question stringlengths 19 6.88k | answer stringlengths 38 33.3k |
|---|---|
Problem Statement: By default, an alert configured in aspenONE Process Explorer will send e-mail notifications that includes a URL pointing back to the Alerts page that is directed to the Aspen InfoPlus.21 server. This | Solution: addresses how to send the URL to the aspenONE Process Explorer Web Server if the web server is hosted on a different machine than the Aspen InfoPlus.21 server.
Solution
Open the Aspen InfoPlus.21 Manager on the Aspen InfoPlus.21 server and locate TSK_ALRT. This task is responsible for sending alerts when alar... |
Problem Statement: How do I set up multiple particle types (substreams) for solids modeling in Aspen Plus? | Solution: The attached Aspen Plus V8 demo will show you how to define multiple particle types (solid substreams) and demonstrates the usage of multiple solids substreams with an example of a simple screening process. There is an associated PDF to guide you through the steps.
This example will cover
· Defining... |
Problem Statement: Right-Clicking on right side pane of Aspen Production Record Manager Administrator does not bring up dialogs for New Characteristic Definition, New Phase Definition, etc. The options do appear on the R-Click menu although nothing is displayed when they are selected. | Solution: Working within the right side of the Aspen Production Record Manager Administrator is not recomended as some of the functions may not be available. When performing administration AspenTech recommends working on the left side tree view of the Aspen Production Record Manager Administrator.
Keywords: None
Refere... |
Problem Statement: What could cause the events screen in Aspen Petroleum Scheduler to run slowly? Adding or modifying events and saving events take a long time to process. | Solution: As of V8.7, the events are stored in ATOrionEvents and APSEVENTMASTER (for the new pipeline and dock scheduling events)
Over the course of time, these tables can get really big. So it is important to archive these events periodically. The size of the tables could be directly related with the slow speeds, beca... |
Problem Statement: This article discusses the ability to use Aspen SQLplus to retrieve/analyze data from the Aspen Production Record Manager (formerly known as Aspen Batch.21). | Solution: Distributed with the Aspen Production Record Manager product is a .chm (help) file called atbatch21applicationinterface.chm It contains several VB examples of such as the one listed below. This example contains several comments and demonstrates how to Get a Batch list then get Data for each Batch found. The q... |
Problem Statement: This knowledge base article describes the procedure to log on to the Rename Tag Utility for Oracle or SQL databases. | Solution: To log on to the Rename Tag Utility:
1. Start the Rename Tags utility
2. From the Model Type drop down list, select the application model type you are working with.
3. In the Database field, enter the location and name of the model database. You can click Browse to navigate to the location and se... |
Problem Statement: How to use Aspen Custom Modeler to model sub models in Aspen PIMS | Solution: ThisSolution provides an overview of utilizing an Aspen Custom Modeler (ACM) model in Aspen PIMS. The primary objective of theSolution is to demonstrate the modeling involved in both ACM and PIMS. ThisSolution also helps to understand the tags that need to be used in ACM side so that PIMS could recognize and ... |
Problem Statement: When plotting data retrieved across a Wide Area Network (WAN), SPC Charts (such as XBAR) may be very slow to appear, may not even appear, may be incomplete such as Control Limits not displaying, may result in frozen screens, etc. | Solution: Aspen Process Explorer is a thick-client application that is intended for use within a plant. The underlying RPC-based protocol allows Process Explorer on one computer to access an Aspen InfoPlus.21 server that is hosted on a local area network within the plant. In other words, Process Explorer -- especially ... |
Problem Statement: What is the benefit of removing unused components in Aspen Plus Dynamics? | Solution: The calculation of the properties of unused components (with mole fraction of 0) can lead to convergence problems. Also removing unused components will make the Dynamics file size smaller and improves run time.
Unused components can be removed either from Aspen Plus or Aspen Plus Dynamics.
In Aspen Plus: Plea... |
Problem Statement: This | Solution: outlines:
I. The reliability of data exchanged between Aspen Cim-IO server and Client can be verified using 'Checksum'.
II. Recommended practice to follow when turning on the 'Checksum' featureSolution
Checksum is used to validate message exchange between the Cim-IO server and Cim-IO client. Turning on Chec... |
Problem Statement: This knowledge base article provides best practice recommendations to tune the feasibility objective function factor for a PIMS-AO model. | Solution: In some cases the model may have difficulties converging due to high non-linearity introduced by external models. At this instance the feasibility objective function factor value present in Model Settings | Non-linear Solver | Advanced 1 tab may be tuned appropriately for the model to converge.
Note that the ... |
Problem Statement: Installation of software hot fixes and other hardware and software failures can corrupt a working Aspen OnLine installation. A good backup strategy for the Aspen OnLine system is necessary to be able to recover quickly from these type of interruptions. What is the recommended backup strategy? | Solution: In the recommended backup strategy, the goal is to implement a backup/restore strategy that will minimize downtime associated with both the backup procedures and the restore after a hardware or software failure. The backup strategy has several components.
1. Image backups of System and Software Application ... |
Problem Statement: While using Aspen Report Wizard, can there be an Orion.exe instance running in the background even after closing APS? | Solution: Yes. Consider the following scenario:
1. User opens APS and turns the memory cache option on in order to run Aspen Report Wizard from APS
2. Then user simulates for the given horizon and opens the Aspen Refinery Report Wizard
This would open excel where user can use the Aspen Refinery Report add-in to... |
Problem Statement: How do I generate PMLINK table for an XNLP model? | Solution: To generate Table PMLINK for an XNLP model in database (such as Results Database) after PIMS execution, there are several things need to keep in mind. First, user has to uncheck Use Classic Output Database Format from General Model Setting | Output Database.
