Honeywell UniSim Design R360

Phoenix - Honeywell announced the release of UniSim Design Suite R360, the next evolution of its steady-state and dynamic process modeling tool. UniSim Design Suite allows manufacturers to design, test and train employees on new processes offline before they are implemented. The new release includes enhancements that improve the design and optimization of heat exchanger networks, enhanced features supporting electrolyte processes, and the ability to predict corrosion.

UniSim Design also reduces engineering costs by eliminating the need for error-prone manual processes such as data re-entry and data transfer, which can account for up to 30 percent of engineering labor hours.

"Simulation is a proven solution to help engineers detect problems before they hurt a plant's operations," said Mark Hagen, director of Honeywell Process Solutions' Advanced Solutions. "We've expanded UniSim Design capabilities to give engineers greater visibility into how their processes affect a plant's ability to run efficiently. By predicting events such as corrosion, for example, UniSim will further support plant longevity."

UniSim Design is a component of the UniSim family of software and engineering services, which won Frost and Sullivan's 2006 Product Innovation Leadership of the Year Award, as well as a Control Engineering magazine Editor's Choice Award. It offers simulation, design, performance monitoring, optimization and business planning capabilities for the oil and gas production, gas processing, petroleum, refining and chemical industries.

UniSim Design Suite R360 includes new products – UniSim ExchangerNet and UniSim ThermoWorkbench. ExchangerNet allows customers to conserve energy by optimizing heat integration levels in heat exchanger networks, and ThermoWorkbench enables customers to create thermodynamic packages based on experimental data that better predict process performance.

Another similar enhancement is a new pressure-volume-temperature environment that allows oil and gas customers to tune thermodynamic packages to their reservoir fluid data.

Other additions include capabilities that enable engineers to more accurately design processes involving electrolytes through the integration of the new Mixed Solvent Electrolyte package from OLI Systems, as well as predict corrosion damage that can result from those processes. By determining the cause of corrosion, engineers can take preventative measures and reduce downtime. UniSim Design also includes enhanced support for UniSim Optimization Suite for online optimization of highly non-linear processes, as well as new administrative functions that allow for licensing flexibility.

UniSim extends the capabilities of Honeywell's Experion® Process Knowledge System (PKS) by improving its ability to gather data throughout the plant , and coupling with process knowledge embedded in process simulation models. UniSim software is also designed to integrate with Invensys, Siemens, Yokogawa, Emerson and ABB advanced control and operator training systems. In addition, Honeywell's dedicated service team evaluates the impact of proposed process-design changes on future plant performance.