Power

Virtalis Technology Lies at Heart of Innovation in Power

Leading power companies have seen their design, marketing and training transformed by the advent of the Virtual Reality systems that Virtalis has successfully implemented. Improved communication and understanding have been achieved, whilst value for money and strong RoI have been delivered.

VR Speeds the Product Lifecycle

Vestas, the world's leading supplier of wind power solutions, has a flagship Virtalis installation.

"The technology used in our wind turbines is state-of-the-art. Therefore we need state-of-the-art tools to develop them. The VR installation has proved to be a very powerful day to day tool for all engineers in our R&D department. As a side bonus the installation has also turned out to be very useful for all the other departments in Vestas like sales, management, production and service." Allan Laursen Molbech, Pro/E & VR Administrator, Vestas Technology R&D

Its VR suite is used by a variety of disciplines throughout the company, so it was vital that as many people as possible could interact in the virtual environment, some immersed via Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) with tracked hands and others viewing the interaction via Virtalis’ StereoWorks stereoscopic 3D display. By having a seamless digital environment, colleagues are able to come together to pool their skills to optimise design, manufacturing and marketing.

Technical director, Andrew Connell, and his team, created a code that would negate the need for post processing and would be able to take the company’s native CAD data and automatically create an optimised VR model. Most importantly, they showed how they were able to take a typical CAD model of a turbine, comprising 45,000 parts and 25-30 million triangles, and create and run 3D VR models on a laptop.

Recruitment and Training Transformed

“VR allows our trainees to virtually strip down, put back together and operate our equipment in a completely safe environment. They are conversant with digital technology when they join us, so it makes sense to take that familiarity one step further and introduce them to the Company via VR. Although the National Grid invested in Virtalis technology initially for training, it is now broadening its use of VR to the entire product lifecycle management.” John Tyler, National Grid’s transmission technical training manager

The National Grid’s Virtalis StereoWorks system is rear-projected and fully tracked to allow students and trainers to interact with the virtual model. Previously, graduate trainees were trained on a range of switchgear parts in the National Grid’s workshops in Nottinghamshire. They did not get to experience all of the switchgear or the full range of models, owing to the plethora and size of the equipment. Now, students receive training on the full range.

VR Gives the “Wow Factor”

Both Areva and Alstom use Virtalis models and Virtalis hardware in marketing presentations to potential customers. Alstom commissioned a model of the globe and selected power plants from Virtalis. Viewers are able to fly down from space toward flags marking the sites of Alstom power stations around the world. For Areva, Virtalis has created a stereoscopic 3D virtual show room and its sales and marketing team believes it has yielded real dividends.

“Our stereo 3D presentations, that we now give at larger exhibitions and conferences all over the world, are always the star turn. The other marvellous thing is that we are simply able to reuse our CAD data to create the virtual models. There are definitely contracts we have won that we can attribute to the persuasive power of VR.” Roger Critchley, marketing director of AREVA T&D’s Power Electronics Business

Virtalis’ Areva Showroom draws on effects from Star Trek’s teleportation system, with pieces of equipment able to be beamed in and interrogated at their actual scale. Virtalis has also created a series of virtual AREVA installations for potential customers to explore, including electricity sub-stations in an urban setting, a wind farm in its landscape and a series of different systems set on islands.

Viewers of the Alstom system “fly” into a highly detailed landscape. They then watch as the power station builds itself up from the ground drawing on the plant’s original CAD data. The audience is flown on an external and internal tour of both a Spanish combined cycle plant and the biggest coal power station in China.

“Our research has shown that the use of VR is good for our brand and that once seen, people remember our presentations more than those of our competitors.” Nicolas Gutron, Change & Communications - multimedia co-ordinator for Alstom Power Systems

Link to Vestas website: www.vestas.com
Link to National Grid: www.nationalgrid.com
Link to Areva: www.areva.com
Link to Alstom: www.alstom.com/home