However, if the model is in XNLP mode already, ... |
Problem Statement: The quality of opening inventory can be entered in Table PINV. If such entries are not present, PIMS will use the property values from Table PGUESS for the opening inventory.
If an initial entry is provided in Table PINV, is it necessary to enter it again in Table PGUESS? What happens if the column o... | Solution: When there are property entries in Table PINV, Aspen PIMS will overwrite the non-period specific entries in Table PGUESS from Table PINV. In order to do this correctly, the structure must already exist in Table PGUESS. Therefore, the PGUESS table must be built successfully first before it can be modified from... |
Problem Statement: In a weight-based model, to limit the volume of a straight crude cut whose rate is not impacted by swing cuts, the weight to volume conversion can be entered in the capacity row in Table ASSAYS. However this is trickier if the crude cut rate is potentially increased by the addition of swing cuts fr... | Solution: This cannot be done by simply adding a capacity row in Table ROWS that intersects the columns representing the cut and each of the swing cut contributions. This is because we need the recursed specific volume of the swing cuts to be able to convert from weight to volume. In Table ROWS, we cannot use a 999 to ... |
Problem Statement: What is the best way to add user-defined penalties and have them reported in the Penalty Report section of the full | Solution: report?
Solution
When manually building a penalty on something in your model, we recommend pushing the penalty into the Epenrow - not directly into the OBJFN row. The Epenrow is automatically made by PIMS and is used to accumulate all the active penalties. This allows you to have consistency in OBJFN reportin... |
Problem Statement: What are the requirements for DCS interface to DMCplus controllers if PCWS is used as a primary operator interface? | Solution: Solution136711 discussed the advantages of using PCWS as a primary HMI for DMCplus controller. Here is the minimum requirements for a DCS interface for that recommendation:
-ON/OFF switch for the Main controller as well as Subcontrollers built on the DCS. The point needs to be READ/WRITE so operators can turn... |
Problem Statement: How many weeks/days should I employ for a frozen time period in Aspen Plant Scheduler? | Solution: A frozen time period specifies the period in which new planned orders are not to be created and where planned orders from previous requirement calculations are not to be changed.
The purpose of creating a frozen time period or frozen activities in Aspen Plant Scheduler (PS) is to prevent the Plant Scheduler's... |
Problem Statement: Article 133651 shows an example of a VB Application using Aspen SQLplus to retrieve/analyze Batch list then get Data for each Batch found from data generated by Aspen Production Record Manager (formerly known as Aspen Batch.21).
This article takes that a little further showing the ability to get the ... | Solution: Use the Advanced query settings on the characteristic specifier to control the data returned.
You can have either a Subbatch request OR Characteristic request.
If subbatch, then ReturnChildSubbatches will be processed and ALL subbatches and their characteristics will be returned.
If subbatch, then ReturnChild... |
Problem Statement: Per the CIM-IO User's Manual, CIMIO ...uses the device deadband data to filter out minor changes in the input value before sending the value to the unsolicited client task. When using an Absolute IO_DEVICE_DEADBAND it is not clear if this deadband is compared against the last value actually transmitt... | Solution: The the IO_DEVICE_DEADBAND feature should only be used when the DCS device does not support internally dead banding for unsol data and it is desired that CIMIO Async transfer records perform deadband checking by specifying a negative scan frequency. In this particular case, the async reply will be converted t... |
Problem Statement: How can I reduce the file size of an archived model? | Solution: The Aspen PIMS model folder includes model files and Aspen PIMS generated files. If we only archive the model, the size of the archive file will be reduced.
You can archive the model without the Aspen PIMS generated files. That will reduce the size of the archive model.
1. From menu Model | Archive Model ... |
Problem Statement: If your company or department has a standardized report structure, it would be nice to set that up once instead of having to do it every time you write a report query. What's the easiest way to accomplish that? | Solution: Aspen SQLplus uses SET options to establish a report's format. There are several SET options available from setting page headers and footers to determining what character is going to be at the bottom left hand corner of your report. To get a complete list of these options, go to the SQLplus online help and se... |
Problem Statement: | Solution: Document changes in a file and attach it to the model tree as explained inSolution 125807
Keywords:
References: None |
Problem Statement: Local optima is a condition in nonlinear models where the | Solution: satisfies the convergence and optimality criteria but does not arrive at the best possibleSolution. Sometimes the final answer can be different depending on the starting point of the optimization process. Converging to a locally optimalSolution is a normal outcome of solving nonlinear equations. However, sinc... |
Problem Statement: How does the XLP matrix get its starting point and what are the best practices for managing it? | Solution: The XLP matrix will get it's starting point as described below:
1. Flows and qualities available in an inputSolution file are used
2. Qualities that are not in the inputSolution file are filled in from Table PGUESS
3. Flows, Capacities, Severities, etc. that are not in the inputSolution file are f... |
Problem Statement: This knowledge base article describes the best practice to volumetrically pool volume-based properties in a weight-based model.
