40 Sim Common Tools
40 Sim Common Tools
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Table of Contents
40.1. Drawing flowsheets and adding tables to flowsheets 2
40.1.1. Drawing units 2
40.1.2. Drawing streams 3
40.1.3. Renaming and deleting units and streams 4
40.1.4. Inserting tables and stream tables (typically done after simulations) 4
40.1.5. Editing a flowsheet 8
40.2. Menus in the flowsheet window 10
40.2.1. Reports 17
40.2.2. Select Unit Models 19
40.2.3. Static Scenario Editor 20
40.2.4. Scenario Editor – Monte Carlo simulation 21
40.2.5. Calculation order 26
40.3. Toolbars 28
40.3.1. Left and Top Toolbars 28
40.3.2. Docking bars 31
40.4. Importing HSC Sim 7 models (HSC Sim 6 models are not supported) 36
40.5. Fixes for typical Sim problems 37
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This chapter explains how to draw and add tables to a flowsheet. In addition to the
instructions chapter, the user should also read unit-specific Chapters 41-47 and 55 of
this manual before running the simulations (41- 42 Distribution Units, 43-44 Reactions
Units, 45-46 Minerals Processing Units, 47 Converter Units, and 55 Dynamic Units,
which are needed if different units are combined in the flowsheet).
Fig. 1. Icons for drawing Units and Streams, where the first icon is Select and the second icon is
Pan Tool, U = Generic Units, R = Reactions Units, D = Distributions Units, τ = Dynamic Units
and the last icon is Streams
Select the unit by left-clicking the unit icon. The cursor shows the user which icon is
active. Move the cursor to somewhere on the flowsheet and draw a unit by a) holding
down the left mouse button b) moving the mouse to increase the size of the unit c)
releasing the button to stop drawing, see Fig. 2. The user can change the size of the
units later.
Fig. 2. Drawing two Reactions units. The Reaction unit is the active icon in this figure, see the
mouse cursor
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Select the stream icon with the mouse (left button). Move the cursor to somewhere on
the flowsheet and click the mouse (left button) to start the stream. The user can add a
corner to the stream with another click and double-click (left button) to end the drawing
of the stream, see Fig. 3.
Editing Streams
How to a) make a corner on the stream b) change the angle of the stream and c)
remove the corners of the stream d) change the input and output units of the stream e)
check the connection of the streams.
a) Choose the Select icon and by holding down the shift + left mouse
button, the user can make corners on the streams by moving the mouse.
b) Choose the Select icon and click the stream to see the nodes (blue
squares). Hold down the mouse button on a node and move the mouse to
change the angle of the stream (hold shift for continuous changing of the
angle).
c) Choose the Select icon, select the stream, then select one stream node
(blue square), move one node on top of another node to remove a stream
corner.
d) Choose the Select icon and move the beginning or end of the stream to a
new unit or out of the unit. HSC Sim will suggest a new connection to the
stream that the user can accept (OK) or Cancel.
e) When the flowsheet is ready, check that the streams are connected to the
correct units. The user can check connections visually, see Fig. 4. A white
circle or arrow means that the stream source or destination is unknown (a
gray arrow means it is known). Blue stream means input, black stream is
between two units and red stream means output. It is also possible to click
in the View menu Toolbars to show the Process Tree. The most time-
consuming task is selecting streams one by one and looking at the
properties (process sheet) to see the source and destination of the stream.
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Choose the Select icon and rename units and streams by double-clicking the name
label or click the name label and F2 or edit properties (process sheet) - NameID cell,
see Fig. 5. Units and streams can also be deleted by choosing them with Selection tool
and pressing delete button.
40.1.4. Inserting tables and stream tables (typically done after simulations)
The user can add Tables or Title Tables to visualize important parameters of
the results. Choose the Table icon and draw the table in the same way as user draws
the units. The user can open table editor by double-clicking the table, where the user
can add more rows and columns. It is important to uncheck Size lock when adjusting
the table size. It is typical to use this table to show a summary of the results. The user
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can insert header labels and add any process values as cell references in this table
(copy cell reference from the unit sheets and paste cell reference in the table), see Fig.
6 - Fig. 8.
The user can also insert stream tables by clicking the Stream Table Editor icon ,
which will open the editor where the user can add variables by double-clicking them.
