FAQ - KEYS & INSTALLATION
Key appears to have failed.
Our experience with the keys we use to enable our
programs has proven them to be quite reliable. Occasionally, but rarely,
they fail. Far more frequently, they appear to have failed because of
some other reason. Some of the more common causes are:
-
Installation of new software with an old Site ID
Files disk. The Version identified on the Site ID Files diskette must
match the Version identified on the CD-ROM. Recent versions and their
release dates: Thermoflow 11 is the March, 2003 Version, Thermoflow 12
is the August, 2003 Version, and Thermoflow 13 is the March, 2004
Version.
-
Use of the wrong Site ID disk or the wrong key when
more than one Site ID is managed from a central location.
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Installation of other software that unfortunately
over-writes some portion of the key supporting software.
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Installation for the first time on a new computer
(particularly without Administrative Privileges on Win NT, Win 2000, or
Win XP Professional), or installation of a licensed version after having
installed a demonstration version without installing the key's device
driver.
-
Attempting to use two Thermoflow keys simultaneously,
which will not work. In general, the keys can be "stacked" with keys of
other origins, but the Thermoflow programs will only be able to read
that Thermoflow key which is closest to the parallel port of the
computer.
In all cases above other than the last, the solution
is to install the software once again, carefully.
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The program runs in DEMO mode only, even with the
hardware key attached.
This may happen in either of two ways:
(a) If the program starts in DEMO mode with little
hesitation and with no message that a key can not be found, then the
program found only the default or demo Site ID file, assumed that the
program is supposed to run only in DEMO mode, and didn’t even search for
a key. If this is your experience immediately after installing the
software, it is because the Site ID file didn’t get properly installed.
The solution is to install again, being careful to ensure that the Site
ID file diskette gets used as directed. (A quick shortcut that may work
is to copy the current Site ID file from the Site ID floppy disk to the
C:\TFLOWXX\ folder, where XX is the version number.)
(b) If a message appears shortly after the
identifying “splash” screen, indicating that a key can not be found, it
displays a code with the message, beginning with the capital letter “K”.
When such a message appears, it will persist until you acknowledge it by
clicking on one of its buttons to dismiss it. Before you dismiss it,
take note of the “K” code, which has the appearance:
K, aaaa, bbbb, c, d, e, S, ff, N, gg
where the upper case letters are shown as is, and the
lower case letters will all be numerical characters. Please relay the
code to us at Thermoflow and advise us of any other symptoms or
conditions you think may have an influence.
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The installation seems to be complete, but some
things aren’t working.
Please re-install. We recommend the following
steps:
1. Ensure that you have a Site ID File floppy disk
consistent in version with your installation CD, and consistent in Site
ID number with the key you will use. The key may be, but does not need
to be, attached at the time of the software installation.
2. If your computer is a laptop that cannot support
both a floppy drive and a CD drive at the same time, install the floppy
drive and copy the <tf.id> file from the Site ID Files disk to a
temporary location on your hard drive (NOT the C:\TFLOWXX\ folder,
however).
3. Before you install, re-start the computer.
4. If your operating system is Windows NT, Windows
2000, or Windows XP Professional, you will need to log on to the
computer as the System Administrator, or ask your IT staff to do this
for you.
5. After re-starting, but before you begin the
installation, look to see if there are unnecessary tasks running in the
background. Use Ctrl+Alt+Delete to summon the Task Manager or Close
Program utility, which will show which tasks are running. Turn off virus
protection programs, internet connections, and others such as Lotus
Notes and Microsoft Outlook to avoid conflicts during the installation.
6. Insert the CD in the drive. It should auto-start
after a short interval. If it does not, browse to the root directory of
the CD and launch the file named <TFSetup.EXE>. If that fails, then
launch the file named <SETUPEX.EXE>.
7. When instructed, enter the Site ID number.
8. If the Site ID Disk is not available in a floppy
drive, you will need to browse to the location where you placed the <tf.id>
file in step 2. You will be asked to do this twice, and is important to
clearly identify the location as you do this, both times.
9. You may or may not need to re-start the computer
after the installation has been completed.
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USB key
can't be found OR file "aksusb.sys" can't be found
Hardware key not found after
installation on new computer
According to Aladdin's technical support, these
problems can be overcome by downloading and executing two files from
their website.
1. First download HASP_HL_GUI_driver_setup_5.19.zip,
which can be found by visiting their website, www.aks.com, selecting
Support&Downloads, then HASP, then HASP HL End User, and finally
clicking on the link of HASP_HL_GUI_driver_setup_5.19.zip. You may be
able to get there directly with this link:
ftp://ftp.ealaddin.com/pub/hasp/hl/windows/installed/redistribute/drivers/HASP_HL_GUI_driver_setup_5.19.zip
Once you have downloaded the zip file, extract the
file it contains, HASPUserSetup.exe, and then run it by double-clicking
it. Follow the wizard to finish the installation.
2. Then download HDD32.zip, found by visiting their
website, www.aks.com, selecting Support&Downloads, then HASP, then HASP
4 End User, and finally clicking on the link of HDD32.zip. You may be
able to get there directly with this link:
ftp://ftp.ealaddin.com/pub/hasp/new_releases/driver/HDD32.zip
Again, after downloading the file, open it and run
HDD32.exe by double-clicking it. Follow the wizard to finish the
installation.
Please note that with Windows NT, Windows 2000, and
Windows XP Professional, you (or some supporting IT staff) will need to
be logged on to your computer as System Administrator to use these
methods to install the device driver.
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FAQ - General
Can I export the results
of my Thermoflow programs to Excel?
Although Excel, by itself, cannot directly read the
files, Thermoflow provides an Excel “Add-In” named E-LINK that lets you
connect to an already-computed GT PRO, GT MASTER, STEAM PRO, STEAM
MASTER, or THERMOFLEX file. The file’s outputs and also its inputs are
accessible from Excel with this feature, and you can use this to drive
the Thermoflow program through multiple computations if you choose. See
the E-LINK segment of the Volume 4 manual, Applications and Utilities.
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FAQ - GT PRO
My gas
turbine is not in the GT Selection List.
With over 285 models in place, our GT Selection list
is extensive, but it cannot be all-inclusive or prescient. Several
responses may apply, depending on circumstances.
1. If the gas turbine is too new to have been
included in the list, you’ll need to obtain data from the vendor for
your ambient conditions, fuel, expected steam or water injection, and
expected inlet and exhaust losses. You can impose their power, heat
rate, exhaust flow, and exhaust temperature for any given operating
condition in our User-defined gas turbine specification, selected from
near the top of the GT Selection list. This specification is useful only
at the operating point for which it is defined. Please advise Thermoflow
that you are interested in having a model of that engine included, and
please also advise the vendor that it would be helpful to you if
Thermoflow were provided with enough data to add that model to our list.
2. If the new engine is a minor uprate from an
earlier machine, you may be able to ‘tweak’ the model of the earlier
engine to represent the performance of the new machine, using the ‘Model
Adjustments’ tab of the [GT Inputs] topic. Visit that tab and press the
<F1> key of your keyboard to summon HELP.
3. If you have both nominal data and performance
correction curves for the engine, then you can use the GT Template
program to establish a curve-based model for the engine. When you’ve
completed the entries and saved the model, you can select to use that GT
Template model from within the [GT Selection] topic of GT PRO or GT
MASTER. See the GT Template section of the Volume 4 manual, Applications
& Utilities.
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GT PRO
assumes methane as the fuel, but my natural gas is only partly methane.
Reselect the fuel, at the [GT Inputs] topic. Select
‘User-defined’ from the Fuel Selection entry box, and then click on the
‘Modify Fuel’ button that is enabled. This will bring you to an
extensive Fuel Library, which includes the option to specify the fuel
yourself by its composition.
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Can I
preheat the fuel with heat from elsewhere in the plant?
Of course; visit the ‘Fuel Heating and GT Cooling’
tab of the [GT Inputs] topic, and select ‘User-defined’ for the fuel
heating model. You’ll be able to specify the desired fuel temperature
and direct which hot fluid stream will be tapped to provide heat to the
fuel. For further clarification, click <F1> for HELP while in that
display. The results will be displayed in a table near the top of the
“Gas Turbine” text output.
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FAQ - GT MASTER
Newer gas
turbine vendor performance figures – how do I use them in GT MASTER?
