hotline+
In this issue....
Welcome to our latest issue of HTFS hotline+. This issue highlights our continued commitment to innovation and customer value, as demonstrated by the upcoming aspenONE V2006.5 release. The new release will become generally available in January 2008. V2006.5 features a number of exciting innovations designed to better optimize your heat exchangers, advanced integration with AspenTech's steady state simulators, technical advancements, and the release of our new program for the thermal calculations of process fired heaters. To ensure greater flexibility and ease of use, V2006.5 is fully Microsoft® Vista compliant, and has been rigorously tested against an extensive library of several hundred test cases. These achievements are the result of AspenTech's investment in the HTFS R&D staff along with the assistance of AspenTech's new QA group located in Shanghai. Please read on to learn more about the new HTFS product features in the aspenONE V2006.5 release. In May of 2006 AspenTech opened an office in Shanghai, China. This office has become the cornerstone of our initiative towards quality software. The office is currently staffed with over 115 engineers with more than 50% holding advanced degrees. The Shanghai office has more than tripled our QA resources as well as provided for additional resources for shared R&D projects.
What's new in aspenONE 2006.5 for heat exchanger products
Aspen FiredHeater™ our new thermal program for process fired heaters.A key part of the 2006.5 release is Aspen FiredHeater. The latest addition to our HTFS+ Design System which houses Tasc+, Acol+, Teams, Plate+, and now FiredHeater. FiredHeater is our new program for simulating the performance or rating the burner fuel flow rates in process fired heaters. Building on the best of our HTFS and B-JAC heritage, the product combines the flexible B-JAC user interface with the core modeling of HTFS from Aspen FIHR™. The sophisticated modeling of FiredHeater allows designers to explore a wide range of heater configurations for both the firebox and convection sections combined with an optional draft calculation. Two major physical property databases are included with Aspen FiredHeater - Aspen COMThermo, the leading package in oil & gas processing, and the B-JAC standard properties package which includes many common industrial fluids. Aspen FiredHeater also has a utility to import process data and stream properties from Aspen HYSYS®. This allows users to quickly setup studies of heater performance from the Aspen HYSYS process flowsheet. The complete new sets of results tables include:
- Summary of Key Results
- Grouping of Warnings and Error Messages
- Tables of Overall Performances for Each Stream
- Tables of the overall performance of each convection bank, or each group of firebox tubes
- Tables of detailed performance within each convection bank tube or firebox tubes, including a facility to graph this data
- Peak and mean tube metal temperatures
- Results print-off of selected tables
The HTFS R&D team has completed the major restructuring of the incremental calculations. The standard calculation method will remain our default method for Tasc+ V2006.5. The new method is now invoked by selecting the Advanced Method from the Application Options section of the input. The Advanced Method generally uses the proven local calculations for heat transfer and pressure drop previously used by Tasc+ but provides an improved solution procedure for calculating temperature and pressure profiles along the heat exchanger. The Advanced method now includes all TEMA shell types and has been extended to all calculation modes including design, rating, simulation, and maximum fouling. This restructuring of Tasc+ has allowed us to provide the capability of designing, rating, or simulating heat exchangers with variable baffle spacings. Tasc+ is now capable of defining four different baffle spaces each with their own baffle cuts. TEMA G, H, or F shells can have different baffle spacings top/bottom.
Tasc+ has extended the range of geometries and modeling by including the addition of triple segmental baffles, expanded the low-fin database to include High Performance, Wolverine, and Weiland tubes. The program also offers improved modeling of flooded evaporators in TEMA X shells with a new research-based method which results in less conservative film coefficients.
Improved heat transfer methods have been provided for a number of conditions, generally resulting in higher film coefficients requiring less surface area. They include:
- Enhanced mass-transfer calculations in absence of non-condensables
- Added alternate falling film evaporator model - Chun-Saben (consistent with Hetran)
- Added alternate single phase tube side method (consistent with Hetran)
- Improved methods for underfed and overfed kettle reboilers
- Enhanced boiling coefficient when pre-heating duty is significant
- TEMA sheet displays nozzles either with actual OD, nominal OD, or ID.
- Area reported with low-profile fins is based on total area.
