SAME: Apr 2010

THE SOUTH AFRICAN MECHANICAL ENGINEER VOL 60 April 2010

AN ENGINEER’S VIEW
Leave it to the
Profession
My own observation over many years has identified that the availability of
on-the-job mentorship and coaching has deteriorated steadily from the years in
which I experienced that process, which ironically at the time, was even less
“structured” than it is now. It was a given that the older Engineers spent time and
effort developing CEs (Candidate Engineers) as a sort of entrenched mechanism.
This was not always carried out in a dedicated and endearing manner; tough on-
Chris Reay the-job supervision and directives were the order of the day, and it usually was
Chairman of the Working provided by highly experienced Engineers or even Artisans. On the job direction
Committee: Communications just seemed the normal thing to do. It seems capacity existed in the organizations
(SA Institution of Mechanical
Engineering) to provide this.
O
ne indicator of an inefficient learning agreement. Why then do we need the CHE in the
process is the cumulative pass rate circuit? They add no skills or technical expertise to
of GCC Engineers at the twice yearly the programmes. They are a typical intermediary
examinations for both the Factories that adds no value.
and Mines and Works certificates, which is less
Why complicate the process? Let the profession
than 9% for the past 6 years. The certification for
manage matters at NQF 7 upwards. Unit standards
this is likely to change from the examination to an
do not apply to this level of engineering training. The
outcomes based assessment process per the draft
NSF needs to accept this as a fundable route.
ECSA position paper now being reviewed. But
of significance is that this process will require a Mass action
regular, interim mentoring and assessment of the I have a proposal. Assign all such engineering
CEs progress over a three year period in such a training responsibility to the profession to man-
way that the evidence can be properly moderated age and provide directly, and thus bypass the
by the ECSA registration committees, and it must “standard” DOE/CHE processes that can remain
align with the prescribed SAQA qualification, which for the lower NQF levels. After all, if the profes-
was in any event, formulated by ECSA. sion designs the programmes, peer reviews them,
accredits them and delivers them via the existing
Tough on-the-job supervision and directives were the structures which work well and maintain standards,
order of the day then all that is required is for ECSA to establish
the necessary governance vehicle to act between
Minefield of compliance the NSF and the programme provider for final QA
Well, herein lies the rub. Anyone who has decided evaluation and payment of courses. The VAs have
to pursue a role as a programme provider for engi- an enormous collective intellectual capital that can
neering training to any SAQA listed qualifications be exploited for designing, mentorship, coaching
at NQF 7 and above will find out what a minefield and moderating.
of compliance needs to be met. This presupposes
The SAIMechE is currently exploring the options
that the programme provider wishes to be able to
for establishing CE training with industry. I believe
service clients who can utilise the National Skills
that the intermediary role imposed by the DOE and
Fund to which they contribute via the skills Levy.
the CHE needs to be removed from the equation.
Well, you cannot unless there is a SAQA registered
We need the NSF to help fund the essential deliv-
qualification, you are a registered provider with
ery components or the current malaise will either
the Council on Higher Education (CHE) and then
continue or deteriorate further. Course providers
deliver the programme via a registered institution,
and mentors need to be paid.
also approved by the CHE, and the relevant SETA
recognises the course. How about industry and the VAs starting a mass
action campaign to get this implemented?
A complication, which is obviously necessary to
achieve any competent review, is that any reviews,
approvals, assessments and accreditation functions
for such programmes are to be provided to the CHE
by ECSA and the resources from the Voluntary En-
gineering Associations (VAs) via a memorandum of

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April 2010 VOLUME 60 NUMBER 3
Featured on the Cover Contents

AST
Tel: (011) 949-1157 Cover Story Heating & Cooling
Email: grant@astafrica.com 9 Protecting Intellectual Property & 37 Process Cooling Reaches Even
IT Systems Lower Temperatures
39 Special Heater for Class 40 Locos
Monthly Column
11 Cruising the Breeze Regulars
Computers in Engineering 3 An Engineer’s View
16 Affordable High-performance 6 Institution News
Computing 19 Incose
30 Shaping the Future 20 SAIT
Copyright 26 Nuclear Institute (SA Branch)
All rights reserved. No editorial
matter published in “SA Mechani- POWER GENERATION TODAY 40 Market Forum
cal Engineer” may be reproduced 21 Concentrated Solar Power 46 On the Move
in any form or language without 27 Power Generation News
written permission of the publish-
ers. While every effort is made to Pipes, Pumps & Valves
ensure accurate reproduction, the 33 Rebuilding South Africa
editor, authors, publishers and 35 A Case for the Valve Industry
their employees or agents shall
not be responsible or in any way
liable for any errors, omissions or
inaccuracies in the publication,
whether arising from negligence or
otherwise or for any consequences
arising therefrom. The inclusion
or exclusion of any product does
not mean that the publisher or
editorial board advocates or rejects
its use either generally or in any
The monthly circulation is 4 242
particular field or fields.
Produced by:
Official Publication of
PROMECH PUBLISHING, THE SA INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
P O Box 373, Pinegowrie, 2123 and endorsed by:
Republic of South Africa
Tel: (011) 781-1401, Fax: (011) 781-1403  CORROSION INSTITUTE OF SA
Email: editorial@promech.co.za  SA PUMP MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION
Website: www.promech.co.za  SA VALVE AND ACTUATORS MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION
Managing Editor Susan Custers  THE SA INSTITUTE OF TRIBOLOGY
Editor Kowie Hamman  NUCLEAR INSTITUTE
Advertising Pauline Bouwer  SA INSTITUTE FOR NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
Circulation Catherine Macdiva
 NATIONAL SOCIETY OF BLACK ENGINEERS
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 SOUTH AFRICAN ASSOCIATION OF CONSULTING ENGINEERS
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THE SA INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
SAIMechE R&D Journal

