SRV: a virtual reality application to electrical substations operation training

Presents SRV (Virtual Reality System), a virtual reality application to train personnel associated with the manual operation of electrical substation equipment. We present a low-cost PC-based application which allows the user both to know the basic elements of an electrical substation in terms of appearance, behaviour and functionality, and to operate the substation by interacting with the switching equipment and performing operations as in the real world. The SRV system is composed of a plant simulator (SGI Simulator), which is currently used by IBERDROLA in the training process of operators in the execution of local manoeuvres in those substations where there are no automation or remote control facilities, and the virtual reality environment, which is a set of realistic 3D models of different types of substations. The capability of automatically generating any substation from single-line diagrams, the interaction facilities and the almost real appearance of the components make SRV a very good addition to the current operator training process