Object-oriented modelling of virtual-labs for education in chemical process control

Easy Java Simulations (Ejs) and Sysquake are two software tools specifically intended for implementation of virtual-labs. They allow easy definition of the virtuallab view (i.e., the model-to-user interface). However, themodel definition capabilities and the numerical solvers provided by these tools are not the state-of-the-art. On the other hand, the use of the object-oriented modelling language Modelica reduces considerably the modelling effort and permits better reuse of the models. Modelica is supported by the state-of-the-art simulation environment Dymola. Nevertheless, Modelica does not provide the interactive capabilities required for virtual-lab implementation. The approach proposed in this manuscript is to combine the best features of each tool. Ejs and Sysquake capability for building interactive user-interfaces composed of graphical elements, whose properties are linked to the model variables. Modelica capability for physical modelling and Dymola capability for simulating DAE-hybrid models. This novel approach has been successfully applied to set up virtual-labs for control education.