Refinery spreadsheet highlights microcomputer process applications
Microcomputer applications in the process areas at Chevron U.S.A. refineries and at the Chevron Research Co. illustrate how the microcomputer has changed the way we do our jobs. This article will describe major uses of the microcomputer as a personal work tool in Chevron process areas. It will also describe how and why many of Chevron's microcomputer applications were developed and their characteristics. One of our earliest microcomputer applications, developed in late 1981, was an electronic spreadsheet program using a small desktop microcomputer. It was designed to help a refinery planner prepare monthly plans for a small portion of one of our major refineries. This particular microcomputer had a tiny 4-in. screen, and the reports were several strips of print-out from the microcomputer's 3-in.-wide internal printer taped together. In spite of these archaic computing conditions, it was a successful application. It automated what had been very tedious and time-consuming calculations with a pencil, a calculator, and a great deal of erasing. It eliminated filling out large ''horseblanket'' reports. The electronic spreadsheet was also flexible; the planner could easily change the worksheet to match new operating constraints, new process conditions, and new feeds and products. Fortunately, within just a few months, this application graduated to a similar electronic spreadsheet program on a new, more powerful microcomputer. It had a bigger display screen and a letter-size printer. The same application is still in use today, although it has been greatly enhanced and altered to match extensive plant modifications. And there are plans to expand it again onto yet another, more powerful microcomputer.
- Research Organization:
- Chevron Research Co., Richmond, CA
- OSTI ID:
- 7077031
- Journal Information:
- Oil Gas J.; (United States), Vol. 82:4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
MICROPROCESSORS
PERFORMANCE
PETROLEUM REFINERIES
COMPUTER GRAPHICS
PLANNING
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS
PROCESS CONTROL
TECHNOLOGY UTILIZATION
COMPUTERS
CONTROL
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
MICROELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
020400* - Petroleum- Processing
990200 - Mathematics & Computers