Virtual Plumbing Appliance Education Tool

A Side by side View of a Gas Powered Fireplace and its counterpart recreated digitally in the Gas Appliance Virtual Viewing Tool

Teaming up with trades and plumbing

In order to provide students in the gaseous plumbing appliance class a robust education during a time of distanced learning, the Plumbing and Pipe Trades Foundation program at Camosun teamed up with Camosun Innovates to create a virtual gaseous appliance viewing tool to aid students with their studies in a distanced environment. This tool was developed by Innovates team members Matthew Zelany and Connor Shigeo Yutani-Patterson working closely with Rodney Lidstone, instructor for the Plumbing and Pipe Trades program, to produce an accurate 3D replication of four different gas-based plumbing appliances. The goal was to create a tool to view these appliances with enough detail that students would be able to identify key information about the appliances whether online or in-person. The final result was the Virtual Gas Appliance Viewer presented to students in the gaseous appliance course, who were able to study and learn about aspects of these appliances despite the distanced learning environment. Innovates is proud to have worked with Rodney and the rest of the Camosun's Plumbing and Pipe Trades Foundation program to provide students with educational tools to assist them in a distanced learning environment.

The simulation

The simulation consists of a single gas lab appliance which the user can view by dragging their mouse across the screen. The user can focus on certain areas of the appliance indicated by a green highlight that appears when you hover over them with your mouse. Clicking will bring the user into a focused view that allows them to view the appliance in more detail — sometimes, the focused view will include interactable element to expose more of the appliance to the user. In addition, the simulation provides the user with a series of questions and checks to quiz them on the location of elements on the appliance.