The Hour of Day Multiplier allows you to specify a table of factors (based on the time of day) that will be applied to the desired release returned from the release function.

Use the Hour of Day Multipliers to represent an operating constraint that requires a minimum (or maximum) flow during only a portion of the day.

For example, to specify a rule that would only apply from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. In addition, the midday hours need twice as much flow than the early morning and late afternoon hours. To reflect these requirements, set the multipliers to:

1—for 0800, 0900, 1500, and 1600
2—for 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400
0—for all other hours

"Figure: Example Hour of Day Multipliers" illustrates these settings in the Hour of Day Multiplier editor.

Figure: Example Hour of Day Multiplier

To define a set of Hour of Day Multipliers:

  • Click the Edit… button to the right of the Hour of Day Multiplier label.
  • The Hour of Day Multiplier editor will open. Specify the attributes needed to define the Hour of Day Multipliers:

Time Interval—At the top of the editor is a selector for the Time Interval. "Figure: Hour of Day Multiplier Editor - Time Interval Options" shows the Hour of Day Multiplier editor with the Time Interval selector open to display its list of options.

Figure: Hour of Day Multiplier Editor - Time Interval Options

Multipliers—The rest of the editor is a table for you to specify the multipliers for each interval of the day. A multiplier of 1.0 has no impact on the value of the desired release so the table will initially be filled with 1.0.

  • Click OK to save your settings and close the Hour of Day Multiplier editor.

Back in the rule editor, if the table of multipliers you just saved has any cell whose value is not 1.0, the check box in front of the Hour of Day Multiplier label will display a check mark indicating that the Hour of Day Multipliers are active: