Thermoflow Release 13 Update Letter

We are pleased to enclose a major upgrade to our software suite, Version 13, with the following highlights:

(1) Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) system model in GT PRO/GT MASTER/PEACE.

(2) Multi-Stage Flash (MSF) Desalination system model in GT PRO/GT MASTER/PEACE, as well as in THERMOFLEX/PEACE.

(4) User-defined Component in THERMOFLEX, allowing a licensed “component author” to write and run his own component model within the THERMOFLEX system.

(5) TOPS (Thermoflow Optimization System) is now available as an Excel overlay onto any Thermoflow model.

(6) The fuel definition program PROFUEL has been expanded, and now includes a large data base with over 100 typical coals from all over the world. This program and its files are now a common standard used by all Thermoflow programs.

These major developments, along with numerous minor improvements, are summarised below. As usual, the enclosed CD will self-install by default in a TFLOW13 directory.

TOPS stands for Thermoflow Optimization System. This new product operates through a supermodel in an Excel interface, overlaying a core model built with any Thermoflow heat balance modelling tool, such as GT PRO, GT MASTER, STEAM PRO, STEAM MASTER, or THERMOFLEX. The excel linkage is very similar to that used in E-LINK and the DRS. The user selects adjustable input parameters that can be varied in the core model, and output parameters that the core model returns to Excel. The user constructs an objective function within Excel, computed from any combination of cells, including those containing inputs and outputs of the underlying core model. TOPS then solves for the values of the user-selected adjustable parameters that maximise (or minimise) the user’s objective function. As a simple example, the user may define plant hourly gross revenue as the objective function, and may select parameters such as number of operating cooling tower cells and level of supplementary firing, as operating parameters to be adjusted to achieve the maximum profit objective. It is expected that TOPS will be an invaluable tool for optimising plant operations, as well as plant designs.

Rationalised Documentation for Features Common to Several Thermoflow Programs

Thermoflow’s program suite has many features that are shared between its components, and a growing set of applications that allow the various programs to be exploited by Excel “superprograms”. To streamline the user manuals, a new volume, Volume IV “Applications & Utilities” has been assembled, and is enclosed. This contains the following:

1) Description of the various Excel “superprograms”, such as E-LINK, DRS, and TOPS, which can be used with underlying core heat balance models made in various Thermoflow programs.

2) Description of basic features that are common to several Thermoflow programs (such as the Macro function, PROFUEL, the fuel definition utility, or the ST Exhaust End Selection procedure). Previously, these features were explained in the body or the Appendices of the various manuals, but now they are explained once, in Volume IV, for all our programs.

3) Description of our various secondary programs, such as GTeye, QT Pro², RECIPRO, POWER DRAW, etc. Some of these programs are licensed separately (such as GTeye and RECIPRO), and some are provided free, bundled in combination with other Thermoflow licenses of the larger programs (such as QT Pro² and POWERDRAW). Previously, these programs were documented in various tabs within Volume I or Volume II, or had separate manuals of their own, now they are all collected in Volume IV, for easy access and maintenance.

Users may safely discard the three appendices (A, B, and C) of the GT PRO manual, since the updated description of these features in Volume IV supercedes them.

Both the new IGCC option and the new MSF Desalination option are described in the enclosed manual supplement. These new features allow a typical user to rapidly create a first order system design, as well as obtain a budgetary cost estimate, without necessarily being an expert on these specialised technologies. Even users who have IGCC or desalination expertise will be able to exploit these new features to save time in their preliminary engineering and conceptual proposal activities. However, it is important to remember that these features in GT PRO/GT MASTER/PEACE are intended for preliminary engineering and feasibility assessments, and that final, detail design and cost estimation is expected to be carried out by companies specialised in these technologies, using their own specialised expertise.

Thermoflow wishes to thank Uhde GmbH, of Dortmund, Germany, for their very helpful input and comments during the development of the IGCC model.

Those who have GT PRO will find enclosed another supplement to their manual, describing the new developments. We recognise that the existing GT PRO/GT MASTER manuals now have too many supplements, so we are planning to release totally revised documentation with TFLOW14.

The GT data base used by the various Thermoflow products has been updated, as follows:

Modified models
243	MAN Turbo THM-1304-10	287	Solar Mercury 50

235	GE LM6000 SPT 60Hz, No VIGV	215	GE LM2500 60Hz, STD Combustor
236	GE LM6000 SPT 50Hz, No VIGV	216	GE LM2500 60Hz, DLN Combustor
237	GE LM6000 SPT 60Hz, with VIGV	286	GE LM2500 50Hz, STD Combustor
238	GE LM6000 SPT 50Hz, with VIGV	264	GE 6591C

The line of engines under 45MW, previously marketed by ALSTOM, are now available from Siemens. The names by which these engines are listed were updated to reflect this change. No performance data were changed for these engines.

The manuals of STEAM PRO & STEAM MASTER have been completely re-written, to reflect their integration with PEACE, as well as the many new features, chiefly the new boiler design procedures implemented in Version11 (March, 2003) and the new Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) introduced in this version. The boiler models, including the new CFB option, have full PEACE functionality for estimating dimensions, weights, costs and labour.

Those who have licenses of STEAM PRO will find the all new manuals for STEAM PRO and STEAM MASTER enclosed.

The user’s manual for THERMOFLEX has been re-written, integrating the many new features since the last re-write in 2001. Many improvements have been implemented in the current version, but only the most significant ones are summarised below.

The Gasifier component was improved, tested, and calibrated, as a result of the development of IGCC in GT PRO. The kind assistance of Uhde GmbH, Dortmund, Germany, during that process is appreciated.

A new MSF Desalination component icon has been developed, and is described in Chapter 20 of the new manual. With its inclusion, THERMOFLEX now allows you to design desalination plants using either of two different approaches. The original approach, available in THERMOFLEX since the late 1990’s, is for you to build the model at the micro-scale, from its individual constituents, mostly heat exchangers and flash tanks, but building a realistic model this way involves a large number of components, and requires a significant time commitment from an experienced desalination engineer, who is also experienced with THERMOFLEX. The new MSF desalination component provides an alternate path that sacrifices some flexibility, but allows a reasonable system design to be created with far less time and effort. This new PEACE component represents a complete Multi Stage Flash (MSF) desalination system. It is a microcosm of the system-level module included with Version 13 of GT PRO/GT MASTER/PEACE, in that it allows rapid design of the desalination system, based on automated logic for managing the system’s internal connections and parameters. This leaves only the principal external connections of the complete desalination system open to the THERMOFLEX network, and treats its myriad details internal to this assembly-scale icon.

A new User-defined Component methodology has been incorporated into THERMOFLEX. This allows a licensed component author to build an icon, define the connections between the icon and the network, and write a program that handles the icon’s model, either in the form of a compiled executable, or in the form of an excel sheet. This system is described in Chapter 21 of the new manual.

Creating a THERMOFLEX user-defined component is a well-defined process, but one requiring above average knowledge and experience of THERMOFLEX itself, as well as of programming and thermodynamic modeling. The software tools to create a user-defined component within THERMOFLEX require a special, Component Author’s License from Thermoflow. However, anyone with a standard full-license of THERMOFLEX can incorporate user-defined components, built by others, in a model. This allows specialised experts who have the necessary license to build user-defined components that can then be used by the general population of THERMOFLEX users, even those who do not have the component author’s license.

The Component Author’s License is expected to be useful mostly to research organisations or equipment manufacturers who possess software models of novel or proprietary equipment. Those interested in obtaining an author’s license are invited to contact us for the terms.

Those who have Volume II of our manuals will find the all new manual for THERMOFLEX enclosed.