This article specifically discusses pooling and recursion in submodels. This article does not discuss blending configured with the PIMS blending tables such as BLENDS and ... | Solution: In a Distributive Recursion (DR) model, all properties are pooled on the same basis as the model. So in a volume-based model, all properties are pooled on a volume basis. In a weight-based model all properties are pooled on a weight basis. The only way to volumetrically pool volume-based properties in a we... |
Problem Statement: Can I use the same name for multiple tables? | Solution: It is recommended to use different name for each PIMS table - for example don't use the same name for a crude unit and an assay table (as defined in Table ASSAYLIB). Duplicated tables names can cause errors in report files.
Keywords: duplicate
name
table
References: None |
Problem Statement: When a user runs Aspen PIMS Platinum against SQL database across a network, how do I setup the machine where the SQL server database is located? | Solution: Setup the Firewall on the machine where the SQL server located. The steps below are based on Windows 7 operating system.
1. from Start | Control Panel | Windows Firewall, Click 'Advanced Settings' on the left,
2. In the new window, click 'Inbound Rules' on the left, then 'New Rule...' on the right
3. In t... |
Problem Statement: What are the best practices for keeping track of the Aspen PIMS model history, key structures and parameters? | Solution: When working in an Aspen PIMS model, it is important for users to be able to document the key model structures, parameters used and model changes history. This is especially important when multiple users are involved.
For the model documentation process, three different approaches can be used:
Notes in the ... |
Problem Statement: User needs to change the quality specified in Table BLNNAPH/BLNREST thru Table CASE. Once such a change is specified in Table Case PIMS should automatically regenerate the Matrix. E.g. the user writes the following structure in Table Case to change the specific gravity for C3M [in Model VOLSAMP] CASE... | Solution: PIMS allows users to store the quality data in different files/ worksheets with different names. E.g. all the naphtha or similar stream going to gasoline pool can be stored in Table BLNNAPH and the rest of the Streams in Table BLNREST. All these worksheets are attached to BLNPROP on the model tree. Internally... |
Problem Statement: How to blend properties in weight basis using Table WSPECS | Solution: In PIMS, all blending is done on a volume basis unless you specifically designate otherwise. This is true for both volume based models and weight based models. (Note this refers to BLENDING, not recursion or pooling. Recursion and pooling are handled on the basis of the model.) Of course there are properties ... |
Problem Statement: What are the best practices related to the use of penalties to diagnose infeasibilities or help with convergence? | Solution: These best practices recommendations are related to the following items:
Pre-configuration of tables for quick activation if needed
Recommended penalty values
Pre-configuration of tables for quick activation if needed
Several tables have columns that allow for automated penalty structure. The main tables are ... |
Problem Statement: The old Events table (non normalized) of Aspen Petroleum Scheduler (Orion) would automatically number the X_SEQ field. With the new structure, the table ATORIONEvents no longer does this.
With the system we are putting together, events will be updated through an external interface, and the user will ... | Solution: Aspen Petroleum Scheduler manages the table using the ATOrionKey table. This table has one record for each table which it manages. The last X_SEQ number used by the system is stored here and this number is incremented whenever a new record is added (the number is never decremented). The interface program coul... |
Problem Statement: How to implement conditional selling in Aspen PIMS. | Solution: Conditional selling is a situation in which the planner would like to sell only few among the specific type of finished products produced in the refinery. For example, in a refinery three different types of gasoline: LG1, LG2, and LG3 were produced, however; the planner would like to sell only any two among t... |
Problem Statement: My execution log has the warning below. What do I do about this?
*** Warning W063. Pool Collector CFP has Entry in Row CCAPCFP in Table SCFP | Solution: This warning is generated when a recursion pool collector column contains matrix elements other than recursion structure. A common mistake is to use the pool collector column to drive a capacity. For example, in the submodel below CFP is the pooled FCCU feed. The user has used this column (CFP) to be the pool... |
Problem Statement: How to re-order the event screen list in Orion/MBO? For example, if the user wants to move the event screen 'Crude and Vacuum' to the first, how do you do it? | Solution: Here is the procedure to implement,
1. From the database table GANTT_LIST, copy the event screens ID into table GANTT_GROUP,
2. In table GANTT_GROUP, use the ORDER_BY column to order them
Now the event screens order become,
If the option below is checked from Settings | Advanced tab, the 'Event Screens' wil... |
Problem Statement: Changed Prediciton History offset, now getting message - Bad unbiased prediction | Solution: An explanation for the correlation of PREDOFST and HISTOFST
The key point is that the LBU history is a subset of the LDC history. A subtle point that necessitates setting the HISTITVL and HISTOFST in LDC when setting PREDITVL and PREDOFST in LBU.
If the LDC is set up to collect data with an offset of 10 min... |
Problem Statement: What could cause the events screen in Aspen Petroleum Scheduler to run slowly? Adding or modifying events and saving events take a long time to process. | Solution: As of V8.7, the events are stored in ATOrionEvents and APSEVENTMASTER (for the new pipeline and dock scheduling events)
Over the course of time, these tables can get really big. So it is important to archive these events periodically. The size of the tables could be directly related with the slow speeds, beca... |
Problem Statement: This article discusses the ability to use Aspen SQLplus to retrieve/analyze data from the Aspen Production Record Manager (formerly known as Aspen Batch.21). | Solution: Distributed with the Aspen Production Record Manager product is a .chm (help) file called atbatch21applicationinterface.chm It contains several VB examples of such as the one listed below. This example contains several comments and demonstrates how to Get a Batch list then get Data for each Batch found. The q... |
Problem Statement: This knowledge base article describes the procedure to log on to the Rename Tag Utility for Oracle or SQL databases. | Solution: To log on to the Rename Tag Utility:
1. Start the Rename Tags utility
2. From the Model Type drop down list, select the application model type you are working with.
3. In the Database field, enter the location and name of the model database. You can click Browse to navigate to the location and se... |
Problem Statement: Any release between two new major releases is called a patch. For example, when upgrade from 2006.5 to v7.1 is a major release, while a new build (within a major release) release to a client is called patch. Typically a new patch file is sent to our customer through a | Solution: link.