- Detailed output tables show flow patterns for 2-phase flow
- Condensing coefficients now included in incremental table output
- Addition of the maximum fouling calculation mode (Tasc+)
- Transfer of UA from Tasc+ to the Heatx shortcut model (Tasc+, Acol+, and Plate+)
- Transfer of heat exchanger geometry from the Heatx shortcut model to Tasc+
- Design, rating, and maximum fouling calculation modes have been added (Tasc+)
- Design and rating calculation modes have been added (Acol+)
- Transfer of UA from Tasc+ to the Endpoint model
- Transfer of UA from Acol+ to the HYSYS air-cooler model
- Transfer of heat exchanger geometry from HYSYS generic to Tasc+ model
- New import of process data for Tasc+, Acol+, Plate+ or FiredHeater from Heaters, Coolers, and Heat Exchangers in the HYSYS flowsheet
Aspen Teams - Thermal Operating Loads Now Used in Exchanger Mechanical Design
Aspen Teams version 2006.5 now includes a feature that will significantly streamline
the mechanical design of shell-and-tube heat exchangers. Up to this point, if the designer
wanted to include non-steady state operating conditions in the design, such as cleaning
(steam-out), startup, shutdown, etc., multiple runs were required. Furthermore, it was
not easy to identify the controlling case since it is impossible a-priori to use one
operating condition as the controlling case without investigating all conditions. This workflow
was tedious and prone to errors since multiple runs had to be done in rating mode (exchanger fully designed).
With version 2006.5, the designer can now capture thermal operating data from Tasc+ and use
this data in Aspen Teams for the stress analysis and optimization of the final design. A sample
input screen in Aspen Teams after data transfer is shown below: Version 2006.5 includes four thermal operating conditions, defaulting to Ambient, No flow in shell,
No flow in tubes and Steady State. These default conditions can be changed to suit the study of
any set of operating conditions. When Aspen Teams is run for heat exchanger mechanical design
including thermal operating loads, the program calculates the equivalent pressures exerted by
the thermal stresses. Moreover, the optimization routines in Aspen Teams will automatically
select the best combination of geometric parameters to insure that no components are overstressed.
In some extreme cases of large temperature differentials, the program will automatically include
an expansion joint to relieve the thermal stresses.
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V2006 of Acol+ provided the capability of performing the optimization of an air-cooler by varying the outside mass flow rates within user-specified limits on flow rate and exit temperature. Acol+ V2006.5 has expanded on the optimization when varying the mass flow to also allow the user to limit the mass flow by specifying a maximum velocity approaching the face of the bundle.
Acol+ for the first time will allow users to insert automatically the fan sizing from an existing fan supplier. You can now select fans from Moore Fans LLC allowing for Acol+ to arrive at a more practical design as well as providing for a more accurate noise and operating cost estimate.
Additional technical enhancements included:
- Automated data transfer to Tasc+ and Acol+
- Improved tube side mass-transfer calculations in the absence of non-condensable
- Improved tube side film coefficient calculation for boiling with large pre-heating duties
- New and revised output
- Detailed output tables include flow patterns for 2-phase flow
- Condensing coefficient breakdown included with condensing stream tables
- New input for explicit setting plan dimensions
Similar to Tasc+, Acol+ features significant improvements to HYSYS and Aspen Plus high-level interfaces:
- Transfer of UA from Tasc+ to the Heatx shortcut model (Aspen Plus)
- Design and rating calculation modes have been added (HYSYS)
- Transfer of UA from Acol+ to the Endpoint model (HYSYS)
- New import of process data for Tasc+, Acol+, Plate+ or FiredHeater from Heaters, Coolers, and Heat Exchangers (HYSYS)
AspenTech released our new program for plate heat exchangers with the V2006 release. We've
continued to enhance Plate+ with V2006.5 with a number of improvements. Plate+ automates the
process and physical property data transfer to Tasc+ and Acol+ allowing for a quick evaluation
of alternate heat exchanger types. Plate+ V2006.5 also includes:
- Support for non-Newtonian fluids
- Second compressed plate pitch for asymmetrical geometries
- f & Cj factors based on Reynolds numbers for each stream
- New import of process data for Heaters, Coolers, and Heat Exchangers from a HYSYS flowsheet
The HTFS R&D team has made significant progress over the last couple of years in incorporating technical enhancements into our heat exchanger products, merging multiple heritage products into single products, and the migration of the majority of our product suite into one common user interface. It now remains to add our multi-stream plate fine heat exchanger porgram into the HTFS+ design System to bring our specialist customers in this area all the myriad benefits now experienced by users of Tasc+, Acol+, Plate+ etc. Development of Aspen Plate Fin™ is now in full swing with the target of having the product released near the end of 2008 Calendar year. Major re-structuring is underway on the calculation engine to unify calculations on a stream and layer basis. The incremental calculations have been formulated in a more flexible stucture to improve solution convergence and accommodate improved modelling of a wider range of configurations of fins, distributers and re-distributers. In addition the input structure has been comprehensively reviewed by the Compact Heat Exchangers Review Panel. This has resulted in the definition of a new input scheme for Plate Fin which will make specification of complex exchanger geometry much simpler and will accommodate features which could not be addressed by MUSE.
