* Author: Arturo Ruvalcaba Roque *
Having the right qualifications is very important in our everyday work. Not only does my job and the work carried out by many colleagues require acting quickly and decisively with very little time to make the right decisions, but also seeking to safeguard the integrity of staff and equipment.
I have always been a very inquiring person. While thinking what I could contribute to this company, which has given me so much satisfaction, I decided to design and develop a simulator for combined cycle plants. I identified an opportunity to improve qualifications in Iberdrola Mexico, since the only way to access a simulator was going to Spain.
I started this project in 2009, seeking alternatives to understand better the various start-up and stoppage processes and events that take place at the station where I work, the Tamazunchale combined cycle plant in Mexico. I spent the first two months focused on identifying alternatives for building a simulator, the basic software and hardware requirements, etc. In order to be able to design and carry out the project I had to study, so I spent the next eight months attending various courses dealing with programming, Visual Basic, databases, Excel and PI Data Link, to list a few. Later I focused on developing the project’s programming, data analysis and structure.
Once I had completed the design, and after I found that the plan had many chances of becoming functional, I decided to present it to the manager and head of production of the Tamazunchale plant. In addition to the motivation this project gave me, I intended to ask for support and the resources needed to complete it. I received all the support and availability I needed from my colleagues, with whom I set up a work team. We then focused on obtaining the information, creating the databases and analysing the different logic of the plant’s processes.
After working for nearly three years we managed to complete the simulator, which finally consists of a server -which houses the database and simulates failures- and three stations -the first one for the gas turbine, the second for the steam turbine and the third for the various water-steam cycle processes-.
After much time and effort, last October we finally started to use the device as a tool for training the control room operators, as well as for reinforcing the knowledge of the operators currently being trained. The experience has so far been very positive for them, and very gratifying for me, since I have seen how a personal initiative has improved our training and everyday operation.
But this is not all. The idea is to share the simulator with the various Iberdrola plants to make the most of the usefulness of this tool. There are also plans to continue completing and enhancing the simulator. I intend to continue to be involved in this project, which has given me so much personal and professional satisfaction, knowing that I have done my bit to contribute to the development and growth of Iberdrola.