Solution
When user installs a new patch file, he/she needs to make sure it is installed in a clean environment which means there is no PIMS application on the machine. Otherwise, PIMS may not work properly after you ?upgrading?.
Here are the procedures to install a PIMS new patch,
1. Use Aspen u... |
Problem Statement: There are several ways to turn off a submodel in my PIMS model such as:
1) Have a capacity on the feed rate and set the MAX = 0
2) Use Table BOUNDS to set the MAX on the feed column to zero
3) Similar to a capacity, a Process Limit (PROCLIM) could be applied to the... | Solution: The best practice for turning off a submodel is the use of a capacity and setting its maximum equal to zero. This is best practice because it allows PIMS to make adjustments to the matrix for you that can prevent infeasibilities. No other method provides this functionality. This feature only works if the b... |
Problem Statement: There are many occasions when users would like to be able to purchase a recursed pool (i.e. FCC Feed, Coker Feed, etc.). There is, however, some confusion about how this capability actually works.
The key thing to remember is that the qualities of the purchased stream is defined by the entries in tab... | Solution: In order to reduce the chance of bad quality estimates getting into a model, we recommend that users not purchase the recursed pool directly. The best way to handle this situation is to create a new stream tag for the purchased feed and define its qualities in a BLNPROP table. You can then simply add the new ... |
Problem Statement: I noticed in my execution log the following message:
Some Recursed Qualities Limited by MIN/MAX Values. See Iteration Log and Help.
What does this mean and how do I eliminate it? | Solution: This is a message that should not be ignored. PIMS is telling you that it is calculating a property value that is outside the allowable range and therefore is resetting that property to the limit of the range. This can affect the quality of your results. To fix this, please follow the steps below:
1) Open... |
Problem Statement: Do you have any tips to help have a smooth upgrade of Aspen PIMS? | Solution: If you currently haveAspen PIMS on your machine and are upgrading to a newer version, below are some tips to help make the process smooth.
1) If the major release version number has changed (ie, PIMS 2006 (PIMS 17) vs PIMS V7.1 (PIMS 18)), then a new license file is required. Customers should request thei... |
Problem Statement: Can you give us some clean up recommendations for Orion database version 10.0 or higher? For instance, we need a list of tables to be purged. | Solution: As part of the model maintenance activities for the new Orion database schema (version 2006 and higher), you need to periodically remove old data as follows:
_EVENTS table according to STOP
EV_* records which have SEQ corresponding to Z_SEQ numbers deleted from _EVENTS
Other (Results ) tables beginning with _... |
Problem Statement: After upgrading to Office 2010, some users have experienced tremendous slowness in running/opening some particular report writer templates. What could be affecting the performance of Aspen Report Writer in Office 2010? | Solution: Check the template and see if it contains many formulas dependent on other cells.
For example, let us assume there are two worksheets, the first is called 'PIMS TAGS' while the second is called 'Key Indicators'. Suppose in a cell, let's say C5 in a second sheet 'Key Indicators', the formula is ='PIMS TAGS'!I1... |
Problem Statement: After installing Aspen Report Writer V7.3.03 and Office 2010, calculating cells in a file after Excel start-up is very slow if the file contains Aspen Report Writer (ARW) functions to read any Results.mdb database. | Solution: To resolve this problem, open the file in excel and uncheck 'Formulas' option 'Enable multi-threaded calculation' in Excel Options dialog.A Then click OK and save the workbook. This will improve the speed of ARW resolving the cell values.
The slower performance usually happens when a template contains m... |
Problem Statement: I have materials out of balance in my PIMS model | Solution: . What is the cause of this problem?
Solution
Materials go out of balance in a PIMS modelSolution because the model makes (or is forced to buy) materials that have no destinations. The PIMS Execution Log indicates material imbalances with messages like the following:
THE FOLLOWING MATERIALS OR UTILITIES ARE O... |
Problem Statement: Best practice is to eliminate very small and very large coefficients in Aspen PIMS model data to avoid scaling issues within the optimizer. How do I identify such coefficients? | Solution: In general we recommend that coefficients smaller than 1e-6 or 1e-7 be avoided. Data of this nature sometimes creeps into the model via Assay data. Eliminating such small coefficients can improve model convergence by avoiding scaling issues within the optimizer.
You can identify such coefficients using th... |
Problem Statement: Process Limits created through table PROCLIM are like blending specifications in the submodels; the matrix formulation is identical.
For each ZLIMXYZ or ZPRPXYZ row, three matrix rows are created: E, L and G rows to represent the calculation. See | Solution: 129960 for details in the formulation.