Goes
Council 2009/2010
Office Bearers
Online
President .................................................. G Barbic (George)
President Elect ............................................. D Findeis (Dirk)
National Treasurer ................................. K Nyangoni (Kudzai)
Branch Chairpersons
Central ...................................................... M Cramer (Mike)
Eastern Cape ............................. Prof Dr DG Hattingh (Danie) In line with international trends to increase
KwaZulu/Natal ........................................... AG Fileczki (Alex) the visibility and accessibility of
Western Cape ......................... Prof B Collier-Reed (Brandon)
mechanical engineering research, the
Portfolios: Research and Development (R&D) Journal is
Communications .............................................. CD Reay (Chris) now available on the SAIMechE website as
Education - Universities................... Prof JL van Niekerk (Wikus) an open-access internet edition in PDF for-
Education: Universities of Technology............... E Zawilska (Ewa) mat. These are available for public
Membership .................................................... E Zawilska (Ewa) viewing and free download. Notification of
Seminars and Workshops.................................. D Findeis (Dirk) new editions will be published in “TORQUE”
Technology Programme ................................. SZ Hrabar (Steve)
as well as in “The SA Mechanical Engineer”
and on our homepage.
Chief Executive Officer: Vaughan Rimbault
T
National Office Manager: Anisa Nanabhay he decision to
PO Box 511, Bruma, 2026 publish the
Tel: (011) 615-5660, Fax: (011) 388-5356 R&D Journal
Email: info@saimeche.org.za electronical-
R&DJ
Website: www.saimeche.org.za
Membership: Central, Eastern Cape & KZN:
ly is aimed at broad- ournal
ening the exposure
membership@saimeche.org.za of South African
Membership: Western Cape: saimeche.wc@vodamail.co.za mechanical engi-
neering research.
It is envisaged
Company Affiliates that free access
Ainsworth Engineering Rotek Engineering to the journal will
Alstom Power Service SA
increase reader-
RSD a division of DCD-Dorbyl
ship, both lo-
Babcock Africa Limited S.A.M.E Water cally and inter-
Bateman Engineered Technologies Sasol Technologies nationally. You A Publi
cation
of the So
can search uth Afric
Volume
24, Numb
an Institu
tion of
Mechan
Bosch Projects SEW Eurodrive through all ISSN 02
er 3, No
vember
2008
ical En
gineerin
g
57-9669
Fluor SA Siemens papers from

2004 on-
R & D Jou
rnal, 200
8, 24 (3)
of the South
GEA Air-cooled Systems SNC-Lavalin SA

African
Institution
wards. Papers from 1985

of Mecha
nical Eng
ineering
1
Hansen Transmissions SA Spicer Axle SA to 2003 will be available online soon. Visit
the SAIMechE website at www.saimeche.org.za to
Hatch Africa Spirax Sarco SA
view the R&D Journal pages.
Howden Power Thyssenkrupp Engineering
If you wish to receive printed copies of any of the
Howden Projects Transvaal Pressed Nuts & Bolts papers, or a CD containing all the papers published
to date, you may do so by contacting our National
Industrial Water Cooling Ultra-Flow Engineering Services
office. The fee for either will be determined on the
KHD Humboldt Wedag SA Vital Engineering number of papers required, postage costs etc.
Megchem Eng & Drafting Services Weir Minerals Africa We do hope that you will continue to read and
enjoy the Institution’s publications in the way that
Osborn Engineered Products SA Winder Controls
suits you best.

THE SA INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Notice of AGM
119th NATIONAL AGM Central Branch AGM
Date: 28 July 2010 Date: Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Time: 18h00 Time: 18h00
Venue: Engineering Council of South Africa Venue: Engineering Council of South Africa
Bruma, Johannesburg Bruma, Johannesburg
* Details of key note speaker and dinner to be advised.
Email: info@saimeche.org.za. Email: central@saimeche.org.za.
Western Cape Branch AGM KZN Branch AGM

Date: Tuesday, 8 June 2010 Date: Monday, 31 May 2010
Time: 18h00 Time: 18h00
Venue: TBA Venue: Blue Waters Hotel, Marine Parade, Durban
Email: saimeche.wc@vodamail.co.za. Email: ceo@saimeche.org.za.
* AGM will be combined with a branch dinner. Details of presentation * Details of technical presentation and dinner to be advised.
and dinner to be advised.
Technology Olympiad AGM Eastern Cape Branch AGM

Date: Tuesday, 25 June 2010
Time: 17h00 – 18h00
Venue: Engineering Council of South Africa * Details of AGM including date, venue and key note speaker to be
Bruma, Johannesburg advised shortly, or contact the National office.
The Technology Olympiad AGM precedes the Central Branch

