Decentralized industrial process simulation system
Gespeichert in:
| Titel: | Decentralized industrial process simulation system |
|---|---|
| Patent Number: | 9,606,531 |
| Publikationsdatum: | March 28, 2017 |
| Appl. No: | 12/628821 |
| Application Filed: | December 01, 2009 |
| Abstract: | A high fidelity distributed plant simulation technique includes a plurality of separate simulation modules that may be stored and executed separately in different computing devices. The simulation modules communicate directly with one another to perform accurate simulation of a plant, without requiring a centralized coordinator to coordinate the operation of the simulation system. In particular, numerous simulation modules are created, with each simulation module including a model of an associated plant element and being stored in different drops of a computer network to perform distributed simulation of a plant or a portion of a plant. At least some of the simulation modules, when executing, perform mass flow balances taking into account process variables associated with adjacent simulation modules to thereby assure pressure, temperature and flow balancing. |
| Inventors: | Cheng, Xu (Pittsburgh, PA, US); Kephart, Richard W. (Kittanning, PA, US); Wen, Cheng T. (Pittsburgh, PA, US); Ydstie, B. Erik (Allison Park, PA, US) |
| Assignees: | EMERSON PROCESS MANAGEMENT POWER & WATER SOLUTIONS, INC. (Pittsburgh, PA, US) |
| Claim: | 1. A distributed simulation system for simulating the operation of a set of physical plant elements through which mass flows, comprising: a computer network including a plurality of drops and a communication network that communicatively couples the plurality of drops, wherein each of the plurality of drops includes a processor; and a multiplicity of processor implemented simulation modules, each of the multiplicity of simulation modules including a process model that models the operation of a different one of the physical plant elements, wherein a first one of the simulation modules is an upstream simulation module located in a first drop of the plurality of drops that models the operation of a first one of the set of physical plant elements and a second one of the simulation modules is a downstream simulation module located in a second drop of the plurality of drops different from the first drop that models the operation of a second one of the set of physical plant elements disposed downstream of the first one of the set of physical plant elements; wherein the downstream simulation module operates via a processor to communicate a value of a process variable calculated by the downstream simulation module to the upstream simulation module, and the process model of the upstream simulation module operates via a processor to use the value of the process variable calculated by the downstream simulation module to produce an output associated with the operation of the physical plant element modeled by the upstream simulation module, so that the upstream and downstream simulation modules communicate calculated process variable information between one another to perform simulation of mass flow between the first physical plant element and the second physical plant element. |
| Claim: | 2. The simulation system of claim 1 , wherein the upstream simulation module implements one or more mass flow balancing equations to determine an input to the downstream simulation module. |
| Claim: | 3. The simulation system of claim 2 , wherein the input to the downstream simulation module comprises a pressure value at the input of the downstream one of the physical plant elements modeled by the downstream simulation module. |
| Claim: | 4. The simulation system of claim 2 , wherein the input to the downstream simulation module comprises a mass flow rate associated with the input of the second one of the physical plant elements modeled by the downstream simulation module. |
| Claim: | 5. The simulation system of claim 1 , wherein the upstream simulation module includes a model that models the operation of a physical pipe element within the plant. |
| Claim: | 6. The simulation system of claim 1 , wherein the upstream simulation module includes a model that models the operation of a physical tank element within the plant. |
| Claim: | 7. The simulation system of claim 1 , wherein the process model of the upstream simulation module models the relationship between pressure and flow as a quadratic relationship. |
| Claim: | 8. The simulation system of claim 1 , wherein the upstream simulation module is associated with a first physical device that does not perform mass storage, and wherein the upstream simulation module includes a temporary mass flow storage algorithm that determines an imbalance in mass flow between the input and output of the first physical device as a result of a dynamic change, and that stores the value of imbalance in mass flow. |
| Claim: | 9. The simulation system of claim 8 , wherein the temporary mass flow storage algorithm sends the stored imbalance in mass flow determined during a particular execution cycle of the upstream simulation module to another simulation module and sets the stored imbalance in mass flow within the upstream simulation module to zero. |
| Claim: | 10. The simulation system of claim 9 , wherein the temporary mass flow storage algorithm sends the stored imbalance in mass flow to a further upstream simulation module when the value of the stored imbalance in mass flow is greater than zero, and wherein the temporary mass flow storage algorithm sends the stored imbalance in mass flow to a further downstream simulation module when the value of the stored imbalance in mass flow is less than zero. |
| Claim: | 11. The simulation system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the drops includes a communication routine that implements communications between a particular simulation module located at the at least one of the drops and another upstream or downstream simulation module located at a different drop as a background process. |
