Abstract
The analog systems of main control room in traditional power plants have been transformed into the digital systems gradually. The aim of this study is discussing the effects of the display and control interface in the digital systems. The information is displayed in an “non-fixed" workstation rather than fixed on the certain Video Display Unit (VDU). Such working type of the digital systems differs from the traditional power plants and may interfere operators in operating. In other words, automatic system carries conveniences, but also brings unknown problems. Since operators’ monitoring and information processing activities are performed on the VDU, the effects of the interface design are significant. This study focuses on the critical issues, the operating mode with the VDU, to find out whether non-fixed characteristic brings operators more helps or interferences in the advanced digital plants. An experiment was conducted to investigate the contrast between information displayed in a non-fixed and a fixed workstation. The subjects’ operation times, task performance, and subjective rating were recorded to analyze which operating mode is more appropriate for operators. Besides, the latent problems in the present workstation are studied. The results of experiment verified that using the fixed mode. Allows the operators to effectively allocate mental resources, and whole frame of the systems would be clearer and integrated in users’ mental model. The fixed mode is recommended to be more suitable in normal situations, and the flexibility of transformation between the two operating mode should be considered in the present main control room (MCR).