A wave of retirements and layoffs affects the overall experience level of operators. At the same time, many of the new operators coming into the workforce are more educated and comfortable with the world of commercial off-the-shelf information technology. So what challenges will the operator of the future face, and what tools will be available to him or her? At ARC's 2010 Orlando Forum in February, several end-users shared their views and experiences with the session audience. Presenters included representatives from The Dow Chemical Co., the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions.
Dow Chemical的迈克·威廉姆斯(Mike Williams)谈到了基于州的过程控制以及它如何通过改善操作员响应来推动运营卓越。威廉姆斯谈到了“乔治·杰森综合症”。在流行的,未来派的1960年动画电视连续剧《杰森森》中,乔治在工作中的计算机毫不犹豫地提醒他,作为操作员,他是无关紧要的和多余的。来自萨凡纳河核的劳拉(Laura)和兰斯·雅培(Lance Abbott)在演讲中也提到了乔治·杰森(George Jetson)。在这里,背景是,未来的运营商并不是乔治·杰森(George Jetson)的自满,他的脚抬起了桌子。取而代之的是,他或她必须始终保持警惕,并能够做出关键决定。
The common theme is that, while the degree of automation will increase, the operator is there to intervene in a quick and effective manner, should it be necessary. The operator also monitors the holistic performance of the plant and ensures sustained operations against the specific design intent and business objectives.
Operators experience a lot of mental stress. According to Williams, the operator's ability to act changes rapidly under stressful situations. Under normal workload, the operator applies basic knowledge successfully. At the first sign of a fault condition, the operator acknowledges the event in a clearly defined manner. As the abnormal situation deteriorates, however, interdependent events propagate, with the human responding based on experience and best judgment. As the event escalates, the ability of the human to act successfully rapidly deteriorates.
So how do we address this issue? We need a solution that incorporates automated procedures and the manufacturing operating disciplines with which they are associated. The best operational knowledge needs to be institutionalized and needs to include the most appropriate response to abnormal events. This needs to be applied to all modes of operation, from normal running to start-up, shutdown, and transitions, not just steady-state conditions.
训练有素的运营商
来自美国能源部国家能源技术实验室的Stephen E. Zitney谈到了Netl使用高级模拟技术来培训未来新的电厂运营商的使用。下一代综合气化联合周期(IGCC)植物将结合大型,高度集成和多功能系统,需要复杂的操作员培训。Zitney预测,与操作员培训模拟器(OTS)集成的沉浸式3D模拟的使用增加了。由于工厂人员将使用3D遮阳板执行任务并响应趋势和警报,因此控制室和现场操作员的角色最终也将合并。
Clearly, the operators of the future will play a pivotal role in operations decision making. Operations improve when the operator is able to solve complex problems, instead of having to filter through a tidal wave of data to get to useful information. ARC's Benchmarking Consortium is working to define appropriate metrics and benchmark current best practices for operators in process plants. ARC invites additional end-users to participate in these important activities. For more information, including specific metrics, readers can visitwww.arcweb.com/benchmarking.
Larry O'Brien,lobrien@arcweb.com,是马萨诸塞州德德姆的Arc Advisory Group Inc.的研究总监。
“乔治·杰森综合症”和未来的运营商
Today's operators face tremendous pressure to perform.
2010年6月2日