A soft panel based simulator for man machine research

This paper describes the first research Man Machine simulator in the nuclear field in Japan. The simulator was developed during 1993-1995. Since late 1995 the simulator is used for both Man Machine research and research of operator training. The simulator is installed at TEPCO Nuclear Power R&D Center in Yokohama. Man Machine studies by the Japanese BWR group have been performed on training simulators in Japan since 1984. Training simulators have certain limitations, it is difficult to reconfigure panel instrumentation, therefore TEPCO decided during 1992 to develop a special purpose simulator. The developed simulator was a collaborative effort between TEPCO, TEC and EuroSim AB. The Man Machine simulator models an 1100 MWe nuclear power plant in TEPCO. The Man Machine interface consists of emulated soft panels (CRT based) of real plant panels. The soft panel displays can also produce non-replica images such as process diagrams, logic diagrams and core images such as process diagrams, logic diagrams and core images that are not accessible in the actual plant or a traditional full scope replica simulator. The panel hardware is fully flexible, thus allowing changes to CRT height, position and viewing arrangements.