(Note that the variable list may be empty if you haven’t created a variable list in the
reactions unit. Creating a variable list is shown in section 43 Sim Reactions Unit ->
43.2. Creating a Variable List). A visible variable list can be sorted by dragging the
variables up and down in the list, see Fig. 9. The user can check which stream tables
or flow tables (Fig. 10) can be visible or invisible in the editor or does that later from
View Menu...stream tables...show/hide all.
Fig. 7. Table editor, remember to uncheck Size lock when inserting rows and columns.
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Fig. 9. Stream tables editor for adding stream tables to the flowsheet. Add and remove
variables by double-clicking. User can choose different Table Sets for each stream or just one
set for all streams.
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Fig. 10. In Stream tables the user can now also create Flow Tables to the simulation sheet (by
changing Table view Mode in Stream Table Editor).
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Sometimes the user wants to edit a flowsheet later and add new units. Adding a new
unit (Unit 3) in the middle of a stream (Stream 1) connected to two units (Unit 1 and
Unit 2) is explained here. First, draw a new unit (Unit 3) and connect Stream 1 from
Unit 1 to Unit 3. Then add a new stream (Stream 2), which starts from Unit 3 and ends
at Unit 2, see Fig. 11 - Fig. 13. Information in Unit 1 and Unit 2 is automatically
updated so the user only needs to make changes in Unit 3 and Stream 2 to run the
simulation.
Fig. 11. Adding a unit to a stream between two units: Starting situation.
Fig. 12. Adding a unit to a stream between two units: Add new unit (Unit 3) and change the
stream destination from unit 2 to unit 3 by dragging the blue square in the stream to be
connected to unit 3. Make sure to select “apply” in the dialogue to confirm the new destination of
this stream.
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Fig. 13. Adding a unit to a stream between two units: Final situation after connecting Stream 1
to Unit 3 and drawing a new stream (Stream 2) from Unit 3 to Unit 2.
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In this section, the Sim flowsheet menus (File, View, Select, Tools, Drawing Tools,
Window and Help) are introduced.
File menu
This menu is similar to many other programs where the user can (see also Fig. 14):
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View menu
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2. Reset all settings done in the View menu or only settings of docking bars.
Select menu
The Select menu is typically used to edit or move many properties at once. Here the
user can: (see Fig. 19 below)
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Flowsheet menu
In the Flowsheet menu, user can find monitoring tools, visualization tools or drawing
tools.
In the section of Flowsheet Tools, user can inspect stream data with the Inspector
(Stream Viewer), check the list of items with Items (Process Tree), manage names of
units or streams with Names (Rename Alias), read flowsheet information and settings
with Properties and manage the visibility of layers or groups in the flowsheet with
Visibility (Layers & Groups)
To manage charts, tables or icons in the flowsheet, user can find tools such as
Flowsheet Chart Editor, Icons, Stream Table Editor and Unit Table Editor.
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Visualization of the flowsheet and the settings of it can be found from the section
Flowsheet Visualization in this menu. User can turn on and off the visualization, change
the measurement units in the visualization and adjust other settings.
The last section of this menu is Drawing Tools with which user can edit the flowsheet
by aligning, sizing, rotating, grouping and so on.
One handy way of editing the flowsheet is Edit Pages and Layers – the Visibility tool
where user can set layers and properties which are visible or invisible on the flowsheet.
Each page can have many layers. Different flowsheet items can be put to different
layers in Properties windows. Then user can show or hide different items using Layers
check boxes.
More details about Drawing Tools can be found from section 40.3.
Tools menu
The Tools menu includes many advanced options that might be needed in flowsheet
simulation. New user needs detailed instructions on how to use those tools. Some tools
are explained here and others in different Chapters, see the list below.
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1. Notes
2. Process Information
Fig. 23. The user can add Process Information to this sheet.
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40.2.1. Reports
A summary of flowsheet results can be saved and printed here. There are two pages in
this report sheet: one for units and one for streams. This report uses
Hydro_example.Sim.
