Alph

Alph is a process calculator for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad based on the world class thermodynamic and physical properties calculations of VMGThermo, which is the Virtual Materials Group package that powers their comprehensive process simulator VMGSim.

Some important features include

• VMGs Advanced Peng-Robinson equation of state package
• two and three phase flash calculations
• two phase distillation with multiple feeds and draws
• hydrate temperature or pressure prediction with or without inhibitors
• a multivariable nonlinear equation solver.
• the ability to add custom hydrocarbon compounds
• light hydrocarbon compounds C1-C10, including iC4 and nC4 as well as H2O, N2, CO2 and H2S.

Additional compounds are available from the in application store as is VMGs enhancement of the Steam95 & Steam97 steam table property packages. The Alph Professional option increases the compound library to over 5600 entries and adds the NRTL chemical package. Please see the web site for details and prices.

Alph is not a traditional process simulator, but rather a sophisticated calculator that eschews the classic stream and unit operation model in favour of an information flow model that uses powerful, but simple, spreadsheet like formulas to define the relationships between fluids and powerful tools like distillation towers, phase envelopes and multivariable equation solvers. The web site has numerous tutorials and examples that illustrate its flexibility and power.

An instructional version called Alph Jr. is also available. It has all the capabilities of Alph, but only contains the compounds C1-C10 and does not have the store and cannot be extended with additional compounds or property packages. This is suitable for becoming familiar with Alphs capabilities and for instructional and learning purposes.

Properties Alph can Calculate

• Molar vapour fraction (phase fraction when viewing phases)
• Temperature
• Pressure
• Molar flow rate
• Specific molar enthalpy
• Specific molar entropy
• Energy flow
• Molecular weight
• Compressibility factor
• Specific molar volume
• Mass density
• Standard liquid density
• Viscosity
• Kinematic viscosity
• Thermal conductivity
• Surface tension
• Constant pressure specific molar heat capacity
• Constant volume specific molar heat capacity
• Exergy
• Gibbs free energy
• Lower heating value
• Higher heating value
• Mass flowrate
• Specific mass enthalpy
• Specific mass entropy
• Constant pressure specific mass heat capacity
• Constant volume specific mass heat capacity
• Correction to enthalpy to calculate heats of reaction
• Composition in mole fractions
• Composition in mass fractions
• Compound molecular weight