Q: How do the benefits achieved using Profit® Bridge compare to the benefits using traditional RTO?A: Profit Bridge benefits can be comparable to—or even greater than—traditional RTO because of the dynamic optimization.
Q: Can proprietary models be used with Profit Bridge? A: Yes, but a socket would need to be developed that allows the model to interface with Profit Bridge. Typical development for that effort is approximately 6-8 weeks.
Q: Can more than one type of model be used with Profit Bridge? A: Yes. Profit Bridge is flexible enough to include different models or other toolkit functions such as unit conversions, data filtering, etc.
Q: How are the third-party models updated to reflect the current plant operation?A: Model updating is generally performed off-line by the customer, however, if warranted for a specific application, a toolkit application can be created that automatically performs model updating online.
Q: Where has Profit Bridge been implemented, and what were the results? A: Profit Bridge technology has been installed in more than 15 installations worldwide since 1998 including ethylene and FCCU applications.
Q: Since Profit Bridge updates gains in Profit Controller and Profit Optimizer, and these products use linear optimization, doesn’t that mean that the solution will always be constrained (i.e. in a corner)? A: No. Although the optimization algorithm will always calculate a steady-state solution that is at a corner, as the process moves toward that solution, the gains may change and the new optimum may be located at a different corner. Thus, the plant may move very slightly between steady-state solutions, but the actual plant conditions remain unconstrained. This situation has been observed and the result is an operation that is unconstrained (has degrees of freedom remaining).
Q: How much time is required to implement a Profit Bridge application?A: Typically, 4-6 months are required to complete the implementation of a Profit Bridge project.
Q: How much time is required to maintain a Profit Bridge application?A: Typically, 5-10% of an engineer’s time is required to maintain a Profit Bridge application.
Q: How much does a Profit Bridge project typically cost? A: A typical Profit Bridge project costs significantly less than the $500K–$1M+ for a traditional RTO system.
Q: How will a user know if there are enough benefits to justify a Profit Bridge project? A: There are a number of ways to estimate the benefits of Profit Bridge. The first way is to estimate the benefits as 25% of what has been achieved with advanced control. Additionally, there are some typical benefits for standard refining units. Finally, a benefit study can be undertaken in which a model of the process (supplied by the customer) is exercised over the expected operating region, and the non-linear behavior is noted in order to estimate the benefits of non-linear optimization and control.
Q: Does the user need to install Profit Optimizer in order to employ Profit Bridge? A: No, Profit Bridge can be used with Profit Controller alone, or with both Profit Controller and Profit Optimizer.
Q: Can Profit Bridge be used with other vendors’ APC solutions? A: No. Profit Bridge only works with Honeywell APC products.
Q: Can Profit Bridge be used with other vendors’ DCS systems? A: Yes, as long as Profit Controller/Profit Optimizer is being used on these systems.
Q: Can Profit Bridge get data from other sources besides the controller (e.g. PHD)? A: Yes, Profit Bridge can retrieve data from any OPC server, including PHD.
Q: What hardware is required for Profit Bridge?A: Profit Bridge runs on any NT node with a Pentium III or higher processor. Profit Bridge does not need to run on an APP node, nor does APP software need to be installed on the machine used for Profit Bridge. For Honeywell DCS systems, an APP node must be on the LAN where Profit Bridge is located so that DCS data is available.