Hardware composites: a new conceptual tool for the analysis and optimisation Of steam turbine networks in chemical process industries - Part II: application to operation and design

摘要

The principles behind the Hardware Composites have been explained in Part I. Part II discusses the application of the new development on operation and design problems. An alternative representation is introduced first, in view of the different objectives of these problems. In the context of operations, the Hardware Composites are used as a road-map for optimum operation under varying process demands and as an evaluation tool for assessing the flexibility of the network over uncertain load requirements. Problems of maintenance scheduling are discussed, in which the Hardware Composites are used to determine maintenance scenarios that cause the minimum disruption to the optimum operation of the turbine network. As a design tool the Hardware Composites can be integrated with established design methods such as the total site analysis. The integration facilitates a comprehensive analysis of the process-utility system that accounts for both the thermodynamic constraints arid the hardware limitations. The application of the Hardware Composites is illustrated with an industrial case study in which comparisons with conventional mathematical programming tools (MINLPs) are made available. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. [References: 9]