SAULT STE. MARIE (AP) -- A decommissioned Great Lakes freighter that now serves as a museum piece is the proving ground for engineers seeking improved ways to update large-scale industrial equipment.

The 95-year-old ore carrier Valley Camp now serves as a museum ship in Sault Ste. Marie.

Engineers in a Lake Superior State University project have been scanning the Valley Camp's engine room, with the goal of making a high fidelity, three-dimensional digital rendering of the facility.

The university says senior engineering students are creating the model for an industrial client that seeks to "prototype a way of `virtualizing' the maintenance, repair, and overhaul of oversized industrial machinery.

The school says technicians are using a state-of-the-art scanner from Leica to take in 360-degree views of the ship's mechanical areas.

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)