AGM.
Email: gillian@saimeche.org.za.
Invitations with full details of the above AGMs will be distributed to members shortly, including presentations and guest speakers,
where applicable. Please contact the relevant office directly for more information. Alternatively contact the National office. Snacks
and refreshments will be served.
Training Events Calendar - 2010

Whilst every effort is made to ensure that events take place as scheduled, SAIMechE reserves the right to change the
sechedule as circumstances dictate. A registration form and full terms and conditions may be obtained from Carey Evans
on email: carey@saimeche.org.za or Tel. (031) 764-7136. Detailed individual event programmes are available from Carey.
Corporations wishing to book In-House Workshops may contact Linda Robinson on email: linda@saimeche.org.za or
Tel: (031) 764-7136.
Event Full Title Date Region
Code
D3610 Project Management - A Review of Essentials 05-May-10 Vereeniging
A0410 Steam Trapping; Condensate Removal; Condensate Recovery 05-May-10 Durban
D4710 Capital Budgeting for Projects 06-May-10 Vereeniging
E2710 Philosopy of Mechanical Maintenance 12-May-10 East Rand
A2910 Practical Lubrication and Lubricants 13-May-10 Durban
D1310 Structured Problem Solving Techniques 19-May-10 Vereeniging
C3410 Aluminium - A Complete Overview for Engineers Including Design with Aluminium 26-May-10 Cape Town
F2910 Practical Lubrication and Lubricants 26-May-10 Rivonia
C3510 Plastics - A Complete Overview for Engineers Including Design with Plastics 27-May-10 Cape Town
Call for workshop developers

In addition to its current activities, SAIMechE is enthu- engineering or a topic that would benefit other engineers
siastic to introduce new, interactive workshops to its
• A desire to teach others
existing training programme and is looking for engineers
who are eager to develop them. If you wish to partici- Benefits to workshop developer
pate as a workshop developer and facilitator, and if you • Remuneration
think you meet the below requirements, please kindly • Opportunity to fine-tune teaching abilities and public speaking
contact National Events Manager, Linda Robinson on technique by using tried and tested guidelines developed and
Tel: (031) 764-7136, Email: linda@saimeche.org.za. provided by SAIMechE
She will guide you through the steps required and she
will supply you with the building blocks for successful • Become a role model in the engineering community
workshop presentations. They will help you to effectively • Opportunity to network at events with other professionals
define and collate your presentation material.
• Opportunity to represent SAIMechE at an advanced level
Requirements of a workshop developer • Opportunity to brainstorm further opportunities that will
• Membership of SAIMechE enhance SAIMechE and benefit its Members and the engi-
• Expertise/competence in a field of mechanical neering profession.

COVER STORY
Protecting Intellectual
Property & IT Systems
A ‘nineteen-inch-rack’ is a standardised frame or enclosure for speaks to Grant Wilkinson about the system. “Using
mounting multiple electronic equipment modules. Each mod- an IT-suited fire detection approach, we designed a
ule has a front panel that is 19 inches, or 482.6 mm, wide dedicated system around our proven Pyrogen aerosol
including the edges or ‘ears’ that protrude on each side allow- canister fire extinguishing technology,” he says.
ing the module to be fastened to the rack frame with screws. “The PyroRack unit, with all indicators and test
buttons mounted on the front panel, looks like just
another electronic module fitted into the top rack
of the server rack. We decided to adopt a plug ‘n
play concept to make it easy to use the PyroRack
– Insert it, fix it and start it up.”
100% green
The PyroRack concept was developed a while back,
but sales have taken off lately as companies become
more aware of the need to protect their information
systems. “They’ve also become aware of the need
for a protection system that does not harm the
environment when it is activated,” says Grant.
“Pyrogen has been certified as having zero ozone
depleting potential as well as zero global warming
potential. It is officially listed by the US environmental
protection authority under its Halon replacement
Designer of the PyroRack, Casper Rooseboom (left) with Grant Wilkinson as a significant new alternative.”
T
he 19-inch rack concept is often used to Special
house professional audio and video equip- “Of specific interest to IT people is the fact that our
ment, including amplifiers, effects units, system does not leave any residue whatsoever on
interfaces, headphone amplifiers and even the precious electronics of their equipment,” adds
small-scale audio mixers. These racks are also widely Grant. “Unlike some halon alternatives, Pyrogen
used for computer server equipment, allowing for produces no aggressive acid such as hydrogen fluo-
dense hardware configurations without occupying ride upon contact with hot surfaces. It produces no
excessive floor space or requiring shelving. chlorine or bromide and it does not deplete oxygen
to extinguish the fire. Above all, the canister cannot
Server cabinets usually contain the backbone of every leak as it is a self-contained, zero pressure unit that
company and should therefore be specially protected does not deteriorate, even after ten years.”
against fire The rack module is virtually fail-proof as it is
equipped with three layers of protection:
Server racks • An early warning coincidence smoke detec-
In the computer industry they’re called server racks tion system
and vary in size according to the size of a company’s • Thermal cord activation upon fire
IT requirements. Sometimes it is just a small one- • Self activation at a prescribed temperature.
cubic metre cabinet stored out of the way in a back “It is equipped with smoke and gas combustion
office somewhere, but it could also be multiple detectors on two zones,” says Grant. “Each zone
three-cubic metre cabinets housing a large server is monitored for fault, and should a fault condition
capability. Either way, these server cabinets usually occur, the PyroRack will signal as such. By using
contain the backbone of every company and should two fire detection zones, they serve together to
therefore be specially protected against fire. confirm a fire. Should one detection zone detect
A 19-inch-rack fire protection module, developed a fire, the PyroRack will signal an alarm and then
by Alien System & Technologies (AST), is a fire wait for confirmation from the other detection zone
protection unit specifically developed for server rack before triggering the extinguishing system. This
mounting and comes in four models for the differ- eliminates false activations of the extinguishing
ent cabinet capacities. “SA Mechanical Engineer” system. If all this fails, there is still the standard