By default, all the columns that have coefficients in the ZLIMXYZ or ZPRPXYZ row, will be included in the E row, which represents the denominator of the division that PROCLIM is essentially doing.
You can declare vectors FREE so that they do not appear in the E-row (deno... |
Problem Statement: What are the advantages and disadvantages of using CV costing to drive internal LP or QP opitimization? | Solution: In V7.1 and later version of Aspen DMCplus controller, there is an option to use CV cost in addition to using LP cost to economically drive the controller toward the most profitable operating points.
Advantages:
A? The cost can be directly set using the economic variables such as feeds, products and... |
Problem Statement: What are parallel groups in colinearity analysis tools (SmartAudit, colinearity in APC Builder) and how should they be used? | Solution: A controller with large RGAs could result in unpredictable behavior and/or LP internal error in run mode. AspenTech colinearity analysis tools, either SmartAudit or colinearity tool in APC Builder, are used to fix steady state gains of 2x2 sub-matrices with large Relative Gain Analysis (RGA) number in a contr... |
Problem Statement: Why do I encounter errors while creating event using the edit in Excel functionality? | Solution: For example when a new event is created in Excel, the following error may pop up.
The above error is prompted when the user enters a sequence number while creating the event. APS will automatically create a sequence number for the new event, therefore; sequence number should not be entered when creating a new... |
Problem Statement: What is the syntax to enter tag type fields in automation code? | Solution: For crude pipeline shipments, crude runs, and blend events the source tanks are entered in a comma delimited format where each tank identifier is followed by the volume fraction of the component. Note that each entry must be exactly 11 characters long including the comma. For example:
T102 0.733,
The above is... |
Problem Statement: When an APC application (DMCplus, IQ, etc.) encounters this error,
CIMIO_MSG_RECV_CHK, Error checking connections
CIMIO_SOCK_CHK_RECV_FAIL, Error peeking at socket
System Error, errno=2 No such file or directory
CIMIO_SOCK_RD_BROKEN_PIPE, Connection was terminated by peer
WNT Error=10054 An existing ... | Solution: · First clear out all the log files and start from the beginning.
o Make back-up copies of the cimio_msg.log (C:\Program Files (x86)\AspenTech\CIM-IO\log) and valid.err (C:\ProgramData\AspenTech\APC\Online\etc). Then delete the original valid.err and cimio_msg.log files. We are assuming that CIMIO ... |
Problem Statement: What is the best way to enable workspaces to be opened quickly? | Solution: For deployments with large number of workspaces and users, users will be able to open workspaces faster if
Users are defined to roles using domain groups instead of as individual users
Individual user accounts that have been disabled are removed from roles assignments
Local groups on the ABE server are used t... |
Problem Statement: Our Aspen Petroleum Scheduler (Orion) database sometimes become corrupted. The problem is sometimes so severe that we need to create a new database.
Can you give any advise on how to avoid these problems? | Solution: We have the following suggestions:
Run Check Disk on the computer's hard drive to eliminate bad sectors. Defective disks can cause corrupted files.
Repair/Compact the MS Access, SQL Server, or Oracle database to reduce file size and maintain performance. We recommend that you do this on a weekly basis.
Review... |
Problem Statement: How to re-order the event screen list in Orion/MBO? For example, if the user wants to move the event screen 'Crude and Vacuum' to the first, how do you do it? | Solution: Here is the procedure to implement,
1. From the database table GANTT_LIST, copy the event screens ID into table GANTT_GROUP,
2. In table GANTT_GROUP, use the ORDER_BY column to order them
Now the event screens order become,
If the option below is checked from Settings | Advanced tab, the 'Event Screens' wil... |
Problem Statement: Changed Prediciton History offset, now getting message - Bad unbiased prediction | Solution: An explanation for the correlation of PREDOFST and HISTOFST
The key point is that the LBU history is a subset of the LDC history. A subtle point that necessitates setting the HISTITVL and HISTOFST in LDC when setting PREDITVL and PREDOFST in LBU.
If the LDC is set up to collect data with an offset of 10 min... |
Problem Statement: Aspen Process Explorer (aka APEx or PE) as a product has been around since late 1996. It was built using Microsoft COM technology. Since its early days, its code has been re-architected several times to conform to ever-changing Microsoft standards and provide positive user experience in terms of robu... | Solution: · Try using a locally configured data source in Process Explorer. This will bypass the ADSA and additionally will remove 50% of the DCOM and DNS calls that Process Explorer makes to ADSA to find the IP.21 server. If you see distinct improvement then you know that there is an issue with how DCOM is work... |
Problem Statement: Prelude:
This tutorial provides an example to educate users about how to configure a Custom Library and to install the same in a Custom CAP file. There are no particular pre-requisites required for reading this document; though, prior working experience in Aspen SCM will aid in easier understanding; ... | Solution: Steps to configure a Custom Library:
i. In the Import Data and Data Viewer tutorials, there are some tables that were created and there were some existing tables that were populated to accomplish those steps. The objective of this tutorial is to create and customize a custom library with the sets and tab... |
Problem Statement: As the events are imported using EIU, sometimes staging tables and baseline tables can get very big in size. Which tables should the user look at in order to purge the data? | Solution: Following are the Baseline tables which needs to be maintained from time to time
CRDINV
TNKINV
PLINV
PARAMINV
TANK_SERVICE
Following are the Import Staging tables which needs to be maintained from time to time
ORION_MGR_CRDINV_IMPORT
ORION_MGR_TNKINV_IMPORT
ORION_MGR_EVDESTIN_IMPORT
ORION_MGR_EVENT_IMPORT
ORI... |
Problem Statement: In the Volume Sample model, there is a blend DSL with ALTTAGS DSX. However the blend DSL has an incentive that is not applicable to DSX. This incentive is based on a minimum property specification NCTI=46.2, but the incentive threshhold may not equal to 46.2, lets assume it is 47.