As in GT PRO, if you know performance figures at just
one or a small number of operating conditions, you can re-select the gas
turbine to be a User-defined gas turbine and enter the power, heat rate,
exhaust flow rate and exhaust temperature for each of the particular
cases. If you have performance correction curves, you may want to
produce a GT Template representation of the gas turbine. If the
performance has minor changes from the existing model, you may be able
to ‘tweak’ the model with the ‘Model Adjustments’ tab of the [GT Inputs]
topic.
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Can I impose
degradation on the gas turbine’s performance?
Three separate entries exist to degrade gas turbine
performance. These are a reduction in inlet airflow, a reduction in
compressor efficiency, and a reduction in turbine (expander) efficiency.
Any one, or all, of these will lead to degraded performance. These three
effects constitute the first three entries in the the ‘Model
Adjustments’ tab of the [GT Inputs] topic.
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Can I part
load just one of my two gas turbines, keeping the other at full power?
To help keep GT MASTER quick and robust, multiple gas
turbines are treated as identical, so part-loading one will cause both
to be equally part-loaded. Only one exception exists, when a gas turbine
is completely shut down, as directed in the [Main Inputs] topic.
THERMOFLEX, however, will let you operate gas turbines independently. To
use THERMOFLEX instead of GT MASTER, return to the precursor GT PRO
file, import that file to THERMOFLEX, carry it through the design
computations and set it to off-design. You will then be able to manage
the gas turbines and their HRSGs quite independently.
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Can I model
auto-extraction in a steam turbine to maintain a constant extraction
pressure?
Certainly, by specifying that the steam turbine
section downstream of the extraction will have controlled inlet
pressure, either in the GT PRO file used as a precursor to the GT MASTER
file, or in the GT MASTER file itself. This is done in the ‘Stage Groups
and Controls’ tab of the [ST Inputs] topic.
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How can I make the model produce a particular amount
of net power without iterating on gas turbine loading or duct firing?
Because the net power is a computed output, dependent
upon the parameters you cite, it is a candidate for use as the target
value of GT MASTER’s Control Loop, which you can invoke from the menu
bar while in the GT MASTER input screens. The computation is still
iterative, but it lets the computer drive the iteration for you in an
automated way.
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FAQ - STEAM PRO
How do I
make the boiler a CFB (circulating fluidized bed) boiler?
STEAM PRO lets you select a CFB at the beginning
[New Session] topic. Either automatically, or with your direction, a
limestone is provided with an appropriate flow rate to serve as a sorbent.
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How do I
change the fuel?
STEAM PRO lets you select the fuel from an extensive
Fuel Library at the [Plant Criteria] topic. Select from a large number
of fuels within the library or select to specify the fuel as a
User-defined fuel.
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FAQ - STEAM MASTER
When I part
load the plant, the computed reheat temperature changes.
This generally occurs when the user has paid little
attention to the design of the boiler. The resulting hardware model may
have poor regulation of the reheat temperature at conditions other than
the nominal full load. If the boiler’s behavior is important to you,
then visit the superheater and reheater hardware inputs to revise them.
If the boiler’s behavior is not the focus of your efforts, you may
instead want to select ‘Black Box’at the Boiler Model selection on the
[Main Inputs] topic.
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FAQ - THERMOFLEX
The program
warns that the desired process flow isn’t delivered. What can I do?
The Process component lets you specify the flow you
want, but the program’s internal hierarchy of “flow dictators” will, in
some cases, overrule that component’s specification. Typically, if your
process stream is fed directly from an evaporator, whose thermodynamic
conditions determine the steam production rate, the evaporator’s flow
will dictate the flow to the process. To get a better understanding of
the workings of this flow dictator hierarchy, please see Chapter 6 of
the THERMOFLEX manual.
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Is there
some way to minimize the time of building a model with many identical groups
of components ?
Yes, for repeating groups of components, you will do
well to lay out one such group. Select the group, in the Draw mode, by
dragging the mouse to produce a rectangle surrounding the group and then
press the <F8> key or select Edit/Copy from the menu bar. To save time
entering input values for such repeating groups, advance from the Draw
mode to the Edit Inputs mode, and specify input values for the original
group, then retreat to the Draw mode to copy. The copies produced will
include the input values you imposed.
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