COVER STORY
forces it downwards to the server modules fitted

into the rack.”
Features
The cooling fan of the PyroRack enhances smoke
detection as it draws air into the unit over the detec-
tors. “The unit is equipped with back-up batteries
that take over as soon as the system detects any
variations in the power supply,” explains Grant. “This
is all part of the self-diagnosis feature of the unit
that constantly checks for faults in itself, literally
making the unit maintenance free.
“The unit also has connections that allow for it to
The outlet forces interface with a centralised monitoring or security
the fire extinguish- system. Hence it is possible from this interface
ing aerosol down that an SMS can be sent to responsible persons
into the rack that something is wrong, or indeed notify someone
via LAN/WAN.”
thermal cord fitted to all our Pyrogen extinguishing
canisters that will activate the unit when a flame
burns the cord.
A long holding time helps to prevent fire re-ignition
In addition the Pyrogen fire extinguishing module

will trigger when the temperature rises above 500ºC.
The fire extinguishing aerosol is discharged through
a special exhaust chute at the back of the unit that
The dual detecting system
How it works?
The principle of the Pyrogen extinguishing system is
unique and has proven itself in many installations
all over the globe. A special solid chemical, when
electrically or thermally ignited, produces combustion
products consisting of micron sized dry chemical
particles and gases. Dry chemical particles and
the gaseous mixture combine together to create
a uniform fire extinguishing aerosol. Before being
released into a protected area, the aerosol propels
itself through a unique solid chemical coolant, which
decomposes and absorbs nearly all heat, thereby
ensuring a flameless and cool discharge and a
uniform distribution of the cool aerosol within the
area. Homogeneous distribution is achieved in a
matter of seconds, while a long holding time helps
to prevent fire re-ignition.
“The PyroRack is a must, not only for large server
racks, but even for the small single cabinet server
rack used in a smaller business,” Grant says in
conclusion. “It is an insurance against your business
coming to a complete halt. Most rack manufacturers
and server providers already use it as a standard
fitting, but it won’t be long before insurance com-
panies insist on having such a protection system
on all server cabinets.”
Grant Wilkinson, AST, Tel: (011) 949 1157 Email: grant@
astafrica.com
10 THE SOUTH AFRICAN MECHANICAL ENGINEER VOL 60 April 2010

MONTHLY COLUMN
Cruising
the Breeze
Houseboats are relatively common in
countries around the world where rivers,
lakes and waterways link cities and towns,
providing a means for tourists to cruise
through the country. Although originally
developed from a boat that was modified
to serve as a human dwelling, houseboats
in all shapes and sizes are today primarily
used as leisure craft. Smaller houseboats
can accommodate up to four people, while Lauren and David Gardner of Old Willow No. 7 Houseboat Charters
larger boats have room for several people
enjoying three bedrooms, a living room,
kitchen and lots of deck space to laze
about on.
Houseboats
“SA Mechanical Engineer ”
searched for houseboats in
South Africa and found just a
handful of operators at some
of the main tourist attractions
around the country. One of them
is Old Willow No. 7 Houseboat
Charters on the Vaal River near
Sasolburg where we speak
to owners David and Lauren
Gardner. “We run a houseboat
charter business on a similar
basis as sister operations under
Lightleys Holidays Houseboats The stern, where South Africans braai
in Knysna, Port Alfred and designs for safe and stable craft,” explains David.
Swaziland,” says Lauren. “The Knysna Leisure Liner was conceived for easy
cruising and built with hand-crafted skill to provide
Designed specifically for the rough handling that is part comfortable headroom with superior quality finishes
and parcel of hiring a boat out to inexperienced skippers and marine standard specifications.
“The boat combines comfort and easy boating to
“The eight boats we have were designed by naval make you the captain of your own holiday. Cruis-
architect Angelo Lavranos and built by Knysna ing in calm waters is the obvious attraction while
Leisure Craft in Knysna.” the boat’s hassle-free features mean that you can
We arrived at Old Willow on a Friday to find workers enjoy the open waters without the fuss of sails,
in a frenzy of activity, cleaning and preparing the lines or rigging.”
houseboats for guests that start arriving mid-morning
Power
to take the boats out for a weekend on the Vaal.
The houseboat is powered by a 40 horsepower
Design outboard motor, enough to take you anywhere along
Being charter boats, they are designed specifically the 55 kilometres of river available for sailing on
for the rough handling that is part and parcel of the Vaal, but not too much to get up to mischief in
hiring a boat out to inexperienced skippers. “Angelo terms of speeding or making waves by powerboat
Lavranos is renowned worldwide for his master cowboying on the water. “As of March 2009, the
THE SOUTH AFRICAN MECHANICAL ENGINEER VOL 60 April 2010 11