How can it be imple... | Solution: We can use Table ROWS, UTILSELL and a dummy submodel to accomplish this.
First, let's look at DSL related tables,
Table ALTTAGS,
* TABLE
ALTTAGS
*
Alternate Tags for Tierred Pricing
TEXT
***
*
DSX
DSL
Diesel
SFB
SFA
Sulfuric Acid
Table SELL,
* TABLE
SELL
Table of Contents
*
Product Sales
... |
Problem Statement: Since event tables can get really huge over the course of time, what event tables should I look at to regularly archive/ cleanup my database? | Solution: These are some event related tables in APS, and archiving these tables could be healthy for the application's performance.
ATORIONEventResources, ATORIONEventResourceDetails, ATORIONEventProps, ATORIONEventPipelines , ATORIONEventParams, ATORIONEventComments , ATORIONEventTanks , ATORIONEvents , EV_CRUDE_COMP... |
Problem Statement: After installing Aspen Report Writer v7.2 and selecting Aspen Report Writer from the Excel menu, the following error messages pop up. The application can not be run. | Solution: This error could be caused because the Aspen Report Writer dll is not correctly registered.
Follow these steps to fix this problem:
1) From Excel, hit Alt + F11, which will open the VBA editor. Go to Tools |
Keywords: -Installation
References: s and check whether there is one line that says :
Missing: AspenRp... |
Problem Statement: How do I archive/cleanup my publish tables periodically? | Solution: Over the course of time, publish tables get really huge. Necessary maintenance steps need to be taken to ensure stable performance of APS because huge database sizes could lead to more processing time and in cases, query timeouts (especially while publishing)
These are some publish tables which would be worth... |
Problem Statement: Let's say for example: once an import has been made, the import log, validation log, import statistics screens if already opened, needs to be refreshed. Similarly, if a change has been made on the planning board and if the reports of the planning board are already opened, then they need to be refresh... | Solution: explains how to trigger the refresh and how to setup the same for custom screens.
Solution
The feature used to accomplish this requirement is the RACTREF rule.
Let's consider an example:
In the attached case file, there is a custom screen called “Test” under the custom group “After Commands”. The objective he... |
Problem Statement: There have been some misunderstandings about how Property Calculation Formula is designed to work. Below is a summary that is intended to clarify the functionality of this feature. | Solution: Property Calculation Formula (PCF) was originally developed as a replaced for Table INDEX. As such, it defines calculations that PIMS performs only at matrix generation or back-calculations that are done for reporting. There can be an exception to this when it is used in conjunction with ABML, however if AB... |
Problem Statement: What is the best way to manage Table PGUESS in my Distributed Recursion (DR) model? | Solution: The PGUESS table is required on the model tree. Whenever you run Aspen PIMS, the values in Table PGUESS are used as initial starting points for all the recursed properties. Therefore, changing the PGUESS table can result in a different calculation path. Whenever Aspen PIMS completes a run, it creates a file c... |
Problem Statement: Gasoline produced from PIMS model is ethanol free product. To calculate reformatted gasoline emission, first we use PIMS ABML to calculate the gasoline properties with ethanol addition using RBOB or CARBOB correlation. Those calculated properties are then used for emission calculation in CARB correla... | Solution: Let's put them in 3 groups:
1. CARB2 (types 3 or 10 which is CARB 2 by itself or with CARBOB2) uses cnx, thc, pot in BLNSPEC and tag 'CARB' in ABML
2. CARB3 (types 4-9 which is CARB 3 with various combinations of CARBOB and CARBOB2) uses CNX, THC, POT in BLNSPEC and tag 'CARB3' in ABML
3. CARB4 (types 12-14... |
Problem Statement: Basic XML knowledge in Aspen SCM is a prerequisite for reading this document. | Solution: s # 135832, 135995, 136528, 136585, 137107 and 138030 are recommended, if you are looking to gain basic XML knowledge in Aspen SCM.
This article explains how to modify the rule which runs when you click on the Apply Changes button in the Ribbon or when you click on the Apply Changes option in the right-clic... |
Problem Statement: Some user wants to reset the X_SEQ value which shows up in the Event dialog as Sequence. What is the recommended way to do this? Can I reset the key value in the ATOrionKey table, look up the column ATORIONEVENTS and change the LAST_ID value to be the next one to be used? | Solution: If the method described above is used, you will run the risk that as you keep using it eventually you will hit what is currently in us. This will create problems and we strongly advise against that.
The safer way is to use the following procedures as a guideline to reset the EVENT sequence numbers.
