EVALUATION OF A RANKINE-CYCLE DISPLAY FOR NUCLEAR-POWER-PLANT MONITORING AND DIAGNOSIS

Traditionally, nuclear power plant control rooms have been designed ac cording to a single-sensor single-indicator (SSSI) philosophy, Various researchers have proposed new display design principles, such as the mapping principle, which tries to overcome the limitations associated with the traditional approach by displaying higher-order functional in formation directly to operators. The mapping principle is exemplified by the Rankine cycle display, which is an overview display for monitor ing and diagnosing the state of nuclear power plants. In this paper we present the results of the first formal evaluation of the Rankine dis play, comparing it with an SSSI display and a variation of the SSSI th at also contains a pressure-temperature graph. The performance of unde rgraduate and graduate students in mechanical and nuclear engineering is compared with that of licensed nuclear power plant operators. Parti cipants in each of these three groups were required to detect and diag nose abnormalities in dynamic scenarios using one of the three display s. The results indicate that the nuclear power plant operators outperf ormed the other two groups and that the Rankine cycle display led to m ore accurate detection and diagnosis performance than did either of th e other two displays. Finally, we discuss some additional issues that must be addressed before one can recommend that the Rankine cycle disp lay be implemented in commercial nuclear power plant control rooms.