New Mimic v3.4 upgrade from Mynah improves capabilities to create a more accurate virtual plant environment to drive a larger simulation platform or control system.

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Mynah Technologies has released Mimic v3.4 Simulation Software for operator training and automation system testing. This new release includes significant enhancements that provide quicker development of process models and more effective operator training and automation system testing. Mimic simulates the operating characteristics of an actual plant, providing true-to-life data to a control system or larger simulation platform. This can be used to test the performance of a new control system, or drive a simulator in a training situation. The more accurately it can emulate the operating performance characteristics of a plant, including potentially data from 10,000 or more I/O points, the more accurate the reflection of a given actual working environment.

In what it characterizes as a commitment to provide users with the highest performing dynamic simulation available, the company says Mimic v3.4 is available in a 64-bit installation for Microsoft Windows 7 and Server 2008 64-bit operating systems. This allows users to take advantage of extended memory access and floating point efficiencies in these operating systems. In order to support the real-time requirements of fast systems, such as power management, high speed material handling, or gas processing, Mimic v3.4 supports dynamic model execution in four scan threads: 100, 200, 500, and 1000 msec. Built for multiprocessor support, each scan thread runs on a different core, increasing the speed and efficiency of model execution. These breakthroughs, together, allow a user to implement larger, more powerful, dynamic simulations with better real-time performance and a lower technology investment.

Three new base modeling blocks (generator, turbine, and conveyor) have been added to Mimic v3.4, along with an advanced modeling furnace object in an effort to improve the time required for model development. The company says that these advanced modeling objects provide high-fidelity, dynamic model performance with much lower engineering time than any other solution. Moreover, the new release includes the advanced models dynamic pressure/flow solver. This was a multi-year development pursuing a goal of providing realistic pressure and flow coordination across an entire flowsheet with no user configuration, while avoiding the instability issues seen in other flow solvers.

In addition to the enhancements mentioned above, Mimic v3.4 has reduced the engineering time required to build simulation models through four new features:

• Bulk utility entry allows a user to create a single master model and rapidly replicate a large number of similar models, saving time and speeding up the process of having new models up and running.
• Configuration view allows a user to choose specific block types quickly, and view an editable list of block parameters. This makes modifying and maintaining block parameters simpler than before.
• Custom unit system allows a user the flexibility to use the plant’s current units and translate to the Mimic unit of measurement in one user interface.
• Global rename support allows a user to change the name of one model and Mimic v3.4 globally searches and changes all appropriate references to the updated name.

Mimic Simulation Software is a dynamic process and I/O simulation solution designed for automation system testing and operator training. It is scalable from small to large projects, offering solutions for any process industry user. Unlike many other simulation offerings, Mimic is designed to be implemented by the end-user so that developing, modifying, and maintaining a dynamic simulation is easy and cost-effective. It works with many off-line process control systems, including Emerson Process Management DeltaV, Schneider Electric Unity and Quantum platforms, Rockwell PlantPAx, Previse ABB Simulator, and other automation systems that support the OPC or Open Modbus TCP/IP protocols.

www.mynah.com

Edited by Peter Welander, pwelander(at)cfemedia.com