Bob's current interest is
application of smart workflow
from simulation to process data sheet to engineering details e.g. data sheets,
dimensional design of equipment, piping and controls.
Examples of commercial tools that do the process front end (i.e. from
simulation to process data sheets) are "Zyqad"
by AspenTech, and "Comos
FEED" by Simsci-Esscor.
An interesting 3rd tool is "
AXSYS.Process",
now owned by Bentley (AspenTech had to divest itself of AXSYS as part of
FTC settlement over acquisition of "Hyprotech" products - see pg 36
of their 2005 Annual report, including non-compete with Honeywell's operator-training simulators).
He has been evaluating third-party tools that will do
red-lining and checking of major CAD "2-D" drafting systems used by EPC
firms, such as AutoDesk, Bentley, & Intergraph Smart Plant P&ID.
BACKGROUND
Bob Andrew is an early pioneer in the application of computing tools in
doing process/HSE design, starting with his Ph.D. work on "Expert Systems
in Steelmaking" which used timeshare access to mainframes in the
U.S. from New Zealand in the early 1970's. After that at Petromas Eng'rg he was
in charge of all computer applications, initially on service bureaux
time-share, but then on the first IBM 5100 sold in the southern US. This
64kB memory "luggable" used 3M tape drives, 5" screen, and BASIC
language, on which Bob developed programs for dispersion modeling and
emissions inventory management. He was active in Houston with the first
release of the IGES
specification in the late 1970's.
While at the University of Auckland
teaching "Process
Analysis, Synthesis and Design" 1983-1985 he built out a
six-workstation "design studio" with computational tools for process
design. At N.Z. Synthetic Fuels in mid-80's his role included the
first dual-screen Intergraph workstation in N.Z. At NZ SynFuel he used the
original ASPEN code in FORTRAN to de-bottleneck methanol reforming and
synthesis, and ACSL code for dynamic simulation of steam, feed and fuel
system upsets and the needed adjustments to control tuning.
At Mobil R&D Corp in early 1990's he used SimSci's
PRO/II as well as supervising the development of custom process
advisories: expert diagnostic systems sitting on top of refinery
DCS and LIMS data systems through "PI
" interface for data extraction
In returning to Process Design in the mid 2000's he
has used PRO/II and HYSYS for a variety of process and HSE analyses, as
well as using and developing Excel-based tools for detail design. |
