button of the section toolbar.
As mentioned elsewhere, each process file is automatically given a default branch (named ‘Main Branch’) that contains a single section (named ‘Main Section’). Even though you can rename the ‘main’ section (and the ‘main’ branch) to anything you like, you cannot delete it. If you have renamed the ‘main’ section, and have added several others, you can identify the section that still is recognized by the application as the ‘main’ section by visiting the Section Properties Dialog: Allocation tab.
► To add a new section...
1. Select the branch where the section will belong by selecting the active branch in the Section & Branches Toolbar.
2. Bring up the flowsheet’s context menu (by right-clicking on an unoccupied area of the flowsheet) and select Create New Section. As a shortcut, you can click on the button of the section toolbar.
3. In the ensuing dialog, type the name of the Section. Note that all section names in a branch must be unique. After you exit the dialog, the new section will have been added to the list of sections available to chose as the active section for the active branch. To verify that the new section has been created click on the drop-down of the listbox with all of the currently active branch’s section names, and you should see the new section that you just created.
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A newly created section is added to the end of the branch’s queue and has no procedures in it. To add procedures to the section, see Adding Unit Procedures to a Section. To properly place the section’s order in the sequence of all sections of the active branch, please visit the Branch Properties Dialog. |
When a new section is created it does not contain any procedures. You can add unit procedures to a section in two ways:
a) You can add existing unit procedures that currently belong to a different section, see To add existing unit procedure(s) to a section..., or
b) You can add new unit procedure that you will be creating next; simply select the desired section as the active section, and then create the unit procedures that you wish. They will automatically be added to the newly appointed active section.
► To add existing unit procedure(s) to a section...
1. Select the destination section as the active section from the section listbox of the toolbar. If the section you want is not listed, then make sure you select the branch that owns the section first.
2. Make sure you are in select mode (the 
button is pressed on the main toolbar). Select the unit procedure(s) you wish to move to the selected active section.
3. Click on the “Add to Section” button (first on the left on the section toolbar)
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The ‘Add to Section’ button may be inactive if either (a) you have not selected any procedure(s) or (b) the selected procedure(s) already belong to the active section. You can view which procedures belong to existing sections bring up the Procedure Utilization Breakdown interface (View } Utilization Breakdown } Procedures); to view which equipment resources belong to each section, bring up the Equipment Utilization Breakdown interface (View } Utilization Breakdown } Equipment). |
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If desired, you can assign a special color for a section so that all icons for procedures that belong to that section show in a uniform color. A section can also be given a special naming and/or numbering scheme for each procedure, stream or equipment added by the user. For details on how to accomplish the above see Section Properties Dialog.
Each section maintains a large set of properties that relate to several aspects of its functionality. Some properties are related to its contribution to the economics (capital and/or operating cost) of the process (see Capital Investment Dialog and Operating Cost Adjustments Dialog); others may be related to its resource utilization (see Section Resource Allocation Dialog). Some of these properties are described below. Then there’s another whole set of general properties that relate to the appearance of the procedure icons that belong to the section or to an optional definition of yields around a section or to its possible allocation to a database site, etc. You can access and modify the section’s general properties from the Section Properties Dialog.
► To edit a section’s general properties...
1. Make sure the section is selected as the active section in the Sections & Branches Toolbar.
2. Bring up the flowsheet’s command menu (by right-clicking on an unoccupied area of the flowsheet).
3. Select Section <SectionName> } Properties
(as a shortcut you can click on the on the View/Edit button (
) of the sections and branches toolbar, the one displayed right next to the active section display).
You can designate a special color to be used when displaying the icons of unit procedures assigned to a section (in order to be easily distinguished in a large flowsheet). This assignment is made from the Section Properties Dialog: Icon Color tab. If you later change your mind and wish to have the icons of the section simply follow the general (common) icon color used for all procedures in the flowsheet (as set in the process settings for icon style preference, see Default Style for Process Elements) then revisit the Section Properties Dialog: Icon Color tab and select ‘Use Default Color’ this time.