You can ... |
Problem Statement: How to update a property inferential (IQ) based on an algerbraic equation with an online analyzer. | Solution: There are two types of inferential predictions calculated in IQ; prediction based on a steady-state function and prediction based on a dynamics function. Typically a steady state prediction uses a lab sample to update its prediction bias and the dynamics prediction uses an online analyzer to update its pred... |
Problem Statement: We have multiple refineries that are required to evaluate different scheduling scenarios during the current schedule time. What is the best practice to evaluate this kind of scenario in Aspen Petroleum Scheduler (APS)? | Solution: The Case management feature users to create multiple versions (cases) as needed to represent the different operations of the refinery. This built-in case management capabilities to enable the schedulers to perform What-if analysis. Case Comparison interface compares the trend data for multiple cases on a sing... |
Problem Statement: What is the advantages of using IQ application for an analyzer predictor? | Solution: An analyzer predictor is used to predict a stream property that has an online analyzer. The predictor can reduced the delay due to transportation lag in the sample system or the location of the analyzer. The idea is to control the steady state value of an open FIR model between the analyzer readers and primar... |
Problem Statement: What is the procedure to set up security to give different write privileges to each operator user? | Solution: Aspen Process Recipe (APR) uses AFW security to give different users various levels of privileges to the APR database. However, it is set up as an overall system security with different roles such as Administrator, Engineer, Supervisor and Operators. It does not distinguish between operators that can be ass... |
Problem Statement: I am setting up the simulation flowsheet in Aspen Custom Modeler to test my model which I want later to export to Aspen Plus. However I am unable to specify correctly the input and output stream substream attributes. | Solution: We recommend generally to use the embedded Aspen Properties file when setting up the physical properties to be used in Aspen Custom Modeler simulation. This has the advantage that the properties file is stored inside the simulation file, and therefore there's no risk to delete the properties file by mistake, ... |
Problem Statement: In most organizations, the server computers usually belong to a secured network domain guarded by a firewall.
The client machines belong to the business LAN. The business LAN usually resides on a different domain that does not have a trust relationship with the server domain.
In such cases, to acces... | Solution: Aspen MES Web Server (32-bit and 64-bit) use the Basic/Windows authentication methods to authenticate the users.
Both the Basic and Windows Authentication methods require the business users to enter a valid domain\username and password. If the credentials do not correspond to a valid Windows user account, th... |
Problem Statement: This Knowledge Base article (KB) is the fifth in a series of articles under the topic `Linear Programming using Aspen Supply Chain Management?. This series is intended for users who do not have any background in LP or in Aspen Supply Chain Management (SCM) programming; the pre-requisites for reading ... | Solution: s # 135232, # 135398, # 135871 and # 136072. The screenshots in this document were created using Aspen SCM version 8. At the end of this tutorial, users will be able to formulate and solve simple Linear Programming problems in Aspen SCM.
Example Problem:
Similar to the example discussed in the previousSolut... |
Problem Statement: If one of my Excel input spreadsheets for PIMS has recalculated and some cells have errors (like #N/A, #REF, etc) it can cause unexpected results that are very hard to diagnose. Is there a way to find cells with errors in a very large Excel spreadsheet? | Solution: The following macro code will search a workbook and display all the cells that contain errors in a sheet called Errors.
Option Explicit
Sub istErrors()
Dim ws As Worksheet
Dim RNG As Range, Cell As Range
Dim NR As Long
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
If Not Evaluate(ISREF(Errors!A1)) Then
Works... |
Problem Statement: What is the best way to troubleshoot network issues? | Solution: These are some existing tools and tests that customers can perform to troubleshoot network issues:
1. PathPing test: To check for dropped packets and routing issues.
a) Open a command window and type:
pathping <remoteHostName>
b) Do the same test using the IP address (to help check that the h... |
Problem Statement: What is the benefit of having the CV's grouped instead of having each and every CV in its own rank group? | Solution: The CV ranking method ensures that the more important CV constraints (lower rank) are satisfied first regardless of the extent of violations in the less important (higher ranking) constraints. Therefore, the optimizer will work on solving/satisfying all CVs belonging to the same CV rank group first and then m... |
Problem Statement: What is the recommended path for upgrading from Aspen DMCplus Controller 5.0 to Aspen DMCplus Controller V7.3? | Solution: Use PRTUpdate, attached to thisSolution and the steps below.
To use:
1. Use DMCplus build to create a new ccf file for the application reading the existing mdl file.
2. Set the PRTSWC on the existing DMC controller to a value of 1 to generate a current PRT file.
3. Put the PRT file and ccf file in the s... |
Problem Statement: Some properties of a stream are a complex function of two or more other properties from the same or a related stream.
For example, the Cetane Index of a stream can be expressed as a function of SPG (or API) and T50 of the same stream:
CTI = -420.34 + 0.016*(141.5/SPG-131.5)^2 + 0.192*(141.5/SPG-131.5... | Solution: The attached model shows the described structure.
To model this, we will create a Property Recursion structure in a submodel to transform an activity of a vector into a quality. The vector's activity will actually represent the property's equation value. XNLP is required for this structure to work.
In this pa... |
Problem Statement: Aspen Fleet Optimizer services randomly stop processing data. | Solution: A few Aspen Fleet Optimizer clients have reported cases where the AFO services appear to be running but stop processing data. The fix for this particular issue have been stopping the services and then simply restarting them. In order to try and avoid any future unexpected data stoppages we would highly recomm... |
Problem Statement: What values should be entered for TYPE, ID, ID1, ID2 and ID3 fields depending on the type of event in automation code? | Solution: The values for the TYPE, ID, ID1, ID2 and ID3 fields depends on the type of event as shown in the following Table:
Description
Type
ID
ID1
ID2
ID3
Unit Parameter Event
1
Prameter values
Unit ID
-
-
Unit Mode Event
2
Parameter values
Unit ID
-
-
Crude Receipt Event
11
Crude comp.
