Siemens is advancing the adoption of green hydrogen by introducing software tools powered by generative artificial intelligence (AI). These innovations aim to simplify the design, engineering, and automation of hydrogen production plants, facilitating a faster scale-up of hydrogen production.
Hydrogen Plant Configurator
One of the key tools is the Hydrogen Plant Configurator, an intelligent chatbot that utilizes AI to assist users in creating designs for hydrogen production facilities. By inputting desired plant characteristics, the AI generates comprehensive block flow diagrams and detailed layouts of system units and connections. It also predicts essential metrics such as power consumption, heat generation, and a list of critical components. This foundational data can be transferred to engineering and simulation software like Siemens’ Comos and gProms for further development.
Green hydrogen is crucial for the decarbonization of industry. It will be a scarce commodity for the foreseeable future. This makes it even more important to accelerate the ramp-up of production capacities. Generative artificial intelligence can provide support in the crucial phases of hydrogen production to save considerable time and costs. With the Hydrogen Plant Configurator, it is easier than ever to plan and operate a more sustainable hydrogen plant and thus lay the foundation for efficient production.
– Axel Lorenz, CEO of Process Automation at Siemens
Comos AI Engineering Assistant
Siemens is also introducing Comos AI, an AI-based tool designed to aid in the project planning phase of hydrogen plants. This assistant can generate equipment specifications and diagrams from natural language descriptions, automatically completing or correcting models and drawings. It supports cross-domain engineering phases by converting models, drawings, and information structures for use in simulation software such as Siemens’ Simit. Users can retrieve information from engineering products through prompts or suggestions, and the assistant can transform images, scans, or PDFs into precise diagrams and models.
SFC Generation Module
To streamline process automation in hydrogen plants, Siemens is launching SFC Generation, a new module for the Simatic PCS neo distributed control system. This module employs AI to create sequential function charts (SFCs) from specific prompts or process descriptions, providing a visual representation of process logic and simplifying the management of complex workflows.
The Hydrogen Plant Configurator will be available on the Siemens Xcelerator Marketplace by the end of 2024, with Comos AI and SFC Generation expected to be available in early 2025. Siemens will showcase these AI tools at the Achema trade fair in Frankfurt from June 10 to 14, 2024.
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