CIVS Researchers Present Industry Innovations in Safety and Hydrogen
On February 1, 2024, CIVS research staff presented an overview of digital technologies for safety training and workforce development at the 2024 Winter Conference organized by the Eastern States Blast Furnace and Coke Oven Association in Pittsburgh, PA.
As the first of two conference keynote presentations, Senior Research Scientist John “Jack” Moreland presented “Innovative Safety Applications with Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality,” an overview of several examples of the authentic, immersive, and interactive scenarios the SMSVC safety simulators provided. The programs go beyond animation and invite users to interact in real-time with a virtual version of their company’s work areas and processes. The decision-based simulators include areas like fall protection, confined space, arc flash, and lock-out/tag-out. 360° video of real-world surroundings recorded in industrial environments provides immersive experiences such as mobile equipment inspection, portable fire extinguisher training, and hazard recognition. SMSVC safety simulators are created with the following goals in mind: Teach in an engaging way to increase knowledge retention, visualize hard-to-explain concepts and processes, improve productivity, reduce training time up to 70%, and reduce training budget expenditures.
Prior to the conference, the AIST Ironmaking and Cokemaking Technology Committees met jointly to review preparations for AISTech 2024 and technical presentations. Associate Director for Research Tyamo Okosun’s technical presentation entitled “Hydrogen Utilization in Ironmaking: Exploring Methods and Limitations” highlighted the integration of SMSVC digital technologies to advance decarbonization efforts for steel manufacturing, including hydrogen injection and use in the blast furnace process. The presentation also highlighted the research areas at CIVS that derived from issues facing the steel manufacturing industry: increasing energy efficiency, reducing pollutant emissions, reducing downtime, and managing process stability.
The purpose of the Eastern States Blast Furnace and Coke Oven Association is to promote good fellowship among its members and to provide a means for the presentation of papers and open discussion of innovations and challenges pertaining to the Blast Furnace and Coke Oven Industries.