| Claim: | 12. The simulation system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the simulation modules located at a particular drop stores a communication algorithm that operates to provide communication of variables from the one of the simulation modules to another upstream or downstream simulation module, wherein the communication algorithm stores a unique identifier for the upstream simulation module that is used to communicate information to the another upstream or downstream simulation module. |
| Claim: | 13. The simulation system of claim 1 , wherein the process model of the upstream simulation module model is a first principles model. |
| Claim: | 14. A method of simulating the operation of a set of physical plant elements through which mass flows, comprising: creating, via a processor, a set of separately executable simulation modules, each of the set of simulation modules including a process model that models the operation of a different one of the physical plant elements; storing, using a processor, different ones of the separately executable simulation modules at a plurality of communicatively interconnected drops in a computer network, such that a first one of the separately executable simulation modules is located in a different drop than a second one of the set of separately executable simulation modules; wherein the step of storing the separately executable simulation modules includes storing a set of adjacent simulation modules to include an upstream simulation module that models a first one of the physical plant elements, and a downstream simulation module that models a second one of the physical plant elements disposed downstream of the first one of the physical plant elements; operating, via a processor, the downstream simulation module to communicate a value of a process variable calculated by the downstream simulation module to the upstream simulation module; and operating, via a processor, the process model of the upstream simulation module to use the value of the process variable calculated by the downstream simulation module to produce an output associated with the operation of the physical plant element modeled by the upstream simulation module to perform mass flow balancing between the upstream simulation module and the downstream simulation module. |
| Claim: | 15. The method of simulating the operation of a set of physical plant elements of claim 14 , wherein the upstream simulation module is associated with a physical pipe element. |
| Claim: | 16. The method of simulating the operation of a set of physical plant elements of claim 14 , wherein the upstream simulation module implements one or more mass flow balancing equations to determine a pressure or temperature input to the downstream simulation module. |
| Claim: | 17. The method of simulating the operation of a set of physical plant elements of claim 16 , including using one or more mass flow balancing equations that model the relationship between pressure and mass flow as a quadratic relationship. |
| Claim: | 18. The method of simulating the operation of a set of physical plant elements of claim 14 , further including using a particular one of the set of simulation modules to simulate the operation of a first physical plant element that does not perform mass storage, and including determining within the particular one of the set of simulation modules an imbalance in mass flow between an input and an output of the first physical device as a result of a dynamic change, and temporarily storing the value of imbalance in mass flow as associated with the particular one of the set of simulation modules. |
| Claim: | 19. The method of simulating the operation of a set of physical plant elements of claim 18 , further including sending the stored imbalance in mass flow determined during a first execution cycle of the particular one of the set of simulation modules to one or more immediately adjacent simulation modules during one or more consecutive execution cycles and resetting the stored imbalance in mass flow of the particular one of set of simulation modules to zero. |
| Claim: | 20. The method of simulating the operation of a set of physical plant elements of claim 18 , wherein storing the simulation modules includes storing a set of simulation modules that includes a first simulation module associated with a first physical plant element that does not perform mass storage communicatively disposed downstream of a second simulation module and communicatively disposed upstream of a third simulation module, wherein the second and third simulation modules are associated with physical devices that perform mass storage, and further including determining at the first simulation module, an imbalance in mass flow between an input and an output of the first physical device as a result of a dynamic change, and sending the imbalance in mass flow determined by the first simulation module to the second simulation module for processing in the second simulation module when the imbalance in mass flow is positive and sending the imbalance in mass flow determined by the first simulation module to the third simulation module for processing in the third simulation module when the imbalance in mass flow is negative. |
| Claim: | 21. The method of simulating the operation of a set of physical plant elements of claim 14 , wherein storing the simulation modules includes storing a set of simulation modules that includes a first simulation module associated with a first physical plant element that does not perform mass storage, and a second simulation module associated with a second physical device that performs mass storage, and further including determining at the first simulation module, an imbalance in mass flow between an input and an output of the first physical device as a result of a dynamic change, and sending the imbalance in mass flow determined by the first simulation module to the second simulation module for processing in the second simulation module. |