MONTHLY COLUMN
Off into the sunset oin the Vaal River
South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) Close to nature

has instituted new boating regulations that require These houseboats are also for sale to those who
that anyone piloting a boat with an engine of 15 have the means to cruise more often than the odd
horsepower or more has a Skipper’s Ticket or Cer- weekend, but then you have a wider choice of
tificate of Competency (CoC),” says Lauren. luxury finishing and fittings to suit your lifestyle
“We, together with Lightleys Holiday Houseboats, on the water. Because of its shallow, 35 cm draft,
have been accredited by SAMSA to train and is- the Knysna Leisure Liner enters shallow channels
sue each skipper with a Temporary Certificate of with ease, making it perfect for birding or view-
Competence that will be valid for the duration of ing wildlife on the water’s edge. Its economical
the holiday, be it a week or just the weekend.” cruising speed of 6.5 knots means that it creates
a limited wake, making it an eco-friendly option
The boat’s hassle-free features mean that you can enjoy in boat ownership.
the open waters without the fuss of sails, lines or rigging The boat is a wide beam design, providing stability
to the boat’s buoyant GRP (glass reinforced plastic)
The deck construction. Says David, “It’s a family boat and
The rooftop deck gives passengers a whole new user-friendly boat for calm-water cruising. “What’s
perspective. It’s perfect for watching the world go more, it’s moveable, so if you get tired of your sur-
by or for tanning under a hot summer sun while roundings, the boat can be lifted onto a road trailer
the generous, open cockpit allows for a full view and transported with relative ease.”
of the whole boat and its surrounds. This is also
where people braai. “Being in South Africa, that’s Rugby
one of the first modifications we had to make,” The only convenience you won’t find on these
says David with a chuckle. houseboats is a television set, purely because it
is too expensive to fit a signal tracking device to
“Imagine a weekend out without a braai for a South ensure good reception while cruising around. So
African? We supply a small Weber braai that fits fishermen stop off at one of the many venues on
perfectly on a platform at the back at hip height the routeto cheer the boys.
for comfort. However, we do warn people not to
Lauren Gardner, Tel: (016) 973-1729, Email: info@oldwil-
do this while cruising. We also had to put a braai
low.co.za, Website: www.houseboats.co.za
on the boat to stop people from rigging a braai on
someone’s private property just because it’s on
the riverbank.”

Teleconferencing Trends
Teleconferencing has now become an essential tool for fast growing and changing business around the world.
Teleconferencing does not replace the essential face-to-face meetings, it supplements those meetings and
keeps the communications channels open between those meetings.
A
n example is provided by a major bank in This major bank continues to conduct virtual
South Africa that holds weekly meetings meetings on a weekly basis to ensure that a com-
with the branch offices around South munity is formed between its branches and that
Africa to discuss progress, to disseminate each branch is involved and engaged, irrespective
new policies, to collect of whether they are located in the capital or in a
feedback from each remote location.
office, and to have
each branch share its Teleconferencing has revolutionised the way busi-
experiences with the ness is conducted, just like e-mail and mobile
other branches - tele- phones have done in the past few years. Every
conferencing provides organisation’s success is directly related to its abil-
the necessary multidi- ity to exchange information quickly and effectively.
rectional flow of infor- “I encourage each organisation to learn about the
mation. A big success new teleconferencing tools and how to benefit from
for one local branch them – today they are available to everyone,” says
can be shared with Ari Meyerthal, Managing Director of Chorus Call
the other branches so South Africa.
everyone in the group ChorusCall, Tel: (011) 305-2000, Email audioafrica@
can benefit from it. choruscall.com

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complex flows ranging from incompressible performance of this dynamic simultation software, enabling you to achieve
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with HPC platforms of the past.
(transonic) to highly compressible
(supersonic and hypersonic) flows. Providing
multiple choices of solver options, FLUENT
delivers optimum solution efficiency and
accuracy for a wide range of engineering
problem solving.
The wealth of physical models in FLUENT

allows you to accurately predict laminar
and turbulent flows, various modes of heat
transfer, chemical reactions, multiphase
flows, and other phenomena.
WINDOWS HPC SERVER

