modelHinesCoflow
Extends from Interfaces.Basics.GenericStock (Generic Stock to collect material or information), Icons.Stock (General Icon for stocks), Icons.FlowIndicators (Arrows indicating flow).
Information
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The HinesCoflow is a modification of the classical coflow structure used in system dynamics [6, pp. 50f.]. The traditional coflow is a model of a stock's average quality (e.g., age, weight, price, income etc.) changing, as new entities with different characteristics u flow in while older entities flow out—in which case we assume, that the outflowing entities have an average quality [3, pp. 497-511].
The HinesCoflow makes use of the fact, that the average quality of the entities in the stock is diluted by inflowing entities of different quality, i.e., the process is a smooth with a variable time constant. The benefit of this formulation is, that the average quality of the stock is directly modeled by a stock, so that processes that change the average (e.g., gaining experience over the time of residence for a stock of workers) can be directly modeled as in- or outflows to the HinesCoflow.
Notes
- The component makes use of the compact
StockInfoInputconnector to collect the required information from a connected stock. For this to properly work out, inflows and outflows should not be mixed at a singleStockPort(e.g., it is best practice to connect known inflows to theinflowand known outflows to theoutflowport). In case of a bi-directional flow, only one bi-flow should be connected to any singleStockPort—no additional flows should be present at that port (see notes for →AbsoluteSensor).
- Inflows and outflows changing the mean quality can be directly connected to the component (on either side; the markings for inflow and outflow are only suggestive).
- The optional
StockInfoOutput(y_stockInfo) can be used to pass the stock information received from a connected stock onward to additional coflow components—or sensors.
Acknowledgements
The Hines Coflow is explicitly named after its creator, James Hines. More information can be found on his website.
See also
Parameters
| Type | Name | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| OutputType | initialValue | 0 | Initial value for average characteristic |
| Advanced | |||
| InitializationOptions | init (from GenericStock) | InitializationOptions.FixedValue | Provide InitializationOptions (Free, FixedValue, SteadyState) |
| Structural Parameters | |||
| Boolean | hasStockInfoOutput (from GenericStock) | false | = true, if a StockInfoOutput should be added to the stock |
Connectors
| Type | Name | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| StockPort | inflow (from GenericStock) | Inflow port of the stock | |
| StockPort | outflow (from GenericStock) | Outflow port of the stock | |
| StockInfoOutput | y_stockInfo (from GenericStock) | Optional StockInfoOutput | |
| Interfaces.Connectors.StockInfoInput | u_stockInfo | Stock information input port | |
| Interfaces.Connectors.RealInput | u | Characteristic of new elements flowing into the stock of fundamental quality |
Components
| Type | Name | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| RealOutput | y (from ThreeSO) | Level or rate information | |
| RealOutput | y1 (from ThreeSO) | Level or rate information | |
| RealOutput | y2 (from ThreeSO) | Level or rate information |