Owner's Manual

The System Flow Optimizer like the System Flow Graph, runs as an
independent program from Sentinel. It can be opened from the Sentinel menu
or tool bar (Floptize), or started independently from the Windows start menu.
The flow optimizer begins by creating a flow graph of the current system
identical to, and by the same method as, the System Flow Graph. The flow
optimizer rearranges the Start Times of each program by a proprietary method
called Floptize (short for flow optimize) to achieve a new operating order in
which the maximum flow of the system is maintained for the shortest possible time. As seen in the picture below, the original
flow graph appears first. Then a graph of the optimized system appears on top of it. Finally, a control panel window is
displayed which enables you to adjust various parameters (see picture on page 33). When the optimizer is started, it initially
graphs and optimizes only programs scheduled to run today. This can be adjusted as seen on the next page.
With the Flow Optimizing Parameters control panel, you can pick
tomorrow or any day of the 42-day (six-week) schedule period to
optimize. You can also adjust the maximum flow of the system and
the start and end of the Water Window (both originally set for the
entire system in the System Maintenance screen).
IMPORTANT: Due to hardware limitations, only six programs or
stations per unit can run concurrently. When using the System
Flow Optimizer, do not use more than six programs in each unit.
The flow graph will display all 16 programs, but will not indicate that
all programs beyond the first six will not run.
The Step Interval is a time in minutes between the starts of the first
tier of programs in the optimized system. With zero Step Interval,
the first several programs (up to the maximum flow) would start at
the same instant. The Step Interval allows adjustment of the start
spacings up to five minutes apart. It only applies to the first
several programs, those that would otherwise start at exactly the
start of the Water Window.
Once you have made the desired adjustments on the control
panel, click the Floptize command to re-optimize the system with
the new settings. No matter how many times you adjust the
parameters and Floptize the system, the optimized Start Times
will not take effect (will not be saved in the Sentinel database)
until you click the APPLY button. Only when the APPLY button is
clicked does Sentinel save the new start times in the Sentinel
database.
The Floptize process will try to assign earlier Start Times to higher priority programs. There are eight priorities, 1 being the
highest and 8 the lowest. As stated in Chapter 5, to use the System Flow Optimizer, you must only assign one Start Time
to any one program. This is because the Start Time number determines the priority of the program.
Referring to the picture on page 9 in Chapter 5, note that each Start Time box is numbered with a priority number. If a Start
Time is entered in the box labeled 1, the program has the highest priority. Floptize will try to assign an earlier Start Time to
that program than to a program with a time entered in the box labeled 2 or any higher number (lower priority). Floptize will
also try to assign an earlier Start Time to a priority 2 program than to a priority 3 program, and so on. The crucial point is to
only enter one Start Time for each program and that the actual time you enter is not as important as the sequence of the box
in which you enter it.
If you find that your programs are too long to all run within the water window, you can pick Scale Run Times rather than
adjusting the water window. This will open a window with eight different sliders to adjust run times of eight different groups of
programs (grouped by priority). If you adjust the first slider down to 95%, the run time of each slot in every program with a
priority of 1 will be scaled down to 95% of its original value. For example, if you adjust the lowest priority slider (priority 8)
down to 60%, and a program had a start time entered in box 8 with a run time of 10 minutes, that run time would be
decreased to 6 minutes.
Priorities
Flow Optimizing Parameters
Chapter 15 : System Flow Optimizer
15 - 32
Toro Sentinel Central Software User’s Guide