BreakLink Node

General Description

The BreakLink node can be used to reduce the number of routes in a model.

For instance, in a model with form (3, 1, 3), i.e. 3 (A, B, C) inputs connected to 3 outputs (D, E, F) via a bottleneck (X), there are 3*3 routes = 9 routes.

A -->\ /--> D
B --> X --> E
C -->/ \--> F

If X is a storage, there are only 6 routes: A->X_o, B->X_o, C->X_o and X_i->D_o, X_i->E_o, X_i->F_o.

The BreakLink node is a compound node composed of a Storage with zero volume and a Link. It can be used in place of a normal Link, but with the benefit that it reduces the number of routes in the model (in the situation described above). The resulting LP is easier to solve. API Reference.

Primary Attributes

Name	Description	Required
allocation penalty	The cost per unit flow via the node	Optional
conversion_factor	The conversion between inflow and outflow for the node	Optional
max_flow	The maximum flow constraint on the node	Optional
min_flow	The minimum flow constraint on the node	Optional
prev_flow	Total flow via this node in the previous timestep	Optional

Examples