Chemical Stream Composition Tracking With Three-Layer Modeling
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current chemical process modeling techniques face challenges in accurately tracking component compositions, particularly in oil and gas processes, due to over-simplified representations, duplication of components, and inefficiencies that lead to inaccurate calculations and increased computational time.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a three-layer system for chemical process modeling, where the external layer handles user interactions, the middle layer maintains source-specific data, and the internal layer performs component-sensitive calculations, ensuring accurate and efficient modeling by avoiding duplication and optimizing calculations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If components are duplicated by source to track composition accurately, then composition tracking accuracy is improved, but calculation time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the composition tracking system into three distinct layers: an external layer for user interaction and data input, a middle layer for source-specific component tracking, and an internal layer for calculations. This segmentation allows accurate composition tracking in the middle layer while using optimized unique component representations in the internal layer for calculations, thereby reducing calculation time without sacrificing accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces transformation objects as intermediaries that convert between the middle layer (source-specific components) and the internal layer (unique components). These transformation objects enable accurate composition tracking to be maintained while allowing efficient calculations to be performed on deduplicated unique components, thus resolving the contradiction between accuracy and calculation speed.
2Measurement precision
If duplicated components are used to represent multiple sources, then source allocation accuracy is improved, but calculation accuracy deteriorates due to improper handling in logarithmic functions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent separates source-specific component representation (middle layer) from calculation execution (internal layer). The middle layer maintains duplicated components for accurate source allocation tracking, while the internal layer uses unique components for reliable calculations. This segmentation ensures both source allocation accuracy and calculation accuracy are maintained simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
Transformation objects serve as intermediaries that properly handle the conversion between source-specific components and unique components. These transformation objects ensure that logarithmic functions and other component-sensitive calculations are performed on unique components with correct aggregation, preventing the calculation errors that would otherwise occur when directly using duplicated components.
3Device complexity
If pseudo-components are used to represent crude oil mixtures, then model simplicity is improved, but property representation accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the composition representation into multiple layers with different levels of detail. The external layer can use simplified pseudo-component representations for model simplicity, while the middle layer maintains detailed source-specific component breakdowns for accurate property representation. This allows users to work with simple models while preserving accurate composition data for calculations when needed.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods of chemical process simulation providing improved methods and systems for expressing the composition of a stream in a chemical process model in a manner that is not immediately indicative of the underlying composition, providing for improved accuracy of allocation of a process output stream to the appropriate source(s), avoiding duplication of components or other inaccurate component representations in relation to critical calculations, and improving the operation of a computer or other computing system for performing chemical process modeling and simulation. The systems or methods provide for three distinct layers of interaction, separating mixed species displayed to the user from individual species used in calculations, while providing transformation objects between dataset layers to provide for accurate modeling, calculation, and display.