An Engine Room Simulator as a Tool for Environmental Education of Marine Engineers - New Contributions in Information Systems and Technologies - page 300

operation. During exercises in the simulator, an example of which has been shown in
the paper, students can be introduced with yet not popular devices such as emulsifiers.
Playing the role of engine room operators, they have a possibility to familiarise
themselves with the operation of more commonly used FWE supply systems.
Students can clearly see how the use of the FWE reduces the NO x amount in
exhaust gases according to mathematical models of physical and chemical processes
happening in the simulator. By selecting proper parameters they also have a chance to
assume that the solution brings about a decrease of air pollution by toxic exhaust
gases components following the MARPOL 73/78 requirements [14]. Besides, they
can evaluate the character of changes for selected energetic and economic parameters
of the engine operation and fuel supply system. The models used in the simulator
show a given real object which was thoroughly tested by the simulator producer.
The acquired knowledge is tested in writing i.e. after completing the exercises in
the simulator students (as engine room operators) are obliged to report the exercise in
writing. Correctly prepared reports are a condition to complete the exercise and allow
to evaluate the acquired knowledge. While preparing his/her report the student
answers the questions and draws conclusions presenting his/her skills based on virtual
reality. The report should contain:

• purpose of the exercise - a short presentation of the completed exercise,

methodology, conditions for the experiment (engine room operational
condition; environmental conditions; set load; selecting measurement points;
list of symbols with measure units);

• measurements - results e.g. in the form of a chart;

• computings - calculations of secondary (complex) values;

• presentation - plots with exercise results;

• conclusions - general evaluation of results and their values, accuracy and

usefulness of methods applied for measurement and data processing,
comparative analysis of experiment results and trends of parameter variation
(with reference to data from topics).

The report prepared according to the listed criteria proves the acquisition of
theoretical and practical knowledge. The simulator as a teaching tool stimulates the
student's perception, which in a broader sense means that the student recognises
objects and environmental events. It prepares the students to react to given simulated
situations. The teaching process helps to prepare students to work in real conditions at
sea and stimulates their understanding for proecological behaviours when it comes to
machinery operation.

Acknowledgments. The research presented in this article was carried out under the
Grant NCN 2011/01/D/ST8/07827: "Importance analysis of components in reliability
structure of complex technical systems illustrated by a marine power plant."