Project Phase Documented: December 2024 – June 2025
Project Status: Ongoing
A portfolio case study documenting the first major development and deployment phase of the Hyspenser-1 hydrogen fueling station HMI.
The project progressed from legacy-interface discovery and a new WPF application, through testbench validation and PLC/Modbus integration, to project recovery and the first production deployment in June 2025.
Public repository scope
This repository documents the project at a high level. Employer-owned source code, production configuration, and sensitive implementation details are intentionally excluded.
In December 2024, I began the HMI effort with photographs of the legacy operator interface and a requirement to create a new software experience for the Hyspenser-1 hydrogen fueling station.
I developed the new HMI as a C# WPF application and produced a functional testbench alpha release in January 2025. Physical integration with the PLC and automation system began shortly afterward using Modbus communication and continued through commissioning and deployment.
By April 2025, the Hyspenser-1 prototype was being demonstrated publicly within the company while integration, pre-deployment checks, and troubleshooting continued.
In June 2025, following a staffing transition, responsibility for completing the HMI/PLC delivery effort transferred to me. At that point, the physical unit and automation logic still required significant commissioning work before customer delivery.
I used my professional network to assemble additional PLC programming support and coordinated the recovery effort across software, controls, and physical commissioning. Within approximately three weeks, the team completed the remaining automation work required to achieve a functional customer handoff and deploy the first production unit.
My responsibilities during this phase included:
- Studying the legacy HMI and translating existing operational concepts into a new interface
- Developing the replacement HMI as a WPF application
- Building and validating the functional alpha testbench
- Integrating the HMI with PLC data over Modbus
- Supporting physical HMI/PLC/automation integration
- Participating in troubleshooting and pre-deployment validation
- Assuming project responsibility during the June 2025 staffing transition
- Recruiting PLC programming support through my professional network
- Coordinating software, controls, and commissioning work toward delivery
- Managing priorities and issue resolution during the final delivery push
- Supporting the first production deployment
The work crossed software engineering, industrial automation, systems integration, commissioning, and project management.
The project began with photographic references of the legacy HMI and the existing operator workflow.
The goal was not to reproduce the legacy interface screen-for-screen. The photographs provided a starting point for understanding the operational concepts, controls, and information that operators needed from the new system.
I created the replacement HMI as a C# WPF application and established a functional testbench alpha release.
The alpha release established the core interaction model and allowed the new application to be exercised independently before full physical integration.
Key goals at this stage included:
- Operator-focused navigation
- Fueling workflow presentation
- Status and process-value display
- Touch-oriented interaction
- Session and authentication concepts
- A software architecture that could grow beyond the initial prototype
Physical integration with the PLC and automation system began around February 2025 and continued through deployment.
The HMI used Modbus/TCP as the primary industrial communication path between the application and PLC-controlled process data.
This phase moved the project from an isolated software testbench into a real industrial control environment where UI behavior, PLC state, physical hardware, and automation sequencing had to work together.
Public architecture details are documented in docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.
The company debuted the Hyspenser-1 prototype hydrogen fueling station in April 2025.
By this point, the HMI was no longer only a development application. It had become part of a physical system being demonstrated as an integrated product.
The public debut represented an important milestone, but commissioning and software/automation work were still continuing.
Pre-deployment checks and troubleshooting continued from April through final delivery.
This phase required close interaction between:
- HMI software behavior
- PLC logic
- Modbus communication
- Electrical and control hardware
- Physical fueling equipment
- Operator workflows
- Deployment readiness
The temporary engineering environment reflected the reality of commissioning a prototype system: software and controls were validated directly against evolving physical equipment.
In June 2025, project responsibility transferred to me following a staffing transition.
At handoff, both the physical unit and PLC/automation logic still required significant work before delivery.
I used my professional network to recruit additional PLC programming support and coordinated the remaining work across the HMI, controls, and commissioning effort.
Within approximately three weeks, the team:
- Resolved remaining automation-logic issues
- Continued HMI/PLC integration and validation
- Worked through deployment-blocking problems
- Reached a functional system handoff
- Supported delivery of the first production unit
The first production Hyspenser-1 unit was deployed to the customer in June 2025.
This milestone closed the initial project phase documented by this repository:
legacy reference → WPF alpha → PLC integration → prototype debut → commissioning → recovery → production deployment
The Hyspenser-1 HMI is a Windows-based WPF application built around a layered, service-oriented structure.
- C#
- WPF
- .NET Framework 4.8.1
- Touch-oriented kiosk interface
- MVVM-style separation of views, view models, models, and services
- Single-instance application behavior
- Session-based navigation
- Modbus/TCP
- NModbus
- PLC process-data integration
- Configurable register definitions
- Background metrics acquisition and consumption
- Process and status visualization
- Navigation and session management
- Authentication and authorized-user workflows
- Status notification
- Historical session/usage concepts
- JSON-backed configuration
- Local instructional media
- Physical PLC integration
- Industrial HMI hardware
- Testbench development
- Commissioning and troubleshooting
- Production deployment support
| Area | Initial State | June 2025 Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| HMI basis | Legacy interface photographs | New WPF HMI deployed |
| Software maturity | Concept / requirements discovery | Production deployment achieved |
| Test environment | No replacement HMI testbench | Functional alpha testbench |
| PLC integration | Not yet connected | Physical Modbus/PLC integration |
| Product state | Prototype development | First production unit deployed |
| Project ownership | Distributed development effort | Delivery coordinated under my project leadership |
| Automation readiness | Significant commissioning work remained | Functional customer handoff achieved |
| Delivery | Pending | First production deployment completed |
C# ·
WPF ·
.NET Framework ·
HMI Development ·
Modbus/TCP ·
PLC Integration ·
Industrial Automation ·
Systems Integration ·
Commissioning ·
Troubleshooting ·
Project Management ·
Technical Leadership ·
Cross-Functional Coordination
The Hyspenser-1 HMI project continued beyond the June 2025 production deployment.
The current application remains in release-candidate status while additional stability work is completed. A new HMI platform is also being developed on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS to improve long-term stability and provide a stronger foundation for future growth.
Those later phases are intentionally outside the December 2024–June 2025 scope of this case study.
This public repository is a sanitized portfolio case study of professional work.
It contains:
- Project history and outcomes
- A high-level architecture overview
- Selected project photographs
Employer-owned source code, production configuration, customer-specific material, credentials, internal network details, PLC logic, and other sensitive or proprietary implementation details are not included.