| Claim: | 22. The method of simulating the operation of a set of physical plant elements of claim 21 , wherein sending the imbalance in mass flow determined by the first simulation module to the second simulation module includes sending the imbalance in mass flow from the first simulation module to the second simulation module through one or more intermediate simulation modules, wherein each of the intermediate simulation modules is associated with a physical device that does not perform mass storage. |
| Claim: | 23. The method of simulating the operation of a set of physical plant elements of claim 21 , wherein storing the simulation modules includes storing the second simulation module communicatively connected upstream of the first simulation module and wherein sending the imbalance in mass flow determined by the first simulation module to the second simulation module includes sending the imbalance in mass flow determined by the first simulation module upstream to the second simulation module when the imbalance in mass flow determined by the first simulation module is positive. |
| Claim: | 24. The method of simulating the operation of a set of physical plant elements of claim 21 , wherein storing the simulation modules includes storing the second simulation module communicatively connected downstream of the first simulation module and wherein sending the imbalance in mass flow determined by the first simulation module to the second simulation module includes sending the imbalance in mass flow determined by the first simulation module downstream to the second simulation module when the imbalance in mass flow determined by the first simulation module is negative. |
| Claim: | 25. The method of simulating the operation of a set of physical plant elements of claim 14 , further including implementing communications between a particular simulation module located at a first drop and an upstream or a downstream simulation module located at a second drop as a background process in each of the first and second drops. |
| Claim: | 26. The method of simulating the operation of a set of physical plant elements of claim 14 , including storing a unique identifier in each simulation module and using the unique identifiers to communicate information between pairs of immediately adjacent upstream or downstream simulation modules to thereby provide for direct communications between each pair of immediately adjacent simulation modules. |
| Claim: | 27. A distributed simulation system for simulating the operation of a set of physical plant elements through which mass flows, comprising: a multiplicity of processor implemented simulation modules, each of the multiplicity of simulation modules including a process model that models the operation of a different one of the physical plant elements, wherein a first one of the simulation modules and a second one of the simulation modules are located in different ones of a set of drops of a computer network and communicate with one another over a communication network associated with the computer network; wherein, during operation of the simulation system, each of the simulation modules is directly communicatively coupled to one or more upstream or downstream simulation modules in an order in which the physical plant elements associated with the simulation modules are physically coupled to each other to implement mass flow, so that adjacent pairs of communicatively coupled simulation modules communicate information directly to each other; wherein an adjacent pair of communicatively coupled simulation modules includes an upstream simulation module that is upstream from a downstream simulation module, the downstream simulation module operating via a processor to communicate process variable information calculated by the downstream simulation module to the upstream simulation module and the upstream simulation module implementing via a processor a process model that performs a mass flow balancing equation to balance mass flow between the upstream simulation module and the downstream simulation module using the process variable information received from the downstream simulation module. |
| Claim: | 28. The distributed simulation system of claim 27 , wherein the mass flow balancing equation models the relationship between pressure and mass flow as a quadratic relationship. |
| Claim: | 29. The distributed simulation system of claim 27 , wherein the process model of the upstream simulation module determines an output of the upstream simulation module using pressure process variable information received from the downstream simulation module. |
| Claim: | 30. The distributed simulation system of claim 27 , wherein the multiplicity of simulation modules includes a first simulation module associated with a first physical plant element that does not perform mass storage communicatively disposed downstream of a second simulation module and communicatively disposed upstream of a third simulation module, wherein the second and third simulation modules are associated with physical devices that perform mass storage, and wherein the first simulation module determines an imbalance in mass flow between an input and an output of the first physical device as a result of a dynamic change, and sends the imbalance in mass flow determined at the first simulation module to the second simulation module for processing in the second simulation module when the imbalance in mass flow is positive and sends the imbalance in mass flow determined by the first simulation module to the third simulation module for processing in the third simulation module when the imbalance in mass flow is negative. |
| Claim: | 31. The distributed simulation system of claim 27 , wherein the multiplicity of simulation modules includes a first simulation module associated with a first physical plant element that does not perform mass storage, and a second simulation module associated with a second physical device that performs mass storage, and wherein the first simulation module determines an imbalance in mass flow between an input and an output of the first physical device as a result of a dynamic change, and sends the imbalance in mass flow determined by the first simulation module to the second simulation module for processing in the second simulation module. |
