2009 R&D 100 Winner
VE-PSI, Virtual Engineering Process Simulator Interface, from Ames Laboratory, Ames, Iowa, Reaction Engineering International, Salt Lake City, Utah, and National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Morgantown, W.Va., aids the design of more efficient energy and chemical processing facilities. It lets engineers integrate process simulation, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and computer aided-design (CAD) software tools into one software package. It also enables the process simulation data to be reviewed in the context of CFD and CAD data. VE-PSI is designed to broker requests between VE-Suite and any process simulator, and it extracts flowsheet interconnectivity information to create the virtual plant work-through environment in VE-Explorer. In short, engineers gain the ability to review and revise proposed designs across the product/process engineering life cycle—synthesis, design, operation, manufacturing, and maintenance. VE-PSI also allows real-time graphical display of process simulation, CFD, and CAD data in a comprehensive engineering environment. The free software runs commercially available CAD software, spreadsheets, and MATLAB and features 3-D graphics.
Technology
Process simulation interface
Developers
Ames Laboratory
Reaction Engineering International
National Energy Technology Laboratory