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The user can choose different models for the units. The Select Unit Models window
(see Fig. 27) can be opened from the Tools menu or by right-clicking if the cursor is on
top of one of the units and choosing Select Unit Models option. On the left side of the
window is the list of the units on the flowsheet. In the middle part the user can select a
unit model from the Reactions, Distributions, Particles, Others and Import (users own
unit models) sheet. Double-click the unit to select it and then click OK. Most of the
units are DLL type but there are still some Excel Wizards available for the Reactions
units. If Excel Wizards are chosen, the user needs to check the stream names.
Information about the units can be found on the right side of the selector window.
Empty Reactions or Distributions units are the same as R and D unit Icons on the main
flowsheet DrawBar, see Fig. 1. Instructions on how users can make their own DLL
units is available in Chapter 50.
If user has many units with similar settings: draw flowsheet with all units, edit one unit,
save flowsheet and import this unit information to other units using import Unit button
(browse *.xlsx file and click Open, Select Imported sheet and units, double-click
imported excel unit and click ok), see Fig. 28.
Fig. 28. Imported units. Are shown after Import Unit… icon is used.
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The Static Scenario Editor lets user run user’s process model with different operating
parameters and see how they affect process variables. The calculated results can then
be collected in the charts.
To use the Static Scenario Editor, first select the processing parameter that is wanted
to be regulated and copy its cell reference from the appropriate cell. Next, open the
Scenario Editor and paste the cell reference in the first SET/GET column (Fig. 29).
Then add a name and measurement unit for this variable, but most importantly specify
whether the variable will be a regulated (SET) or a calculated variable (GET) (Fig. 30).
Fig. 29. Add variables to the Scenario Editor by pasting the cell reference of the variable cell.
After adding enough variables, specify the parameter values for the SET columns, add
some charts, and finally run the scenario (Fig. 31).
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The scenario editor allows the user to simulate the process with randomly selected
input parameters. This can be sometimes a useful method for finding optimum process
parameter windows for complex models.
To activate the random sampling of a SET variable, check the Monte Carlo
configuration rows visible and set the Monte Carlo value ON for the SET columns to be
sampled with randomly selected values (Fig. 32).
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The randomly sampled SET variables can be specified with a probability distribution
(Uniform, Normal, Laplace or Trapezoid) and with parameters which adjust the
distribution. To visualize the distribution, check the Distribution Charts option and move
between the SET columns (Fig. 33).
Once the variables and distributions are specified, run the scenario and plot the results
in charts (Fig. 34).
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Calculate menu
For static simulations, there are options to run the simulation until convergence or until
user-defined controls are converged. It’s also possible to define criteria, tolerance or
max rounds of simulation.
For dynamic simulations, user has options to set the speed, start time, end time or time
step – to adjust time increase per discrete calculation step. Dynamic simulation can
also be run until it is paused by the user.
Sim Model Convergence Monitor is used to finalize steady state calculations when
convergence criteria are met, see Fig. 43. It works for static models. The monitored
variables are mass, enthalpy, or both. An option is available to check the controls
before completing the calculations. The convergence monitor checks the global (whole
process flowsheet, all pages) mass or enthalpy balance, or both at the same time. The
mass balance error is calculated as the absolute relative difference between the mass
coming into the process and the mass leaving it:
The enthalpy balance error is calculated as the absolute relative difference between
the enthalpy coming into the process and the enthalpy leaving it:
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If a calculated selected balance (mass or enthalpy) error is less than a specified value,
the calculations are finalized. When both mass and enthalpy are selected as
convergence criteria, each of the balances has to be less than the tolerance in order for
the calculations to be finalized.
Fig. 36. The convergence monitor can be used to complete a steady state calculation once the
convergence criteria are met. The convergence monitor can check the global mass or enthalpy
balance, or both at the same time. The numerical value of the convergence criterion is shown in
the Log Viewer. The convergence monitor can also check that all the controls are set at their
setpoints before completing the calculations.
Some other functions are also available in the calculate menu. By resetting the partial
simulation, units selected for previous partial simulations will be deselected. With
function Clear Internal Streams, use can set stream parameters to zero. In addition, it
is also possible for users to remove contents from all tanks by selecting Empty All
Tanks or Empty Tanks Before Calculation Starts, which will remove contents from
all tanks before every calculation.
Fig. 37. Stream 3 is an internal stream. The user can empty this stream by clicking on the Clear
Internal Streams in Calculate menu.
