COCO is served as is

Because the COCO software is free of charge, it comes as is. No support is included. See the license page for further information.

AmsterCHEM however can provide support for COCO and its components. Please visit http://www.amsterchem.com/ for more information.

Feature requests

If you find COCO should have an additional feature to allow you to do better modelling of your process, or otherwise get more out of COCO, please send us a feature request.

Forum

For questions, please visit the CAPE-OPEN forum or the COCO forum.

Mailing list

Stay up to date! Subscribe to our mailing list if you would like to stay informed about new releases, major changes and events. You also can use this form to send us a message. Any comments or questions are welcome.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What makes COCO unique?
COCO is a steady state flowsheet simulation environment that is completely geared towards using CAPE-OPEN interfaces.

Why is COCO free?
COCO is developed with CAPE-OPEN development in mind. COCO is geared towards providing good feedback when testing interoperability. Nevertheless, COCO is also suitable for case studies of specific engineering problems.
COCO is free in order to provide people with the opportunity to do high-quality CAPE OPEN development and testing.

How do I add new compounds to TEA/CORN?
Compound definitions in TEA and CORN are using Pure Compound Data (PCD) files that are compatible with those of ChemSep. COCO comes with a data base of more than 150 compounds. Within a configuration of TEA you can individually edit these compounds. So if your compounds require modification from existing compounds, simply modify them as you use them is one way to go.
If you have a DIPPR license, we can provide you with a PCD file that contains all compounds from the DIPPR databank. Please contact us for more information.
Soon a tool will be available here to manipulate PCD files directly. This will allow you to modify existing compound definitions as well as create new ones.

How do I build a flowsheet from scratch?
Starting from a new, empty, COFE file, you will need to perform the following steps to get started:

define thermodynamics: enter the flowsheet configuration dialog, and add a thermodynamic property package. You can use any CAPE-OPEN v1.0 or v1.1 compatible property package; if you have installed COCO, you will at least have TEA installed. You can use an existing TEA property package or create your own TEA property package. After loading a property package into your simulation, compound and phase definitions will automatically be present. You can load multiple property packages in your simulation if you want to have access to different models in different parts of your flowsheet,
define material types: a material type in COFE defines what property package is used, and which compounds can be present. The default material type is always present, and when you add your first property package, you will be asked to associate this with the default material type,
insert and configure unit operation models: a flowsheet in general has multiple unit operations in there. You can mix unit operations from COUSCOUS, from ChemSep and from any third party model set, as long as the unit operations are CAPE-OPEN v1.0 compatible.
insert and hook up streams: you can now insert streams. To connect streams to ports of unit operations, simply use the mouse to drag the beginning of a stream onto a unit operations' edge. Depending on the unit operations graphical representation, connection points will be highlited. You can modify the graphical representation of a unit operation by clicking on the unit operation with the right mouse button and enter the Icon menu,
define inlet stream conditions: for each inlet stream to the flowsheet (streams that do not originate from the outlet of a unit operation), you will need to specify flow, pressure, temperature and composition. You can simply double click on a stream to enter data,
validate: if your model is ready to run, the run button is enabled. If not, you can obtain information of what part of the flowsheet is incompletely specified by pressing the Validate button.

How to I add user defined unit operations?
All CAPE-OPEN compatible unit operations can be used inside COFE. Since CAPE-OPEN is an OPEN standard, this means that you can simply write your own models. To do this, some knowledge on COM programming is required, or one can use a data programming language such as Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0, that is completely designed around COM.
Newer programming environments can also be used. For example, when programming for .NET, the runtime callable wrappers can be used to expose your models as COM objects.
The interface specifations can be downloaded from the CAPE-OPEN Laboratories Network web site; they are by default also installed on your system as part of COCO.
To get started writing your own unit operations, you should start by picking a programming environment that you are comfortable with, and that allows you to expose COM objects. Here are a couple of options for starting points:

