A method and apparatus for the pelletization of plastics and/or polymers, in which a melt coming from a melt generator is supplied via a diverter valve having different operating positions to a plurality of pelletizing heads through which the melt is pelletized. The plurality of pelletizing heads have different throughput capacities and are used sequentially for the start-up of the pelletizing process, with the melt first being supplied to a first pelletizing head having a smaller throughput capacity and then the melt volume flow being increased and the diverter valve being switched over such that the melt is diverted by the diverter valve to a second pelletizing head having a larger throughput capacity.

A control system for an operable system such as a flow control system or temperature control system. The system operates in a control loop to regularly update a model with respect at least one optimizable input variable based on the detected variables. The model provides prediction of use of the input variables in all possible operation points or paths of the system variables which achieve an output setpoint. In some example embodiments, the control loop is performed during initial setup and subsequent operation of the one or more operable elements in the operable system. The control system is self-learning in that at least some of the initial and subsequent parameters of the system are determined automatically during runtime.

The safety of a worker is ensured, and the area in which purging is halted is limited to the minimum. The inner space of a device is divided into a working area and a non-working area, and purging of articles in the working area is halted and the purging of the articles in the non-working area is continued. The oxygen concentration in the working area is measured, and if the oxygen concentration of the working area decreases to a predetermined value or less, the purging of the articles in the non-working area is halted.

A drive control method for an electric expansion valve is disclosed. In the disclosure, before applying a drive pulse signal corresponding to a rotary pulse number to a motor of the electronic expansion valve, a secondary positioning is performed on a relative position between stator magnetic field of the motor and rotor magnetic field of the motor by applying a holding current of a first duration time to the motor, applying an pulse signal of an additional pulse number to the motor, and applying a holding current of a second duration time to the motor, and a same secondary positioning operation is also performed on the motor after applying the drive pulse signal corresponding to the rotary pulse number to the motor of the electronic expansion valve, which ensures that the electronic expansion valve operates according to the drive pulse signal corresponding to the rotary pulse number.

A system including an additive management system configured to oversee hydrate formation in a hydrocarbon extraction system, the additive management system including a flow meter configured to measure a fluid flow rate, a first sensor configured to measure at least one of a fluid property and an environmental condition, and a chemical injection device configured to inject a hydrate inhibitor into a fluid flow.

A density measurement system for measuring the density of a material within a region, the density measurement system comprises: a plurality of electrodes arranged around the region; an energisation source arranged to apply an electrical signal to at least one of said electrodes; a monitor arranged to monitor an electrical parameter at at least one of said electrodes, the monitored electrical parameter being caused to change in response to flow of electrical current within the region; and a processor arranged to: generate data indicative of the complex impedance of the material within the region based upon the monitored electrical parameter; and generate data indicative of the density of the material based upon the data indicative of the complex impedance of the material.

A control system for optimizing a chemical looping (“CL”) plant includes a reduced order mathematical model (“ROM”) that is designed by eliminating mathematical terms that have minimal effect on the outcome. A non-linear optimizer provides various inputs to the ROM and monitors the outputs to determine the optimum inputs that are then provided to the CL plant. An estimator estimates the values of various internal state variables of the CL plant. The system has one structure adapted to control a CL plant that only provides pressure measurements in the CL loops A and B, a second structure adapted to a CL plant that provides pressure measurements and solid levels in both loops A, and B, and a third structure adapted to control a CL plant that provides full information on internal state variables. A final structure provides a neural network NMPC controller to control operation of loops A and B.

A water management method for controlling at least one operational parameter of at least one water control device, wherein the operational parameter is associated with water used by the water control device, the method comprising the steps of: sending, from an electronic controller of the water control device, operational data associated with the operational parameter to an embedded electronic device; receiving, at the embedded electronic device, the operational data, and developing control data based on the received operational data and sending the control data to the electronic controller; and receiving, at the electronic controller, the control data and controlling the operational parameter of the water control device based on the received control data.

A method of augmenting power output by a gas turbine engine includes channeling fuel into the gas turbine engine at a predetermined fuel flow rate to generate a first power output. Steam is then injected into the gas turbine engine at a first steam flow rate, and a firing temperature bias is determined based at least on the first steam flow rate. The predetermined fuel flow rate is then adjusted based on the determined firing temperature bias such that the gas turbine engine generates a second power output greater than the first power output.

Apparatus and methods are described for automatically performing set-up steps for flow cytometry operations. The invention provides for the spatial determination of a flow stream and the subsequent automatic alignment of analysis devices and/or collection vessels. The automatic determination of flow stream properties provides for the automatic configuration flow cytometer parameters.