Patent ID: 6701223
Filing Date: 2004-03-02
Classification: F16K,G05B,Y10T

Abstract:
A method of formulating an optimal set of controls to transit a pipeline from an initial state to a sustainable target state over a preselected time period, the pipeline comprising a plurality of control devices and the preselected time period having a plurality of discrete intermediate times, said method comprising the steps of:generating a set of controls capable of transitioning the pipeline from the initial state to the sustainable target state, the set of controls having a plurality of control values for each control device of the plurality of control devices and each control value of the plurality of control values for each control device corresponds to a discrete intermediate time of the plurality of discrete intermediate times; simulating a state of the pipeline using the set of controls for each of the plurality of discrete intermediate times from the start of the preselected time period to the end of the preselected time period, each state of the pipeline including a plurality of state variables representing conditions of the pipeline at discrete points along the pipeline; calculating a total cost for the simulation of the set of controls with a cost functional; modifying the set of controls to generate an updated set of controls having a lower calculated total cost; and repeating said steps of simulating, calculating, and modifying with updated sets of controls until the updated set of controls is an optimal set of controls, wherein the optimal set of controls has a minimum total cost.