Speakers

Talk Title

Immersion Into Virtual Reality To Model And Digital Twin Data Driven-Control Process Of The Scale Formation In The Kenya Geothermal Plants

ABSTRACT of the TALK

Geothermal energy generation technologies and digital twinning are considered important research areas to the future of energy production through chemical processes. However, both technologies still face major challenges to their adoption. As the scale formation can cause a decline in the expected flow rate, and it is not desirable, the scale has to be predicted, treated, and removed while cost and gaps in knowledge and technology have made digital twins inaccessible for many. Previous work has been geared towards combining physical systems with simulation environments with the aim of creating ‘digital twins’; digital duplicates of physical machines that enable their control and monitoring in cyberspace. The shift is now towards advancing from the use of simulation environments to immersive platforms. Virtual reality (VR) in the context of cyber-physical systems introduces various benefits into conventional modelling processes. One key element needed to integrate Industry 3.0 to Industry 4.0 is to easily bring on board non-technical decision makers (high level management) during modeling steps within a product’s lifecycle. The integration of high-level processes into VR also improves virtual commissioning and creation of reference materials for such complex systems. Despite the great potential of VR, a key challenge still exists in modelling of system processes and communication of data between the physical and virtual environments in real time. This paper presents the immersion into virtual reality (VR), model a geothermal energy generation process, and use of a data-driven digital twin to monitor and control the scale formation in real-time. The system utilized Unity game engine for the VR implementation and a PLC S7-1200 hosting an OPC UA-server was used as the control platform for the scale formation. Communication was achieved by leveraging on the OPC UA Publish-Subscribe feature alongside MQTT. The VR platform is used to visualize and interact with the geothermal energy generation process; one is able to send commands and actuate the physical hardware. The PLC is also able to send back data concerning the state of the system in real time. The communication speeds were tested to confirm and characterize the system’s performance. The novelty of this study is the immersion into VR to model the geothermal energy generation process and the twinning data driven-control process of the scale formation in an immersive platform.

Keywords: Digital Twin, Geothermal Technologies, Immersive Technology, MQTT, PLC, Scale Formation, Virtual Reality

BIO

Prof. Eng. Jean Bosco Byiringiro (Ph.D, Reg. Eng.) is a University Professor of Mechatronics Engineering, Director of Siemens Mechatronics Certification Centre at Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKUT), and Visiting Researcher at University Bourgogne Franche Comté / University Franche Comté (France). Prof. Jean Bosco is also a registered as Professional Mechanical Engineer by Engineers Board of Kenya (EBK), WorldSkills Kenya Mechatronics Expert, and Certified as Mechatronics Systems Professional (Designer) by Siemens AG. Germany.

Prof. Jean Bosco had a Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering, area of specialization: Micro/Nano Fabrication, Yeungnam University, South Korea. He had MSc. Mechatronic Engineering, Jomo Kenya University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya and BSc. Electro-Mechanical Engineering, College of Science and Technology, University of Rwanda. Professional Certificate of Secondary Education, Option Electro-Mechanical, École Technique Officielle de Muhima, Rwanda.

Prof. Jean Bosco has over 18 years of both industry and teaching experience. He supervised research/innovation projects at PhD, MSc and BSc levels and published a considerable number of books and papers in peer reviewed journals.