simulator
：
Two types of power plant simulator：
1. Simulator with emulation ( emulate or translate real DCS, control strategy and monitoring
screens are emulated)
2. Simulator with soft-stimulation (copy from real DCS, control configuration and HMI screens
are taken from real DCS )
：
Core of power plant simulator --- simulation model, including 2 parts：
1. control system model (that is, model of DCS)
2. device and process model (that is, device and process model of steam turbine, boiler,
generator etc）
Simulator with soft-stimulation is better than emulation. ：
1. In order to realize real 1:1 high precision simulation, it is necessary to use virtual DCS
technology. A set of the site DCS copy, that is, a set of real DCS configuration software and HMI
screens, is run in the simulator.
2. With the high precision DCS model, the device and process model can be commissioned like
real DCS commission, easily to get high precision.

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Normal Issues About Simulator With Emulation

：
Issue Cases About Simulator With Emulation：
1. A customer from a NEIMENG power plant says, a simulator vended by a simulator company “can not
work normally many years” so that the plant refused to accept it. The plant can not use the simulator to
fulfill the simulation training about even normal start up/stop operation of the unit.
2. A customer from a northwest power plant says, the simulator system they ordered from a simulator
company, can not perform normally training because the software platform “bad openness and
maintainability”. The simulator software comes apart from the site DCS and can not be updated as long as
the site DCS software updates. They asked the simulator company to improve the simulator software, but
always being delayed and shuffled. Finally the simulator company refuses to support and serve for the
simulator, even refuses to reply the telephone from the power plant.
3. ……

General Issues About Simulator With Emulation： ：

1. Bad simulation accuracy;
2. Wrong control logics;
3. Impossibly keep consistent with site DCS;
4. Impossibly help to optimize the unit operation;

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GE-XH SIMPANEL Simulator Performance
1. Until June 2012, 85 sets of simulator were built. 3 sets of them are for super
critical units.

2. Simulation category covers a variety of unit capacity, 60MW，100MW，

125/135MW，200/220MW，300MW，330MW，600MW units, with different
boiler/turbine/generator types and different unit types, sub critical/super
critical/CFB/combined cycle, as well as flue gas Sulfur/NOx removing system.

3. DCS simulation has OC4000/6000e of GE XH and other brands such as Ovation,

Foxboro, Siemens, ABB, …

4. Customers come from China. Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Azanbij, Russia.

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Typical Cases of GE-XH SimPanel Simulator

SIMPANEL Simulators
1. Vietnam PVMTC training college ( SimPanel 5, 3 sets of simulators, 1 set of unit model, 600MW super
critical unit/MiniDCS)
2. China YUEDIAN SHAOGUAN simulation center ( SimPanel 5, 1 set of simulator, 5 sets of unit models,
300MW/300MW/200MW/200MW/60MW)
3. China HEBEI SHAHE power plant ( SimPanel 5, 600MW super critical unit)
4. China DATANG HUAIBEI simulation center ( SimPanel5, 135MW/220MW/300MW)
5. China DATANG CHANGCHUN simulation center ( SimPanel5,
200MW/200MW/200MW/FGD/MiniDCS/Residence heat supplying)
6. China GUOHUA HUIZHOU power plant ( SimPanel 5, 330MW/MiniDCS/Industrial heat supplying)
7. China JILIN BAISHAN power plant ( SimPanel 5, 330MW CFB/MiniDCS)
8. China GUODIAN SHIZUISHAN power plant ( SimPanel 4, rebuild of a non GE XH simulator, 330MW)
9. China NEIMENG BAOSAN power plant ( SimPanel 4, rebuild of a non GE XH simulator, 330MW)
10. China HUANENG power plant ( SimPanel 4, rebuild of a non GE XH simulator, 330MW)
11. A oversea power plant ( combining cycle unit, 9E Gas Turbine, 2×2×1)
12. A oversea power plant ( combining cycle unit, 7EA Gas Turbine, 4×4×1）
13. A oversea power plant ( combining cycle unit, 9FA Gas Turbine, 1×1×1）

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Classification of SIMPANEL Simulator
SIMPANEL Simulator with soft-stimulation –
Virtual Dpu…
On the basis of virtual DCS technology…
Meaning of X sets and Y models…
Product classification –
SimPanel4
Simulation interface software based on the virtual DCS technology; API
method interfaced with objective model (non- GE XH model);
Real time communication through virtual AI、AO、DI、DO;
Virtual Dpu command to objective model: Freeze, Defreeze, Save, Restore;
SimPanel5
integrated simulation solutions based on the virtual DCS technology;
GE XH objective model ( steam turbine, boiler, electric segment);
GE XH extending objective model (FGD, SCR, NCS…)
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SimPanel5 Architecture on the basis of virtual DCS

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Types of SimPanel5 Simulator
According to the simulation methods, GE-XH SimPanel5 simulator can
be divided into 3 types:
1. Virtual DCS simulator ( soft-Stimulation, if site DCS uses GE-XH
system)
2. Virtual DCS simulator with mini-DCS ( Soft-Stimulation, , if site DCS
uses GE-XH system)
3. Emulate DCS simulator (Emulation, , if site DCS uses other vendor
system)
simulation stimulation emulation
Control logic same same emulated

HMI function same same similar

HMI same same same

appearance
Controller no yes no
Applicable OC4000 OC4000 other DCS
customer OC6000e OC6000e vendor

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A Full Simulator System By GE-XH

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Basic Software Of A Simulator System
Basic software in HMIs SimPanel5 in IHMI
1. IHMI： ： 1. SimPanel, running management,
XP/Server2003&2008 start/stop SDPUs,
/Win 7, freeze/defreeze/save/restore a
OC4000/6000e, running conditions;
SimPanel5 2. Emcenter, malfunction management,
2. ENGHMI/HMI/NDHMI： ： add/delete/trig/remove malfunctions;
XP/Win 7, 3. HisPlay, play the history data;
OC4000/6000e OprRecall, recall the simulator
operation; WCFMP, running condition
management; SteamTab, inquire
steam physical characteristic…

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