| Claim: | 32. The distributed simulation system of claim 31 , wherein the first simulation modules sends the imbalance in mass flow determined by the first simulation module to the second simulation module via one or more intermediate simulation modules, wherein each of the intermediate simulation modules is associated with a physical device that does not perform mass storage. |
| Claim: | 33. The distributed simulation system of claim 27 , further including a communication algorithm at each of the drops that performs communications between immediately adjacent simulation modules located in separate drops as a background task within the processor at the drop. |
| Claim: | 34. The distributed simulation system of claim 33 , wherein at least one of the simulation modules at a particular drop stores an identifier uniquely identifying the one of the simulation modules and wherein the communication algorithm at the particular drop uses the identifier of the at least one of the simulation modules at the particular drop to perform communications between the at least one of the simulation modules at the particular drop and an immediately adjacent simulation module to the at least one of the simulation modules at a further drop, to thereby perform direct communications between adjacent pairs of simulation modules at different drops. |
| Claim: | 35. The distributed simulation system of claim 27 , wherein the adjacent pair of communicatively coupled upstream and downstream simulation modules communicates data computed at the upstream simulation module from the upstream simulation module to the downstream simulation module and communicates data computed at the downstream simulation module to the upstream simulation module during each execution cycle of the simulation system. |
| Patent References Cited: | 6907383 June 2005 Eryurek et al. 7110835 September 2006 Blevins et al. 8069021 November 2011 Sturrock et al. 2005/0096872 May 2005 Blevins et al. 2007/0208549 September 2007 Blevins et al. 2008/0052049 February 2008 Moriyama et al. 2009/0089030 April 2009 Sturrock et al. 1542575 November 2004 2007-226430 March 2009 |
| Other References: | Fabricius S.M.O. and E. Badreddio, (2002). Modelica Library for Hybrid Simulation of Mass Flow in Process Plants. Proc. 2nd Int. Modelica Conference, Mar. 2002, Munich, Germany. cited by examiner Itou, Akio, et al. “EJX910 multivariable transmitter.” Yokogawa Technical Report—English Edition—42 (2006). cited by examiner Kulikov, Viatcheslav, et al. “Modular dynamic simulation for integrated particulate processes by means of tool integration.” Chemical Engineering Science 60.7 (2005): 2069-2083. cited by examiner Abbel-Jabbar et al., “A Multirate Parallel-Modular Algorithm for Dynamic Process Simulation Using Distributed Memory Multicomputers,” Computer and Chemical Engineering, 23:733-761 (1999). cited by applicant Garcia-Osorio et al., “Distributed, Asynchronous and Hybrid Simulation of Process Networks Using Recording Controllers,” International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, 14(2):227-248 (2003). cited by applicant Liu et al., “Simulation of Large Scale Dynamic Systems I,” Computers and Chemical Engineering, 11:241-253 (1987). cited by applicant Mayer, “On the Pressure and Flow-Rate Distributions in Tree-Like and Arterial-Venous Networks,” Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 58(4):753-785 (1996). cited by applicant Paloschi et al., “Parallel Dynamic Simulation of Industrial Chemical Processes on Distributed-Memory Computers,” Computers and Chemical Engineering Supplement, pp. S395-S398 (1999). cited by applicant Secchi et al., “The Waveform Relaxation Method in Concurrent Dynamic Process Simulation,” Computer and Chemical Engineering, 17:683-704 (1993). cited by applicant Yang et al., “Design and Validation of Distributed Control with Decentralized Intelligence in Process Industries: A Survey,” IEEE International Conference on Industrial Informatics, pp. 1395-1400 (2008). cited by applicant Search Report for Application No. GB1019645.9, dated Mar. 17, 2011. cited by applicant Examination Report from related GB Application No. GB1019645.9 dated Mar. 7, 2014, 4 pages. cited by applicant Modelica Library for Hybrid Simulation of Mass Flow in Process Plants, 2nd International Modelica Conference, Proceedings, pp. 225-234. cited by applicant English translation of First Office Action issued in Chinese Patent Application No. 201010584174.9 mailed May 6, 2014. 20 pages. cited by applicant Examination Report from Related GB Application No. GB1019645.9, dated Sep. 30, 2014, 5 pages. cited by applicant English Translation of Second Office Action from Chinese Patent Application No. 201010584174.9 dated Jan. 26, 2015. cited by applicant |
| Primary Examiner: | Chad, Aniss |
| Attorney, Agent or Firm: | Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP |
| Dokumentencode: | edspgr.09606531 |
| Datenbank: | USPTO Patent Grants |
| Abstract: | A high fidelity distributed plant simulation technique includes a plurality of separate simulation modules that may be stored and executed separately in different computing devices. The simulation modules communicate directly with one another to perform accurate simulation of a plant, without requiring a centralized coordinator to coordinate the operation of the simulation system. In particular, numerous simulation modules are created, with each simulation module including a model of an associated plant element and being stored in different drops of a computer network to perform distributed simulation of a plant or a portion of a plant. At least some of the simulation modules, when executing, perform mass flow balances taking into account process variables associated with adjacent simulation modules to thereby assure pressure, temperature and flow balancing. |
|---|