If you are using Visual Basic 6.0, make sure you have the CAPE-OPEN type libraries installed (available from CO-LaN or by using the COCO installer). Start a new project, type ActiveX DLL. By default your project will have one class. Save the project and the class using appropriate names (for example VB6unit.vbp and UnitOperation.cls). Add a reference to the CAPE-OPEN type libraries (Project, References, CAPE-OPEN 1.1 type library). Compile your class. Copy the resulting DLL to a reference location. Set the project compatibility mode to Binary Compatibility (Component tab of project properties), and point to the reference DLL. This insures that the CLSID between compilations will remain constant.
In the top of the unit operation class, type "Implements ICapeUnit", "Implements ICapeUtilities", "Implements ICapeIdentification", "Implements ECapeUser", "Implements ECapeRoot", "Implements ECapeUnknown". All of the functions of these interfaces will require implementation. The body of the function will be generated for you if you select the interface name from the left combo-box and the function name from the right combo-box.
A unit operation requires two collections, one for ports and one for parameters. Add a class for each of these two collections, and implement ICapeIdentification, ECapeUser, ECapeRoot, ECapeUnknown and ICapeCollection.
Add a class to represent ports, and implement ICapeIdentification, ECapeUser, ECapeRoot, ECapeUnknown and ICapeUnitPort. If you want parameters in your unit operation, add a class to represent parameters. Implement ICapeIdentification, ECapeUser, ECapeRoot, ECapeUnknown and ICapeParameter, and ICapeParameterSpec. Depending on the type of parameter, you may also need to implement ICapeRealParameterSpec, ICapeBooleanParameterSpec, ICapeArrayParameterSpec, ICapeIntegerParameterSpec and / or ICapeOptionParameterSpec.
To implement persistence, set the unit operation class to persistable. Add the member routines Class_ReadProperties and Class_WriteProperties.
Finally, you need to add information to the registry for other applications to find your CAPE-OPEN unit operation. This requires you to know the CLSID of your unit operation object (which you can find using RegEdit.exe) and write a .reg file that adds the appropriate entries for category IDs and the CapeDescription key.
Sample code implementing all of the above (without parameters) can be downloaded from here.
If you use Borland Delphi, you could start with the Delphi CAPE-OPEN wizard.
If you are using .NET based programming languages, you can use class libraries that will provide .NET to COM wrapping for you. One such a class library is written by William Barrett (EPA, US), and is available from here (and is optionally installed by the COCO installer); the installer includes the libraries, documentation and an example.
Alternatively, you could use the MOSE CAPE-OPEN unit operation wizard for .NET. This package contains base classes, a readme.txt describing how to generate a unit operation, and examples. See here for details.
For CO-LaN members, Visual C++ 6.0 and Fortran 90 wizards are available from here.
For any other programming environment that allows you to build COM objects, you need to perform the following steps:
- Create a project,
- Create a class that will represent the unit operation. This is the only class that external applications will need to create, and thus needs to be registered as a COM object,
- All CAPE-OPEN objects are required to implement ICapeIdentication and the CAPE-OPEN error interfaces,
- The unit operation class needs to implement ICapeUnit. It is adviced to also implement ICapeUtilities. Optionally you can implement ICapeUnitReport,
- You need to create additional COM classes for the parameter collection and the port collection. These classes need to implement ICapeCollection (one of these collections could be the unit operation class itself, but the unit operation cannot expose two ICapeCollection interfaces, so you will need to implement at least one additional class),
- You will need to create one or more COM classes that function as ports. Ports need to expose ICapeUnitPort,
- If you want to add parameters to your unit operation, you will need to implement one or more classes exposing ICapeParameter. A parameter exposes a parameter specification, which may or may not be a separate class. This class should implement ICapeParameterSpec, and depending on the parameter type also any of the following: ICapeRealParameterSpec, ICapeIntegerParameterSpec, ICapeBooleanParameterSpec, ICapeOptionParameterSpec, ICapeArrayParameterSpec,
- If your unit operation needs to save and load its state, it needs to implement either an IPersistStream or an IPersistStreamInit interface,
- The unit operation class needs to be registered as a COM object. Additionally, the CapeDescription sub-key of the CLSID key needs to be present, with its values (see the VB6Unit example or check your registry for any implemented CAPE-OPEN unit operation or see the Methods and Tools document from the CO-LaN web site). Additionally, the registration for the unit operation needs to include the CAPE-OPEN Object category ID, and the CAPE-OPEN Unit Operation category ID.

How do I add user defined thermo models?
All CAPE-OPEN compatible unit thermodynamic packages can be used inside COFE. Since CAPE-OPEN is an OPEN standard, this means that you can simply write your own models. To do this, some knowledge on COM programming is required, or one can use a data programming language such as Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0, that is completely designed around COM.
The interface specifations can be downloaded from the CAPE-OPEN Laboratories Network web site; they are by default also installed on your system as part of COCO.
It is strongly advised that any new CAPE-OPEN thermodynamic components implement at least version 1.1 of the CAPE-OPEN thermodynamic standard. Many of the knowlegde required to program a CAPE-OPEN unit operation (see above) also applies to programming thermodynamic components. It is therefore recommended to first start of by building a simple CAPE-OPEN unit operation, as this is generally an easier task and will allow you to get acquainted with the CAPE-OPEN concepts. See above for starting points on how to build CAPE-OPEN unit operations.
A Visual C++ / ATL based version 1.1 stand-alone Property Package "Water" for calculation of properties of water and steam, is available in the COCO distribution. The source code is available from here.

Can I use ChemSep / COUSCOUS / TEA in other simulation environments?
Yes. As long as these environments provide CAPE-OPEN compatibility.

Running COCO under WINE
Since version 1.13, the installer has been adjusted to proceed succesfully under wine. A common installation issue under wine is that the temp sub-folder of the installation folder still contains setup files. If this is the case, please remove this folder manually.
Known issues under wine:

TERNYP may not display graphics (depending on wine and OS version)
images in the CHM help file may or may not display. There are several CHM viewers available. The online version of the help is an alternative
inserting text objects in flowsheets is somewhat problematic; text objects may not be rendered properly
the solve button on the toolbar does not display properly
the header rows in the stream dialog do not display properly (wrong text background)
auto scaling of text columns in list views does not work properly

How do I become a contributor?
COCO is free of charge, but it not an open-source project. Contributions can be made in the form of stand-alone components, in the form of flowsheet benchmark and testing documents, in the form of online discussions, etc
If you define your own models (thermo dynamics, unit operations, numeric solvers, ...) and you want these to be shipped with COCO, or you feel that in any other way you can contribute to the COCO simulation environment, please contact us.