Windows HPC Server 2008 brings the
value of an integrated HPC solution and a
productive development environment to
customers for whom HPC has been out of
reach in the past. Windows HPC Server 2008
enables organizations to:
tImprove productivity of systems
administration and cluster
interoperability by dramatically
BENEFITS
simplifying the overall deployment,
administration, and management Together, ANSYS and Windows HPC Server 2008 offer many
benefits to organizations:
over the entire system lifetime, while
ensuring interoperability with existing tThroughput for more simultaneous simulations
systems infrastructure. tFaster turn-around time
tEase of deployment
tRapidly develop HPC applications tIncreased return on investment (ROI) on simulation
using Visual Studio ® 2008, which
provides a comprehensive parallel
programming environment. In
QFINSOFT (PTY)Ltd
addition to supporting standard Qfinsoft (PTY)Ltd remains the preferred partner for computer aided
interfaces such as OpenMP, Message engineering products. Their experienced team of post-graduate
Passing Interface (MPI) and Web engineers are responsible for all technical support, training, implementa-
services, Window HPC Server 2008 also tion and sales of ANSYS and related High performance computing
supports third-party numerical library software.
providers, performance optimizers,
compilers, and debugging toolkits. FURTHER INFORMATION
For more information about Windows HPC Server 2008
tSeamlessly scale from workstation
and HPC, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/hpc or
to cluster by allowing end users to phone: +27 11 361 8726
harness the power of distributed For more information about ANSYS Inc., and FLUENT
computing through a familiar please contact Qfinsoft on 012 345 1917 or info@qfinsoft.co.za
Windows-based desktop environment
For more information about Qfinsoft (PTY) Ltd please
without requiring specialized skills.
visit http://www.qfinsoft.co.za or contact us at 012 345 1917
THE SOUTH
www.qfinsoft.co.za AFRICAN
- Tel: MECHANICAL
012 345 ENGINEER VOL 60
1917 - info@qfinsoft.co.za April 2010 15
COMPUTERS IN ENGINEERING
Affordable High-
performance Computing
Supercomputers used to be typically one-of-a-kind custom-design computers produced by the ‘traditional’
companies such as Cray, IBM and Hewlett-Packard. The term supercomputer itself is rather broad with to-
day’s supercomputer rapidly becoming tomorrow’s ordinary computer. In the ‘70s, most supercomputers were
dedicated to running a vector processor with many of the newer players developing their own processors at a
lower price in order to get into the market.
T
he early the software to run such simulations would be
and mid- Ansys, a programme used on the desktop PC of
1980s many engineering design companies.
saw ma- Even on a powerful desktop, complex simulations
chines with a can take days to compute unless the computer makes
modest number of use of a special operating system that requires high
vector processors, specialised gurus to run it. Alternatively, you could
working in paral- send such complex simulation off to one of the few
lel, becoming the supercomputer facilities in South Africa.
standard. Typi-
cally, the number Affordable supercomputing
of processors was Microsoft has now come up with a server solution that
in the range of is within the reach of any serious design company.
four to sixteen. In a similar way that supercomputers use ordinary
Later, attention CPUs to process complex computations, so the
Izak Vorster of Qfinsoft Windows HPC server
platform utilises the
turned from vector processors CPUs in ordinary PC
to massive parallel processing workstations as a
systems with thousands of cluster of nodes on a
‘ordinary’ CPUs, some be- network to speed up
ing off-the-shelf units. Today, calculations without
parallel designs are based the need for a compli-
on off-the-shelf server-class cated special server
microprocessors and most platform that requires
modern supercomputers are specialised IT per-
now highly-tuned computer sonnel to run it.
clusters using commodity
processors combined with “SA Mechanical Engi-
custom interconnections. neer” speaks to Izak
Vorster of Qfinsoft
Helped a client put his under-used in Pretoria, agents
capacity to work for Ansys in South
Africa. Qfinsoft has
Supercomputers are used
partnered with Micro-
for highly calculation-inten-
soft to offer certain
sive tasks such as problems
Ansys packages on
involving quantum physics,
Microsoft’s Windows
weather forecasting, climate
research, molecular modeling, HPC Server 2008,
and physical simulations, such a dedicated high-
as simulation of airplanes in speed server solution
wind tunnels and the simu- aimed at complex
lation of the detonation of computational analy-
nuclear weapons. Typically, Paulo Ferreira of Microsoft Corporation sis work.

Much less time

“To accurately simulate the real-world performance of
product designs and engineering processes requires
the use of complex mathematical algorithms,” he
explains. “These algorithms involve long computa-
tion times unless a high-performance computing
(HPC) solution is used. HPC increases
solution speeds and re-
duces the turnaround time
of complex computations.
However, until recently,
HPC solutions have been
expensive, making them
unattainable for all but the
most well-funded design
teams.
“Ansys structural, ICEM
and CFD products now
support Windows HPC Server 2008,”
says Izak. “This Windows-based HPC platform
is easy to set up, yet it provides the processing
speed necessary to run complex simulations on
clusters of hardware that many companies already market that’s within the reach of everybody who
have in-house. needs high-performance computing power. Our plat-
form is an alternative that allows people to utilise
“The combination of Windows HPC Server 2008,
computing resources they may already have in the
Ansys products and Ansys HPC can increase
form of work stations that are idle overnight.”
productivity and help to deliver better and more
innovative products in less time than ever before at
much less than the cost of the traditional complex Contains the most comprehensive set of solvers available
server platforms.”
The Ansys Mechanical family of products offers
Under-used capacity full depth of analysis, from concept simulation to
Izak explains how Qfinsoft helped a client put his advanced analysis, and a breadth of simulation
under-used capacity to work. “It is a design house capabilities from linear to nonlinear coupled phys-
that has a training facility equipped with 18 powerful ics analysis. It provides simulation tools with a
dual-CPU work stations that more often than not complement of nonlinear and linear elements, and
only work in the morning when needed for train-
ing,” he says. “Through the Windows
HPC server we can now utilise all these
processors to do the company’s heavy
load of computational analysis work,
speeding up the time it normally takes
more than ten-fold.
“This means the design engineer can
carry on with his normal work while
the calculations are being done in the
background through the server which
utilises the workstations as nodes. He
does not have to wait around for his
work station to do the entire calculation
by itself.”
Fortunate few
“High-performance computing used to be
for the fortunate few in the past where
the resources typically associated with
HPC were mainframe environments,”
adds Paulo Ferreira, platform strategy
manager at Microsoft South Africa. “Our
vision was to steer away from mainframe
and bring a mainstream product to the

