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BizVoice
/Indiana Chamber –
March/April 2012
S
tep into a theatre, slip on a pair of three-dimensional glasses and enjoy the show.
You’re not checking out a new movie at your favorite cinema – you’re in a
62-seat immersive theater at Purdue University Calumet’s Center for Innovation
through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS) exploring solutions to a challenge
facing your company.
“We have three missions that you can summarize in three key words: innovation,
application and education,” explains program director Chenn Zhou. “We train students on real-
world problems and help (businesses) to improve their processes.
“Basically, we create a virtual environment.”
Doreen Gonzalez-Gaboyan of the university’s community outreach and development staff
notes, “The environment could be a virtual city. It could be the inside of a hospital. It could be a
protein structure. It could be a brain. They’re (participants) either researching or studying and
become a part of the environment.”
The 6,300-square-foot multi-disciplinary research center houses simulation and visualization
laboratories, a 3-D virtual classroom, conference rooms and more.
Since its inception in 2009, CIVS has helped industry partners save more than $30 million
in production and operating costs.
Given its Hammond location, many of the projects have involved virtual manufacturing. It has
assisted some of the region’s largest employers, steelmakers
ArcelorMittal and U. S. Steel Canada (a subsidiary of U.S. Steel) as
well as energy utility NIPSCO (Northern Indiana Public Service Co.).
Zhou points out that the “areas of application are unlimited,”
noting that CIVS serves a wide range of fields that include
health care, marketing, transportation, construction, economic
development, education and non-profits – just to name a few.
What’s so special about CIVS?
“Many people do visualization. Many people do simulation.
But not many people combine them in the effective way we’re
doing it,” she declares.
During a grand opening celebrating the center’s expansion
in October, Indiana Secretary of Commerce Dan Hasler praised
CIVS (the following is an excerpt):
“CIVS is a jewel in the crown, which is so incredibly
important,” he asserted. “They are bait for me and this bait is
easy to sell. Indiana will continue to draw companies through my ability to demonstrate on behalf
of CIVS and Purdue. There’s a source of talent, a source of innovation and cooperative spirit here.
The students here are ready and waiting for new business and new companies for Northwest Indiana.”
Innovation at work
Purdue students tackle projects under the supervision of professors and staff.
“They’re not just working in the lab,” Zhou emphasizes. “They interact with collaborators.
They go out in the field.”
A partnership with U.S. Steel Canada (formerly Stelco) involved Pulverized Coal Injection
(PCI) and blast furnace performance.
Simulations at CIVS revealed that “the oxygen we were injecting through the (PCI) lance
was more detrimental than beneficial because it was being injected at a cold temperature,”
explains John D’Alessio, director of process and technology excellence. “It was actually cooling
everything down and preventing efficient combustion.”
Since this discovery, the company no longer injects cold oxygen through the lance. The result?
Approximately $8.5 million in annual savings and coke savings of 15 pounds per net tons hot metal.
By Symone C. Skrzycki
(Virtual) Reality Check
Center Serves as Innovative Problem Solver
Indiana
Ingenuity
CIVS Program Director Chenn
Zhou demonstrates the center’s
innovative technology.