topMigrating to the HTFS+ Design System
Aspen Technology, Inc. announced in January 2006 the availability of Tasc+ and Acol+, it's new generation of applications for the design, rating, and simulation of heat exchangers. More recently we have released Aspen Plate+ and FiredHeater. These new state of the art applications were built on AspenTech's strong heritage in heat exchanger design and simulation, including the exceptional knowledge generated by the Aspen HTFS Research Network.More than 400 AspenTech customers have migrated since January 2006 and are now benefiting from the advantages provided by the new products. We have had excellent feedback from customers who have migrated.
The differences between the heritage and new products have started to widen as development efforts are focused on the new HTFS products. Some of the advantages provided by the new products:- New products Plate+ and FiredHeater running under the HTFS+ UI
- Advanced calculation methods (including, more powerful incremental calculations)
- Enhancements to thermal/hydraulic methods
- Improved optimization algorithms
- Advanced physical property options
- ~23,000 components
- 35+ VLE methods
- Proper handling of immiscible fluids
- Improved links to HYSYS® and Aspen Plus®
- Support for Aspen Simulation Workbook™
- Microsoft® Vista compliance
We would encourage all heritage program users to start benefiting from the major investment AspenTech has made in the new HTFS products. We are recommending that all current users migrate to the new products as soon as reasonably possible. This is more of an urgent issue to the heritage shell & tube and air-cooled program users as support will no longer be available as of July 1, 2008 for the heritage products. The table below shows the dates that support will cease for the AspenTech's heritage heat transfer programs:
We have over 550 customers who are now using Tasc+ and nearly 300 using Acol+.
If you would like to know more about your options for migrating to the new HTFS+ products,
please contact your AspenTech sales account manager or e-mail us at HTFS@aspentech.com
Make plans now to attend the HTFS+ sessions at the 2008 Aspen Engineering Suite User Group Meetings. Join us for two days of discussions on product updates, priorities, and development plans, as well as demonstrations on new product capabilities and updates to existing products. You'll gain valuable knowledge from your industry peers about best practices, techniques, and creative approaches, and have an opportunity to meet and interact with AspenTech product experts.
Call for Papers
We invite you to share best practices among your peers by presenting a relevant paper at these events. If you are interested, please send an email to:
UGM2008@aspentech.com
2008 Aspen Engineering Suite (AES) NALA Regional User Group Meeting
April 8-9, 2008
The Woodlands Waterway Marriott, Houston, Texas, USA
2008 Aspen Engineering Suite (AES) EMEA Regional User Group Meeting
April 22-23, 2008
Estrel Hotel-Betriebs-GmbH, Berlin, Germany
The event will showcase the enhanced workflow integration using all of AspenTech's engineering products. In addition, we will also conduct separate meetings of the:
- AspenModeling User Group
- Chemicals Track (Aspen Plus, Aspen Dynamics, Aspen CustomModeler, Aspen SimulationWorkbook, and more)
- Energy Track (Aspen HYSYS, Aspen RefSYS, Aspen Flarenet, Aspen Simulation Workbook, and more)
- Aspen HTFS+ User Group
- Aspen Icarus User Group
- Aspen Zyqad User Group
2007 Aspen HTFS+ Research Reports
The availability of 2007 Aspen HTFS+ Research reports was recently announced to the subscribers of HTFS+ Research Network. This year we have produced eleven research reports covering progress in tubular heat exchangers, furnaces and fired heaters and compact heat exchangers. These reports describe in depth the latest results, ideas and information arising directly from our customer supported Research Programme.These research reports demonstrate our strong commitment to the long tradition of research, resulting in development and improvement of the underlying predictive methods and correlations used in our software. The reports also underline our continued and on-going commitment to validation of software against the performance of full-scale equipment. Two examples of research reports, RS1199 and RS1202, are discussed below to show how the research reports handle fundamental scientific issues as well as provide direct improvements to the proprietary methods employed in our software.
