3D CAD for heat exchangers & boilers
Steinmüller Africa, South Africa’s steam generation and heat exchange expert, brings local custom-engineered industrial shell and tube heat exchangers to sub-Saharan Africa’s process industries. The company has now introduced three-dimensional (3D) modelling to the heat exchanger and boiler design process, which increases design accuracy while simultaneously reducing turnaround times and costs for its clients. Local heat exchangers offer reduced costs and faster turnaround
N ew state-of-the-art design software at Steinmüller Africa has replaced the traditional process of design- ing heat exchangers in logical steps, which sometimes results in part fit-up problems, impacting the design process and project execution. All heat exchangers from Stein- müller Africa are now designed purely as 3D models to begin with, which allows the vari- ous engineers to design and fit all required parts with minimal effort and to generate drawings along with the bill of materials; facilitating accurate pricing, even at the design stage. “Our 3D modelling makes it relatively easy for our proposals department to ob- tain effective pricing, and our manufactur- ing department to accurately manufacture the heat exchanger with the least quantity of materials possible,” explains Mohammed Khan, director at Steinmüller Africa. “This substantially simplifies the design process, allowing us to generate several different designs, time dependant, and identify the most cost-effective version while still at tendering phase.” A 3D model of an industrial shell and tube heat exchanger showing the transparent shell with welds highlighted. Steinmüller Africa brings local custom-engineered industrial shell and tube heat exchangers to sub-Saharan Africa’s process industries with 3D modelling for heat exchanger and boiler design processes.
Combining parametric modelling and intellectual property The 3D modelling is executed using para- metric modelling in AutoCAD Inventor software and is uniquely linked to Stein- müller Africa’s intellectual property. This allows Steinmüller Africa to determine the best solution based on a client’s spe- cific requirements. “For example,” Khan explains, “we can optimise materials and costs, be it for a new or an existing heat exchanger, taking aspects such as weight, size and cost into consideration at an early phase of development. This highly accurate modelling also puts us in a position to manufacture the solution, with cost-optimised materials of production, in a much faster turnaround time than previously possible. It also gives us the op- portunity to examine the client’s existing heat exchangers, discover their flaws, and ensure that those flaws are eliminated in any of our new designs.” The reduced manufacturing turnaround time is made possible because all teams – design, mechanical, procurement and manufacturing –have their input on the various design iterations before that phase is reached. “Essentially,
we offer a single customised, technically and commercially optimised solution to any client’s heat exchange challenges – and in a fast turnaround time,” says Khan. Digital twinning and process plants With this technology, Steinmüller Africa is now able to design and manufacture com- plex heat exchangers for process plants that require a mixed phase flow. “While the 3D technology used is not new in the industry, it has been predominantly used by overseas companies,” Khan notes. “We have trained ourselves to do the design and manufacturing locally, positioning us ahead of competitors that commission offshore companies for heat exchanger design or manufacture – or both.” The 3D model is, in essence, a digital twin of the real heat exchanger, which is used to calculate precisely what will oc- cur under various operating conditions. “Where a shortcoming is identified, we change the digital model, which allows us to accurately determine what will occur when those changes are implemented on an existing or new plant,” Khan explains. He adds that another benefit of this method
is the baseline modelling, which allows Steinmül- ler Africa to easily ascer- tain the reason for a
fault at any time in the future by modelling that fault, accurate- ly identifying it and correcting it on the digital twin. “We are now per-
fectly positioned to pro- vide comprehensive solu- tions for boilers and heat
exchangers across most industries, be they gas, fuel oil, coal, unfired boilers that use waste heat or heat exchangers within concentrating solar power plants,” Khan concludes. www.steinmuller.bilfinger.com
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November 2022
AFRICAN FUSION
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