CAPE-OPEN standards are the uniform standards for interfacing process modelling software components developed specifically for the design and operation of chemical processes. They are based on universally recognized software technologies such as COM and CORBA. CAPE-OPEN standards are open, multiplatform, uniform and available free of charge. They are described in a formal documentation set.
You may browse through the documentation sets of each version. You may also download a complete documentation set in a zipped file (1.1 documentation set – 16 MBytes). The most recent version of the documentation set is dated January 2020 and includes both the Custom Data interface specification and the Flowsheet Monitoring interface specification.
Version 1.1 is the most advanced version of the CAPE-OPEN standards. Version 1.1 of the standards is available in an impressive list of Process Modelling Environments and Process Modelling Components..
As of July 2019, version 1.1 differs from version 1.0 for the Thermodynamic and Physical Properties interface specification and for the Flowsheet Monitoring interface specification. Using version 1.1 is recommended for new developments since it brings a much greater flexibility than version 1.0. Also version 1.0 of the Thermodynamic and Physical Properties interface specification has been deprecated from CO-LaN starting from January 1, 2018.
For code developers and for installation package developers: the textual CAPE-OPEN interface specifications have been translated in Interface Definition Language (IDL) and furthermore transcribed in Type Libraries and Primary Interop Assemblies for which installers are provided by CO-LaN. More…