Demand grows for natural gas for residential use during extreme winter weather events. Gas utilities use compressed natural gas (CNG) to meet increased demand. Trucks containing CNG arrive at CNG skid stations to decompress the gas. This type of operation can be dangerous, and it is often infrequent.
Mosaic’s client faced the challenge of needing to provide training for a high-risk process that is only necessary during extreme weather events. They also wanted to simulate a confined space environment that replicated an actual CNG skid.
We created a virtual reality environment that is an exact recreation of a CNG skid. The 3D environment allows a CNG operator to walk around the skid and perform tasks to decompress gas contained in CNG trucks. The operators work with other team members to prepare the trucks for decompression, adjust software settings, and observe CNG pressure and flow. The steps and tasks for the process can be tracked for correct sequence and accuracy.
Since this is a virtual environment and does not require an extreme weather event or actual equipment to experience, CNG operators can practice all the steps to decompress a CNG truck as often as necessary to be proficient in performing the process safely.