Development of Educational Tools for Industrial Control Using HIL Simulation

The paper presents the development of a learning tool to enhance the teaching of industrial process control. The implementation of the Hardware-in-the-Loop technique in the teaching-learning process allows students to interact with a virtualized industrial process, understanding the real behavior of actuators and sensors. To comprehend, modify, and control the process, this work demonstrates the design and implementation of a water bottling plant. The developed tool enables real-time communication between the simulation part and the physical part. The simulation is based on the development of a virtual environment in Unity, and the process control is managed through the Ladder language in TIA Portal v16. The physical part of the process control is developed using a didactic module consisting of a PLC 1200 S7 (1214 AC/DC/RLY version 4.2). The learning tool was evaluated through an acceptance survey conducted with a group of 20 students, yielding a high level of acceptance. It was determined that control in the virtual process is intuitive and easy to understand, making the system easy to manage.