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Diagnostics menu
In Diagnostics menu, user can find several tools and settings to monitor the whole
situation of the flowsheet. The Diagnostics & Suggestions tool can be used to check
problems in this flowsheet and some suggestions to solve the problems. To browse
through logs and possible warnings or errors, log tool should be turned on before
simulation by toggling the “Enable Calculation Log” option on in the settings section
of this menu. There are also tools to check all the cell references in this flowsheet –
Cell References and all the controls – Controls.
In the Settings section, user can choose whether data should be collected for the
Dynamic Scenario Editor or not. It is also possible to turn on and off the Calculation
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Log just like mentioned above. Moreover, warnings in the calculation log can be filtered
out with the option “Ignore Warnings”.
With this option the user can see the flowsheet information and connections of the
process streams with colors. If a stream is not connected to the unit, it will not be
visible in this process tree.
The Help menu shows a link to Tutorial Videos, a link to the Sim manual, update
checking for the latest version of HSC, and a list of software developers and technical
advisors, see Fig. 41 and Fig. 43.
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40.3. Toolbars
In the View Toolbars menu, the user can check and uncheck toolbars. It is also
possible to Reset Docking Bar Positions back to their default places. Toolbars are
divided into two lists: Top Toolbars, and Left Toolbars, see Fig. 44.
The Left and Top Toolbars are listed and guidance on their usage briefly described in
Fig. 45 -Fig. 58. Many drawing options can be later edited from docking toolbar
Properties after they have been drawn (section 40.3.2).
Fig. 45. Units and Streams. Select or Draw Units or Draw Streams (see also section 40.1).
Fig. 46. Visualization. Select or deselect the visualization mode and select the stream property
that is visualized. The user can also change measurement units, open the Stream Table Editor,
visualize stream connections, add a header, and copy the flowsheet image to the clipboard
using this toolbar.
Fig. 47. Drawing tool. With this toolbar the user can draw a line, add shapes like an ellipse, a
rectangle, a rounded rectangle and so on. It is also possible to add a header, text label, a text
box, a picture and a table.
Fig. 48. User can insert a Table or Title Table using this toolbar (see also section 40.1.4).
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Fig. 49. Height and Width. With this toolbar the user can make the size or spacing of the
selected units or streams equal. At least 3 units are needed for equal spacing of the units.
Fig. 50. Align. With this toolbar the user can align selected units in many ways, thus making it
easier to draw professional-looking flowsheets.
Fig. 51. Layers. With this toolbar the user can change the position of overlapping units or edit
pages and layers (Error! Reference source not found.).
Fig. 52. Rotate and Flip. With this toolbar the user can rotate or flip units.
Fig. 53. Lock and Unlock. With this toolbar user can disable or enable the edit mode for
flowsheet drawing and lock or unlock any editing of the entire process, but with the drawing lock
you can still edit unit properties by opening the unit. Note! Both lock options disable drawing of
the flowsheet, see Fig. 58.
Fig. 54. Text Formatting. With this toolbar you can easily edit text labels.
Fig. 55. With the status bar the user can fit and zoom the flowsheet and check and uncheck the
Orthogonal, Persist Tool, Autosave, and Snap to Grid options. If the user wants to draw
Orthogonal streams or lines (see Fig. 45 and Fig. 47), check this option. The Persist Tool
remembers the last used drawing tool so that the user does not have to select the same tool
again separately. The Snap to Grid option aligns the streams and units according to the grid on
the flowsheet, thus making it easier to draw professional-looking flowsheets. The user also sees
the size of the chosen object and position of the mouse cursor.
Fig. 56. With this section of the top toolbar, user can start a new or open an old process. It is
also possible to save the process, save a backup, a zip file (archive) of the process or use the
Model Base to download or upload models.
Fig. 57. Dynamic. With this toolbar the user can open the dynamic dialog, run/pause/stop the
dynamic simulation, follow the simulation time, as well as empty the tanks in every unit (see also
Chapter 55).
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Fig. 58. Drawing lock on (Fig. 53) makes the drawing toolbars disappear and highlights the
flowsheet frame in green (or red if the user locks the entire process).
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Fig. 59. Log viewer. This docking bar tool shows the user possible warnings and errors found
during the simulation.
