Block Diagram - Technical Information
PRO/II flowsheets can be organized into a hierarchical structure. One or more unit operations on a flowsheet can be grouped into a single icon, simplifying the main flowsheet. Using block diagrams in a flowsheet can provide a high-level abstract view of different processes in a plant.
Edit Menu
Collapse
Select two or more unit operations (including other block diagrams) and choose Edit / Collapse or use the right mouse menu to collapse the units into a new sub-flowsheet.
Expand
Select a block diagram on any flowsheet and choose Edit / Expand or use the right mouse menu to expand the block diagram to show all its unit operations on the current flowsheet. One level of sub-flowsheets will be eliminated when you expand a block diagram.
Rename
Use Edit / Rename or the right mouse menu to rename a block diagram.
Push Up
Push the free end of a feed or product stream up to the next flowsheet up above the current sub-flowsheet. This works only for streams that are external feeds or products for the simulation.
Push Down
Push the free end of a feed or product stream down to a sub-flowsheet.
View Sub-Flowsheets
Double-click on any block diagram to open a new view of the sub-flowsheet contained in the block diagram.
Create Nested Flowsheets
Block diagrams may be nested to any depth.
You may begin a new simulation by drawing the main flowsheet with unit operations, block diagram icons, and streams. Then you may double-click on a block diagram icon to display a new sub-flowsheet, containing only the streams which are feeds and products to that block diagram icon. Place unit operations and additional block diagram icons into this sub-flowsheet, connecting them with streams.
Alternatively, you may begin a new simulation by laying down all unit operations and streams. Then select a group of unit operations to collapse into a block diagram. The original unit operations and their internal stream connections will be collapsed into a new sub-flowsheet and will be represented by a new block diagram on the top-level flowsheet with the necessary feed and product streams.
Note that you cannot drag a unit operation from a sub-flowsheet view to the main flowsheet view or vice-versa.
Search for Units and Search for Streams
If you search for a unit operation, the view of the sub-flowsheet that contains that unit operation will become the active view. (A new view will be opened if necessary.) The active view will be positioned to bring the unit operation to the center of the active view.
If you search for a stream, a flowsheet view that contains the stream will be made active (or opened if necessary) and will be positioned to put the stream in the center. If you single-click again on the stream in the search box, the next flowsheet that contains that stream will be made active, with the stream in the center of the view. As you continue to single-click, all the flowsheets that contain the stream will rotate into the active view.
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