You can select from all the input streams to procedures that belong to a section, one stream as the main ‘input’ of the section representing the starting material. Similarly, you can select from all streams on procedures that exit the section, one as the designated ‘output’ of the section, representing the active product. Instead of using the entire stream as reference flow for the starting material you could, instead, pick just a single component in that stream. Also, you can designate which other components represent impurities. If A is the mass flow of the active product, S is the mass flow of the starting material and X is the mass flow of impurities, (based on the selections made by the user), then the application will calculate the following yield indices around a section:
Gross Mass Yield: (Aout + Xout) / (Sin+Xin)
Refined Mass Yield: Aout / Sin
Molar Yield: Aout (in moles) / Sin (in moles)
All of the section’s yield-related properties described above can be viewed and/or edited from the Section Properties Dialog: Yields tab.
Every section is associated with a (real or hypothetical) physical site whose equipment and resources are employed by the section’s operations in order to carry out their tasks. A default generic site is assumed to exist behind any section that is created. The generic site is a hypothetical entity with no limits on the type of available resources (labor, heat transfer agents, etc.) or the type and size of available equipment. When a section is associated with the generic site it is said to be non-allocated. Any operation in a procedure owned by a non-allocated section has at its disposal essentially any type of resource that is included in the system and user database. For instance, when selecting a heat transfer agent from an operation’s i/o simulation dialog, the corresponding drop-down presents all agents that are currently registered in the process as well as all agents that are currently found in the user’s databank. For users who have taken the time to populate SuperPro Designer’s site database (see Sites & Resources Databank) there are more exiting options if a user decides to match a section to a database site. This association, called allocation, essentially implies that the user makes the commitment to execute all operations contained in that section within the confines of the database site (as it is capture in the user database). The allocation of a process section to a database site can be made from the Section Properties Dialog: Allocation tab. Once the link between a process section and a database site has been established, you can proceed to further allocate all the resources employed by the operations in the section to available resources in the database site. For example, for each equipment resource currently assigned to host a procedure in the section, you can pick a database equipment that will actually be used to carry out the procedure’s operations. For each heat transfer agent employed by any operation in that process section (e.g. ‘HP Steam’, ‘Cooling Water’, etc.) you can assign an available database resource. The process of allocating resources from a process section to database resources available to the allocated database site can be done easily from the Section Resource Allocation Dialog that can be displayed by selecting Section <SectionName> } Resource Assignment from the flowsheet’s command menu, or by clicking on the Allocate Resources button (
) of the section toolbar.
As described elsewhere (see Overview) there are several parameters that determine how the application calculates the capital (investment) related quantities (Direct Fixed Capital or DFC, working capital, startup and validation cost, etc.). To view the investment-related parameters select Section <SectionName> } Capital Cost Adjustments from the flowsheet’s command menu, or by click on the Capital Cost Adjustments button (
) of the section toolbar. There are also several parameters that determine how this section contributes to the annual operating cost of the entire process. To view the running (operating) cost related parameters Section <SectionName> } Operating Cost Adjustments from the flowsheet’s command menu, or by click on the Operating Cost Adjustments button (
) of the section toolbar.
The application employs a general rule for assigning names to newly created procedures, streams and equipment. For a description of those rules see Automatic Procedure Name Generation. If you wish to have a different set of rules (unique) that apply to the procedures, streams and equipment that are created while a section is set as ‘active’, then you can visit the Section Properties Dialog: Auto-Numbering tab. For instance, if you wish all procedures added in a section to have a number in a certain range, then you can specify the starting number to be an appropriate value that will make all subsequent assignments fall in your range of choice. Please note that you can’t set the prefix (or core string) used for each procedure as this is chosen based on the procedure type (or equipment type) and not the section that it belongs.
As it is customary in many other objects contained in a process, the application allows you to specify a long descriptive text that may accurately convey any comments or special information that needs to be kept around the section. This commentary can be set from the Section Properties Dialog: Description tab. Such information is very critical in documenting and/or archiving any design decisions taken when the process was put together and thus allowing others to view/share such details at a later time.
