Patent Document ID: 20060241924
Application ID: 11279554
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A computer-implemented method of optimizing operations of a pipeline system, comprising: a) reading input data, wherein the input data describes the pipeline system; b) generating a population of solutions, wherein each solution in the population specifies a feasible production state for the pipeline system; c) evaluating each solution in the population and sorting the solutions in the population according to the evaluation; d) performing a genetic optimization process on the population until a termination condition specified by the input data is satisfied; e) selecting an optimized production solution from the population of solutions, wherein the optimized production solution has a highest evaluation, relative to the solutions in the population after the genetic optimization process is performed; and f) generating, for the optimized production solution, an optimized pressure solution specifying an output pressure for one or more delivery points of the pipeline system and an input pressure for one or more production nodes of the pipeline system, using a direct pressure optimization process.