The Evaluation System Based On Database For Human-Machine Interface Of Advanced NPP Main Control Room

User Interface (UI) plays an important role in the main control room (MCR) of advanced nuclear power plant (NPP), whose quality is guaranteed by UI evaluation. There have accumulated many evaluation guidelines both in static (evaluation of the forms) and dynamic (evaluation of the performance) evaluation from former experiments, but few have been utilized by MCR UI designer. Here we apply expert system technology to construct UI evaluation knowledge-base and to give MCR UI Evaluation System, which can evaluate UI and give evaluation reports and improving suggestions.This thesis considered both dynamic and static evaluation measure criteria. Static criteria include: screen layout criteria, color using criteria, communicating technology criteria and menu criteria etc. Dynamic evaluation criteria include: operating time criteria, operating steps criteria, operating complexity criteria etc. Integrating these criteria by their weight can make great help to select best one from several sets of interfaces.Microsoft SQL Server 2000 DBMS is adopted to manage the voluminous data and complex relationships in data. The database is spited into two parts: static tables and dynamic tables.Main programs of the evaluation system include:User interface editor, responsible to edit interface, is database and OLE automation-based interface editor which supports multi-screen main control room.Operation rules editor, responsible to edit operation rules, makes complex operation rules look like simple language.Operation simulator can take place of real operator and operates following the operation rules.Evaluation system based on interface and simulation system's result, can evaluate the user interfaces with following modules: evaluation criteria management, evaluation data management, evaluation computation and evaluation report etc.The system has merits as follows.1. OLE automation assures most flexibility on windows platform and supports most of picture formats.2. Operation rules look like simple language with subject, verb, objective and adverbial. So the operation rules editor can be used comfortably without much training.3. Evaluation criteria can be added, deleted or changed during the running time.4. Automatic report system can generate form Word documents and makes user read information of user interface, simulation result and evaluation result easily. Automatic report system provides important reference for improving user interface.