material laws ranging from metal to rubber. “The customers for whom HPC has been out of reach in
package also contains the most comprehensive the past,” adds Izak.
set of solvers available, including parallel solvers
Accessible
when combined with Ansys Mechanical HPC,” says
“Windows HPC Server will enable designers to
Izak. “These products are built on years of proven
improve productivity of systems administration
and reliable technology and are widely used across
and cluster interoperability by dramatically sim-
industries from automobile, aerospace, biomedical,
plifying the overall deployment, administration,
electronics and consumer products.”
and management over the entire system lifetime,
while ensuring interoperability with existing systems
Without requiring the specialised skills that have been infrastructure.
required in the past
“It is important to note that this platform allows
Affordable versatility the seamless scaling from workstation to cluster
Ansys Workbench is an integrated environment by allowing end users to harness the power of
from which users can access CAD, meshing tools, distributed computing through a familiar Windows-
model parameters, and Ansys Mechanical, all from based desktop environment without requiring the
one intuitive user interface. “When this is combined specialised skills that have been required in the
with Ansys Mechanical HPC, you can also access past,” he concludes.
HPC cluster resources,” says Izak. “Fluent is the Izak Vorster, Qfinsoft, Tel: (012) 345-1917, Fax: (012) 345-
CFD solver of choice for complex flows ranging 2526, Email: info@qfinsoft.co.za, www.qfinsoft.co.za, Paulo
from incompressible to mildly compressible to Ferreira, Microsoft Corporation, Tel: (011) 361-8726,
highly compressible flows thereby providing multiple Email: paulo.f@microsoft.com, www.microsoft.com/hpc
choices of solver options where the program deliv-
ers optimum solution efficiency and accuracy for a
wide range of engineering problem solving.” Engineer Placements
“All these solutions can utilise the Windows HPC
Server to bring the value of an integrated HPC solu- www.engineerplacements.com
tion and a productive development environment to

INCOSE
Part Numbers
When it comes to components or as-
semblies, each item, from a screw to an
aircraft, shall have a unique part number
allocated by its manufacturer. A rule as
old as the mountains states that the part
I
number shall be, or shall include, its con-
f a part were to change, should its part number trolling drawing or specification number.
be changed? The rule is very simple: A new Since there is no obligation on a manufac-
part number shall be allocated if and only if turer to coordinate his part numbers with
the new part is no longer in form, fit and func- any other manufacturer, part numbers in
tion, interchangeable with the old part. This rule isolation are not unique. It is quite com-
originates from the idea that each part needs a bin mon to find one part number representing
in the store and that its bin number equals the part for instance a washer from one manufac-
number. If form, fit and function interchangeability turer, a power supply from another, and a
has been destroyed, then clearly a new bin will be
hose from a third manufacturer. However,
needed, and thus a new part number.
the combination of a manufacturer code
Form, fit and function interchangeable items are not plus a part number should be unique.
identical
B. In other words, a change in form, fit or function
Form, fit and function interchangeability
does not necessarily mean that the form, fit and
“Form” means physical characteristics such as
function interchangeability has been destroyed.
size, shape and mass, “fit” means the external
interfaces between the item and the rest of the Interchangeable items are not identical
world, and “function” means what it does and its Form, fit and function interchangeable items are
performance. Two items are interchangeable if they not identical. Two items are either form, fit, func-
can be reciprocally used in each other’s place without tion interchangeable, or they are not. Different part
selection and without alteration to the item itself or numbers shall not be allocated to new or modified
to its adjoining items, items if they are form, fit and function interchange-
except for routine able with other items already numbered. Under no
adjustment. One- circumstances should a part number be changed
way substitutability merely because a new application has been found
is not the same as for an existing part.
interchangeability!
If an item has changed and a new part number has
Consider batter y been allocated, all higher level assemblies shall
chargers A and B. also be renumbered up to and including the level
Item A provides 5 at which form, fit and function interchangeability
VDC from 220 VAC has been re-established.
and uses a three-pin
Some organisations make non-interchangeable
plug with round pins.
changes to an item without changing the part
Item B provides 5
number merely by advancing the specification’s
VDC from 120 to
revision number. But now part numbers can now
220 VAC, and uses
Ad Sparrius
no longer be trusted to indicate interchangeabil-
both a three-pin plug
ity! One set of problems has been exchanged for
with round pins as
another—new rules are needed for what a revision
well as a two-pin plug with flat pins. Item B can
level means, and procurement and inventory is now
be used wherever item A is used, but item A can-
to be controlled by revision number rather than
not be used where item B is used. Items A and B
by part number. Don’t go there; it’s confusing and
are not fit and function interchangeable. However,
not worth it.
in a 220 VAC 3-pin plug environment item A and
item B would be fit and function interchangeable. Ad Sparrius, ad_sparr@iafrica.com
Form, fit and function interchangeability only has
meaning in a particular application; in other words
for a particular customer in a particular environment
and for a particular use.
Many battery chargers emit electromagnetic radia-
tion. In most cases this electromagnetic radiation is
irrelevant; thus if the electromagnetic radiation of
item A were to be changed, then it would remain
form, fit and function interchangeable with item

