CCS User Interface

A well-designed Combustion Control System (CCS) User Interface (UI) can enhance test stand ease-of-use and provide the operator with improved awareness about the state of the stand.

At right is a screenshot of a UI for a notional oxy-fuel combustion system. This UI is based on a composite of several combustion control systems developed by BML.

The following three sections of the UI are of particular note:

1. System Schematic The dominant component of the screenshot is the system flow schematic, also referred to as a Piping and Instrumentation Diagram (P&ID). Superimposed on the schematic are buttons for controlling valves on the test stand and numeric indicators displaying the output of pressure transducers, thermocouples, flowmeters and level indicators.

   This portion of the UI gives the operator a good overview of the instantaneous state of the test stand and promotes intuitive manual operation of the system.

2. Time Series Plots On the right side of the screen are time histories of key pressure, temperature and flowrate data. The time-histories are ideal for detecting trends and anomalies in the data.

3. Automatic Control Towards the bottom left of the UI are controls that enable the operator to start an automatically controlled test and to trigger a shutdown of a test in progress. The "Start Option" pull-down menu is used to select whether an igniter-only test or a full system test is to be performed.

   A multi-stage interlock mechanism enhances the safety of test stand operation by preventing an automatically controlled test from being triggered inadvertently.