Patent Document ID: 20110131017
Application ID: 12628821
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A distributed simulation system for simulating the operation of a set of physical plant elements through which mass flows, comprising: a computer network including a plurality of drops and a communication network that communicatively couples the plurality of drops, wherein each of the plurality of drops includes a processor; and a multiplicity of processor implemented simulation modules, each of the multiplicity of simulation modules including a process model that models the operation of a different one of the physical plant elements, wherein a first one of the simulation modules and a second one of the simulation modules are located in different ones of the plurality of drops; wherein the first one of the simulation modules models the operation of a first one of the set of physical plant elements and the second one of the simulation modules models the operation of a second one of the set of physical plant elements disposed downstream of the first one of the set of physical plant elements, wherein the process model of the first simulation module uses a value of a process variable calculated by the second simulation module to produce an output associated with the operation of the physical plant element modeled by the first simulation module, and wherein the first and second simulation modules communicate calculated process variable information between one another to perform simulation of mass flow between the first physical plant element and the second physical plant element.