Fig. 60. Cell References. This docking bar tool shows the user possible Cell References and
their location in the flowsheet. Same tool can be found from the calculate menu.
Fig. 61. Process Tree. In this docking bar the user sees the flowsheet as a process tree.
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Fig. 62. Unit Controls. In this docking bar, the user can check and modify the unit controls in the
simulation.
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Fig. 65. Unit Icons (Icons). With this docking bar tool user can add Unit pictures to the
flowsheet. The unit pictures are of generic type (see section 40.2.2). The user can switch the
view, browse picture location, search by name, or change directory (top bar) or zoom icons
(bottom bar).
Fig. 66. Tools…Notes. The user can add notes, for example instructions on how to use the
flowsheet here.
Fig. 67. Flowsheet…Inspector (Stream Viewer). In this docking bar tool the user can see a
tabulated summary of the stream properties.
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Fig. 68. Stream Visualization Settings. In this tool the user can change the settings of the
Sankey diagram (thickness of the stream shows where most of the material goes).
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September 6, 2023
Fig. 70. View…Toolbars…Control monitor. Click Draw Function to visualize how run control is
reached.
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40.4. Importing HSC Sim 7 models (HSC Sim 6 models are not supported)
In HSC Sim there is a built-in support for importing HSC Sim 7 models and then using
them in Sim. However, there are some points and limitations that the user should take
into consideration when importing Sim 7 models into Sim. If points listed here do not help
please contact the developers.
Major points:
Sim calculations have dramatically stricter error checks than Sim 7. When the
user imports an old model and tries to run it, often the calculation will notify of an
error in the flowsheet. The user can locate the errors using the log viewer and
then fix them manually.
There are some changes in the Sim hydro variable list logic when compared to
Sim 7. If the imported model variable list contains species not found in the
database, the user needs to go through them case by case in the Sim variable
list editor. The user can add entries to the database, use a different database
entry, or delete the species from the variable list to fix this (see Chapter 43,
section 43.2.1).
Sim 7 solvent extraction hydro Excel Wizards are no longer supported in Sim. If
the imported model contains them in Sim, the user will not be able to run the
model successfully.
There is a completely new DLL unit operation system in Sim, which has been
implemented for some Mineral Process unit operation models. Sim has partial
support for using old Sim 7 minpro Excel Wizard models and the user should be
able to run calculations for the imported Sim 7 minpro Excel Wizards. However,
the user cannot currently edit or make the Excel Wizards for the old minpro
models. If users want to edit their old mineral process models, they should
replace the old minpro Excel Wizards with the new DLL models.
Minor points:
Sim uses different Stream Tables than Sim 7. Because of this, users cannot edit
Sim 7 Stream Tables in Sim but they can make new ones using Sim tools.
The visibility of the connected streams is forced on for input and output streams
in Sim. If there are any such streams hidden in the imported Sim 7 model, they
will appear in Sim.
A few drawing objects like a Bézier curve are not supported in the first version of
Sim.
In some rare cases, Sim does not recognize Sim 7 stream connections correctly.
Information about this will be given in the import log. Afterwards the user should
manually confirm the notified stream connections.
In Sim 7, the user had the possibility to encrypt some units. This function is no
longer supported in Sim, which means those units will not be loaded during the
import.
External workbook references work differently in Sim 7 and Sim. When user
imports a Sim 7 model, all external references are changed and will include “REF”
at the beginning of the reference.
Sim 7 used automatically safe division for all division operations in the workbook.
This meant that, for example, 0/0 did not give an error as the answer. Sim adds
the “safediv” function to division operations.
Sim will change the sheet names of the workbook if the sheet contains illegal
characters like “/”.
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Petri Kobylin, Lauri Mäenpää, Matti Hietala,
Jussi-Pekka Kentala, Fedor Vasilyev, Ran Liu
September 6, 2023
Fig. 71. If you use text and other items size that is larger than 100 % you may have problems of
drawing flowsheets in Sim.
Fig. 72. Solution to window resize problem in Sim. You need to check “Disable display scaling
on high DPI settings” or “Override high DPI scaling behavior” from Sim properties.
Metso reserves the right to modify these specifications at any time without prior notice. Copyright © 2023, Metso Finland Oy