Updating and utilizing dynamic process simulation in an operating process environment

A system for use in simulating the operation of a portion of an operating process plant, the operating process plant including one or more process controllers communicatively coupled to one or more field devices processing physical materials to produce a product, the system comprising:

• a simulation system communicatively coupled to the operating process plant and including a plurality of simulation blocks and one or more communication links that communicatively couple the simulation blocks together, the simulation system configured to perform simulation of one or more pieces of equipment within the operating process plant, wherein each of the simulation blocks includes:
• a process model that models a portion of the operating process plant;
• a simulation routine that uses the process model to simulate the operation of the portion of the operating process plant to produce a simulated output for an on-line process element, the simulated output including one or more future values for the on-line process element;
• and
• a process control system having one or more control blocks connected to equipment within the process to perform on-line control of the process,
• a control module communicatively coupled to the plurality of simulation blocks and configured to control an online activity of the operating process plant using an actual value of the on-line process element;
• wherein one of the simulation blocks includes an input configured to accept an indication of an actual value of the on-line process element measured in a control loop of the operating process plant and corresponding to the simulated output for the on-line process element,
• wherein the actual value of the on-line process element and the simulated output for the on-line process element are compared to calculate a compensation factor to be applied to an output of the process model to produce a modified simulated output reflecting a non-modeled change in the operating process plant and
• wherein the control module is configured to automatically replace the actual value with the simulated output for the on-line process element when the actual value is known to be faulty or has a bad status, the simulated output being generated by the system.

A method of simulating the operation of a portion of an operating process plant, the operating process plant including one or more process controllers communicatively coupled to one or more field devices processing physical materials to produce a product, the method comprising:

• simulating the operation of the portion of the operating process plant in a simulation block operating on a first computer device communicatively coupled to the operating process plant using a process model for the portion of the operating process plant to produce a simulated output for an on-line process element associated with the portion of the operating process plant, the simulated output including a series of future values for the on-line process element;
• providing to the process model data from the operating process plant;
• providing the series of future values for the on-line process element to a second device associated with the operating process plant;
• receiving at the simulation block an indication, transmitted from the operating process plant, of an actual output value of the on-line process element, the actual output value measured in a control loop of the operating process plant and corresponding to the simulated output for the on-line process element;
• comparing the actual output value of the on-line process element and the simulated output for the on-line process element to calculate a compensation factor to be applied to an output of the process model to produce a modified simulated output reflecting a non-modeled change in the operating process plant and
• automatically replacing the actual value with the simulated output for the on-line process element when the actual output value is known to be faulty or has a bad status.

A method of simulating the operation of an on-line process plant, the on-line process plant including one or more process controllers communicatively coupled to one or more field devices processing physical materials to produce a product, the method comprising:

• storing a plurality of simulation objects in a computer readable memory, wherein each of the plurality of simulation objects is associated with a different physical entity within the on-line process plant, each of the simulation objects including:
• a process model that models a portion of the on-line process plant;
• and
• a simulation routine that uses the process model to simulate the operation of the portion of the on-line process plant to produce a simulated output for an on-line process element, the simulated output including multiple future values for the on-line process element;
• enabling a user to communicatively connect the simulation objects together to develop a simulation system;
• executing the simulation system on one or more processors to produce a simulated output for one or more on-line process elements during on-line operation of the on-line process plant including producing multiple future values for each of the one or more on-line process elements during a particular execution of the simulation system;
• providing to the process model of one of the simulation objects data from the on-line process plant;
• providing the multiple future values for one of the one or more on-line process elements from the simulation system to a further device;
• receiving at the one of the simulation objects an indication, transmitted from the on-line process plant, of a value of each of the one or more on-line process elements, measured in a control loop of the on-line process plant and corresponding to the multiple future values;
• comparing the values of each of the one or more on-line process elements and the simulated outputs for the one or more on-line process elements to calculate a compensation factor to be applied to an output of the process model to produce a modified simulated output reflecting a non-modeled change in the on-line process plant and
• automatically replacing an actual value for the one or more on-line process elements during on-line operation of the on-line process plant with the simulated output for the one or more on-line process elements during on-line operation of the on-line process plant when the actual value is known to be faulty or has a bad status.