AspenTech COMThermo CAPE-OPEN Thermo Server

Revision Date Comments

July 13, 2007 First version
November 6, 2008 Update for V7.1

1 Introduction..............................................................................................................................................1
2 Creation and Deployment of COMThermo CAPE-OPEN Property Package..........................................1
2.1 Configuration from Aspen HYSYS..................................................................................................1
2.2 Deployment of the COMThermo Property Package........................................................................3

1 Introduction

AspenTech provides two thermodynamic servers that support CAPE-OPEN Thermo standards using its
COMThermo calculation engine.

CAPE-OPEN 1.0 Thermo Server supports the CAPE-OPEN Thermo 1.0 interface standard.
CAPE-OPEN 1.1 Thermo Server supports the CAPE-OPEN Thermo 1.1 interface standard.

These thermo servers can be used to provide thermophysical properties and phase-equilibria calculations
for any Process Modeling Environment (PME) that supports the CAPE-OPEN Thermo standards. If a
PME supports the Thermo 1.1 standard, then COMThermo CAPE-OPEN 1.1 Server should be used. If a
PME supports the Thermo 1.0 standard, then COMThermo CAPE-OPEN 1.0 Server should be used. PMEs
may support only one or the other standard or both. Aspen HYSYS (version 2006.5 and later) supports
both versions of the Thermo standards.

In order to use the COMThermo CAPE-OPEN Thermo Server, the AspenTech COMThermo calculation
engine component must be installed. This component is installed automatically as part of the Process
Modeling (HYSYS) software. A COMThermo property package must also be created to define the
compounds of interest and the property models to be used in the calculations. This property package will
be used by COMThermo to initialize its calculations, when the CAPE-OPEN Thermo Server is invoked by
the PME. A COMThermo property package can be created using Aspen HYSYS as described below. Note
that the COMThermo property package is not dependent on any specific version of the CAPE-OPEN
standards. Once the property package is created, it can be used with both versions of the CAPE-OPEN
Thermo Servers.

2 Creation and Deployment of COMThermo CAPE-OPEN Property

Package

This section describes how to create and deploy a COMThermo CAPE-OPEN property package. The
descriptions and screen captures correspond to Aspen HYSYS V7.1. For other versions of Aspen HYSYS,
the procedure is very similar.

2.1 Configuration from Aspen HYSYS

1. Start Aspen HYSYS and configure a fluid package as described in the Aspen HYSYS documentation.
2. On the Fluid Package: Basis form, select COMThermo radio button.
3. In the Property Package Selection group box, select Generic COMThermo Pkg (default).
4. In the Model Selection group box, select the property model for both the vapor and the liquid Model
Phase. For example, select the HysysPR for both Model Phases.

5. Click the Export button.

6. In the Export COMThermo Property Package dialog box, browse to the directory where COMThermo
is installed and go to the CTFFiles subdirectory (e.g., C:\Program Files\Common
Files\Hyprotech\COMThermo\CTFFiles). If the CTFFiles directory does not exist, please create it.
7. Enter a name for the property package. Make sure that the Save as type list displays COMThermo
Property Package (*.ctf). When you click OK, a set of files with extensions CTF and XML1 will be
created.

2.2 Deployment of the COMThermo Property Package

The XML and CTF 2files exported by Aspen HYSYS must be kept together in a single directory.
By default, they are placed in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Hyprotech\COMThermo\CTFFiles (as
described in section 2.1). This location is referred to as <FLUID_PACKAGE_PATH>.

When importing the CAPE-OPEN COMThermo property package into a PME, the COMThermo Server
will try to locate the files in the <FLUID_PACKAGE_PATH> directory. The
<FLUID_PACKAGE_PATH> is defined in a registry key:
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Hyprotech\COMThermo with a key value named
CTFFilesPath. By default, the value of CTFFilesPath is set to C:\Program Files\Common
Files\Hyprotech\COMThermo\CTFFiles. If you prefer to store the COMThermo property packages in a
different location, you can do so as long as you make the appropriate change to the registry key, using the
Windows registry Editor (regedit).

1
IMPORTANT. When the exported model makes use of an Extended Property Package (such as CAPE-
OPEN or Multiflash), another file will be created, with the same name, but with extension .txt. This file is
required in order to persist the state of these external packages. Please do not delete the .txt file that is
generated.
2
And also .txt file.
Alternative <FLUID_PACKAGE_PATH> specification
If your system does not contain the CTFFilesPath registry key or you do not want to use a registry key to
locate your <FLUID_PACKAGE_PATH> files, follow these instructions:
1. Make sure that you CTFFilesPath registry key does not exist, or its Value Data is an empty string.
2. Find the file HypCOTh.ini, which is installed in same path as the CAPE-OPEN thermo server.
3. Within the [general] section, replace the value of the parameter FluidPackagesPath to the path which
will contain the CAPE-OPEN COMThermo package files.