RS1199 Improved entrainment calculations for kettle reboiler design
Entrainment in a kettle reboiler is a very complex process and this complexity is demonstrated
very well in the photograph shown below, taken from the flow visualization experiments.
The improved calculation method described in RS1199 reflects the physics of the entrainment process,
capturing key aspects of a highly complex hydrodynamic process. Results allow much more plausible extrapolation for geometric and process variations.
Experimental visualization of complex processes
driving entrainment in a kettle reboiler
RS1202 Hysteresis effects for onset of boiling of hydrocarbon mixtures in plate fin passages
This is yet another example of an important contribution this year based on the systematic
investigation carried out with ternary hydrocarbon mixtures in plate-fin passages. This report
presents the hysteresis effects associated with the local heat transfer characteristics close
to the onset of boiling with increasing and decreasing heat flux, see figure below. It is shown
that the pressure drop measurement recorded simultaneously to heat transfer data also reflect
a consistent picture of hysteresis. There are some very important practical implications of
these valuable experimental observations, and they are fully discussed in the report.
Hysteresis series to study onset of boiling with ternary mixtures of pentane/n-hexane/iso-octane in plate-fin passages
The above two RS reports provide just the glimpse of interesting leading edge research that is being carried out at Aspen HTFS. In order to appreciate our research and its benefits fully, it is certainly necessary to visit the HTFS+ Research Network. Incidentally, if you are not familiar with the numbering of the RS reports and wondered about the numbers RS1199 and RS1202, we started with RS1 way back in 1971. The numbering of the RS reports itself illustrates the long and exciting journey that we are continuing with our research in partnership with our customers!
Access to the HTFS+ Research Network is open to customers who licence this product service. If you would like to know more please e-mail us at htfs@aspentech.com
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Check out our training web site at:
Full course descriptions can be viewed and you can register online.
Register at support.aspentech.com/supportpublicasp/RegisterBegin.asp to enable you to download the latest patches, receive relevant monthly e-Bulletins, search Knowledge Base for solutions and submit & track your own enquiries.
Aspen Tasc+ 2006.5TM
Design and performance
simulation of all your shell and tube heat exchanger requirements,
including thermosyphons.
Design and performance simulation of all your shell and tube heat exchanger requirements, including thermosyphons (support will cease as of 30th June 2008). Aspen Teams 2006.5®
Mechanical design of shell and tube heat exchangers. Aspen Acol+ 2006.5TM
Software for design and performance simulation of air cooled heat exchangers and simulation of heat recovery units, air conditioning and refrigeration exchangers. Aspen ACOL 2006.5TM / Aspen Aerotran 2006.5TM
Software for design and performance simulation of air cooled heat exchangers and simulation of heat recovery units, air conditioning and refrigeration exchangers (support will cease as of 30th June 2008). Aspen Plate+ 2006.5TM
Design, rating and performance simulation of plate heat exchangers. Aspen APLE 2006.5TM
A single package for design, rating and performance simulation of gasketed plate and frame heat exchangers (support will cease as of 31st December 2008). Aspen MUSE 2006.5TM
Performance simulation layer by layer, crossflow calculation and 'first-shot' thermal design of multistream plate-fin heat exchangers. Aspen FiredHeater 2006.5TM
Simulating the performance or rating the burner fuel flow rates for process fired heaters. Aspen FIHR 2006.5TM
Simulation of fired process heaters, including radiant and convection sections with multiple process streams. (support will cease as of 31st December 2009). Aspen FRAN 2006.5TM
Rating and performance simulation of power plant feedwater heaters. Aspen PIPE 2006.5TM
Single phase and two phase flashing flow calculations in unbranched pipeline systems (support will cease as of 30th June 2008). HTFS Research Network TM www.htfs.com/resnet.asp
The HTFS knowledge base developed over the past 35 years. This includes online access to our proprietary methods within the Handbook, Research Reports and Design Reports via the web. Customers can also have a close involvement in directing our research and the evolution of our products through participation in Review Panels.
Review Panel Chairmen
Furnaces &
Fired Heaters Laurie Haseler
Compact Heat
Exchangers Vishwas Wadekar
E-mail: htfs@aspentech.com
Web: www.htfs.com
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Tel:+1 781 221 6400
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