Students design fully functional 'Snowy' simulator

Two engineering students from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne recently presented Snowy Hydro with a control system simulator to be used at the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme in Australia’s Southern Alps.

Developed in conjunction with Snowy Hydro as the students’ final year project, the control system simulator provides the company with a sophisticated training and offline simulation tool based on control system technology from Rockwell Automation.

Robotics and mechatronics engineering students Elizabeth Fullagar and Luke Cartwright handed the control system simulator over to Snowy Hydro’s Manager (Controls Technology), Darryl Eager, at a presentation held at Swinburne’s Hawthorn campus recently.

According to Eager, the simulator accurately models Snowy Hydro’s turbine unit control systems and has exceeded the company’s expectations.

“Originally, the intention was to have the students design and build a control system training tool where ‘close enough is good enough’,” he said.

“In reality, the students have produced a legitimate simulator, which boasts perfect timing and sequencing. It accurately mimics the control systems on site.

“Not only will it allow us to train operators in a very real control environment, it will also enable us to run control simulations offline. We won’t need to take the turbines offline to run such control simulations now that we have the control system simulator," he said.

The simulator will play a significant role in Snowy Hydro’s Scheme Modernisation Project, which includes the replacement of the Scheme’s 1960/1970 relay logic controls and analogue gauging with PAC and HMI technologies.

“It’s exciting to know that our final-year project will be used to bring on-site operators up to speed with the new control system,” said Fullagar.