Wind Technician Simulator Presented at National Science Foundation Conference

CIVS Research Engineer Kyle Toth, and Research Scientist John Moreland, presented the most recent version of the “Troubleshooting and Safety Simulator for Wind Turbine Technicians” project at NSF’s annual Advanced Technology Education PI Conference, held October 19-23. This year’s conference, normally held in Washington D.C., was hosted virtually due to COVID-19 and attended by hundreds of community college instructors and university researchers.

The project is a multi-year collaboration between Purdue University Northwest and a number of community colleges, including Ivy Tech, Riverland, and Kalamazoo Valley Community College, and the Wind Energy Industry. The project has created an interactive 3D training software with education modules, troubleshooting scenarios, and tools for instructors to create custom content related to wind technician troubleshooting and safety. Students using the simulator are able to experience a day-in-the life of a wind turbine technician, learning important skills and troubleshooting techniques, and practicing how to deal with a variety of situations that can arise while working on a wind farm. The project is in its final year of development and has already been tested in a variety of community college classes. Additional information and instructions for accessing the simulator can be found at http://windenergy.education/.