Dest. Tank IDs
-
S... |
Problem Statement: After I solve for optimization in Aspen Supply Chain Planner, I am looking at the MIMIXPRS.LOG - what is it telling me? | Solution: The first section of the MIMIXPRS.log, ?Setting MIMI/XPRESS Control variables?, lists out the settings from the CXPRESS table that are configured at the time of model creation and while some settings are system generated. Model specific settings can be adjusted from the CXPRESS table as needed.
The second sec... |
Problem Statement: The new Aspen SCM GUI interface is built using XML. This knowledge base article demonstrates how to build custom screens in the new Aspen SCM GUI by programming in XML. This is a follow-up article of the previous | Solution: #136585 'XML Tutorial 4 - How to build or edit a sample User Management Screen'. The case file containing the previousSolution can be found in the attachment.
Example
Keywords: None
References: None |
Problem Statement: This Knowledge Base article is the first in a series of articles under the topic 'Advanced Linear Programming using Aspen Supply Chain Management'. The prerequisites for this article are the previous articles written under the series 'Linear Programming using Aspen Supply Chain Management' which cont... | Solution: s # 135232, # 135398, # 135871, # 136072 and # 136349.
In this series, the magnitude of the problems discussed will be identical to real model implementations. This article discusses a sample scenario and how the linear program was formulated to model this scenario; algebraic representation of the model is di... |
Problem Statement: How is the execution frequency of an IQ application set? How can a user change this frequency? | Solution: The execution frequency of an IQ application is set based on the Model file properties. In case of IQ using an IQR file as a Model file, the IQ execution frequency is set based on the sampling frequency of the data used to generate the IQR model file. For example, if the data file used for generating the mode... |
Problem Statement: What is the correct procedure to add a new Material in Aspen Petroleum Scheduler (APS) and Aspen Refinery Multi-Blend Optimizer (MBO)? In MBO, the material does not show up when added to the MATERIAL table from the Model tree, until after you close out and reopen MBO.
Follow up procedure:
1)Go to the... | Solution: The way that APS and MBO work is that they do not read the MATERIALS table unless the simulator is reloaded
Then, the newly added material does not get added to the internal array structure in APS but is saved in the Database
In MBO if the screens are switched then the Material table will be read again.
Al... |
Problem Statement: What is AspenTech's guidance for use of Virtual Environments for V7.2 Aspen Manufacturing Suite (AMS) products? | Solution: AspenTech supports the use of all aspenONE V7.2 manufacturing applications in VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V.
AspenTech Customer Support and Development Engineering will provide support and defect fixes (when appropriate) for all AspenTech Production Management and Execution (PM&E) and Advanced Process Control ... |
Problem Statement: Best Practices for using transforms in Aspen Inferential Qualities - IQ - How to use transformation inside Aspen IQ. | Solution: This document will address questions regarding the use of transforms in Aspen Inferential Qualities. This document will be updated, it is recommended to revisit to be aware of additions.
1. The question is about how to use transformation inside IQ config.
In this application, there is an online analyzer. ... |
Problem Statement: This Knowledge Base article (KB) is the fourth in a series of articles under the topic `Linear Programming using Aspen Supply Chain Management?. This series is intended for users who do not have any background in LP or in Aspen Supply Chain Management (SCM) programming; the pre-requisites for reading... | Solution: s # 135232, # 135398 and # 135871. The screenshots in this document were created using Aspen SCM version 8. At the end of this tutorial, users will be able to formulate and solve simple Linear Programming problems in Aspen SCM.
Example Problem:
A company wants a high level, aggregate production plan for the... |
Problem Statement: How is global optimization used in Aspen Fleet Optimizer? | Solution: The Global Region utility allows you to create and maintain global regions as well as perform Global Optimization on these global regions. Global Optimization allows you to balance a shift’s available resources (such as transport hours and product allocation) with demand (order hours) across all terminals wit... |
Problem Statement: For a simulation involving RadFrac column types, we cannot access the column targeting tool and graphs. Is it a limitation of license that we have? | Solution: Column targeting does not need extra license. Please confirm if the following option in Analysis – Analysis Options has been checked in Radfrac block to access Column Targeting.
Keyword
Column Targeting
Keywords: None
References: None |
Problem Statement: Sometimes the same Cimio Server PC could be running more than one Cimio for OPC interface and there is a need to stop and start only one of them. | Solution: Here are a three different ways to shutdown an Aspen Cim-IO for OPC server without shutting down all servers.
1. If the device was configured with the I/O wizard the server can be shutdown and restarted from the Aspen InfoPlus.21 Administrator.A R-click on the I/O device and select Stop logical device.
2.... |
Problem Statement: Our company is implementing Aspen Fleet Optimizer (Aspen Retail) or is upgrading to the latest version of the product. We have finished testing and passed acceptance tests, and are ready to go live with the product. In order to make sure we have a successful go live, what are the things that I need t... | Solution: We recommend that you use the following checklist to prepare your go live:
Before go live:
Ensure your company's technical experts familiar with Aspen Fleet Optimizer, key DBA(s) and IT resources are scheduled to be on standby for the go live event to support your go live
Prepare a detailed plan for the go li... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.