SAIT
Rail and Wheel Flange

Lubrication
Contrary to popular belief, railway rails have a limited
life span. Where all railway vehicles are steered through
curves by their wheel flanges, severe metal to metal
contact and “scouring” occur in the steering interface,
I
resulting in heavy wear in these contact areas.
f this wear is not addressed, the
rail and wheel flanges are both a reciprocating action on the wear interface.
worn away aggressively and prematurely, cost-
ing large amounts of money in maintenance and Level of tackiness
replacement. However, if the interface is lubricated, Since this is a total loss application, cheaper and
dramatic savings are achieved. easily manufactured lubricants are commonly used.
The lubricant has to have water resistant character-
Contrary to popular belief, railway rails have a limited istics as well as a measure of tackiness so as not
life span to be easily flung off the wheel flanges. Calcium
based, lithium based and calcium complex greases
Good lubrication in this wear interface, compared are generally used in this application.
will no lubrication, was scientifically measured and
documented as prolonging the life of rail on a curve The wear resisting elements (additives) commonly
as much as between 60 to 78 times (6 000 to 7 used are graphite and molybdenum disulphide. Be-
800%) and that of wheel flanges as much as 17 to cause the lubricant is applied, used and consumed
22 times (1 700 to 2 200%) The return on invest- outside in the open where the environment can easily
ment for rail only was recently calculated to be about be contaminated by spills, environmentally friendly
$34,7 for every $1 spent. lubricants are specified with greater frequency in
line with the increased application of environmental
External means laws and regulations.
Since there is no reservoir of lubricant along the length
of the rail, the lubricant has to be replenished at High lateral forces
regular intervals by external means. To have efficient Most of the factors governing consumption of
lubrication, enough lubricant has to be applied to lubricant in the rail-wheel interface can be traced
enable a reservoir layer to build up on the rail. Loco- back to the intensity, frequency and the duration
motive-mounted lubrication systems, purpose-built of application of high lateral forces in this con-
lubrication wagons, trackside application systems tact area between rail flanks and wheel flanges.
as well as dedicated Because of this relationship, it seems logical that
road-rail (or hi-rail) the consumption would be easily calculated. It
lubrication vehicles is, however, not as simple as it seems since the
are used to apply intensity of application of the lateral forces differ
lubricant to either from point to point along the rail.
Fig 1: Worn
wheel to worn the rail or the wheel Trying to quantify the obstacles in establishing
rail contact in flange. the optimum volume of spread for rail and wheel
a curve: where flange lubrication is the subject of a study at the
the wear takes
Most of the lubricant
on the wheel flange University of Johannesburg.
place
and on the wear face Gillian Fuller, SAIT Secretary, Tel: (011) 802-5145/6/7/8,
of the rail is picked Fax: (011) 804-4972, Email: secretary@sait.org.za, Web-
up and re-applied in site: www.sait.org.za

POWER GENERATION
Produced by: Our New Monthly Section

Our new “Power Generation Today” section has great things in store for readers. In the March
PROMECH PUBLISHING,
P O Box 373, Pinegowrie, 2123 issue, we kicked off with the news that South Africa will be part of Westinghouse’s international
Republic of South Africa nuclear programme. In this issue, Barry MacColl of Eskom takes us through solar’s power’s
Tel: (011) 781-1401 awesome potential both locally and internationally - impressive indeed!
Fax: (011) 781-1403 In future issues we will also focus on technologies being developed and implemented by
Email: editorial@promech.co.za South African firms such as Zest who will tell us in May about their co-generation projects
Website: www.promech.co.za which are up and running successfully as we speak.
Managing Editor Susan Custers

Barry MacColl, Manager of Technology Strategy and Planning at Eskom has helped us to put
Editor Kowie Hamman together a list of topics and is championing this section together with the staff and readers
Advertising Pauline Bouwer of “The SA Mechanical Engineer”.
Circulation Catherine Macdiva
DTP Zinobia Docrat/Sanette
I hope you will enjoy and benefit from our new venture. Please get in touch with us if you
Lehanie have any criticisms, comments or suggestions.
Disclaimer Yours sincerely
PROMECH Publishing does not Susan Custers
take responsibility for the Publisher
opinions expressed by individuals.
Concentrated Solar
Printed by:
Typo Colour Printing
Tel: (011) 402-3468/9
Power
A
s the world moves
from an era where
carbon-based fu-
els are converted
to electrical energy, to one
in which renewable options
become the imperative, it
is clear that South Africa
is well placed to use the
abundant solar resources
in the country. What oil
has meant for the Middle
East, solar irradiation will
mean for South Africa but
without the negative con-
sequences. Solar energy is
clean, abundant and at the
beginning of a technology
development curve that
will make it cheaper and
easier to exploit in the next
decades.
The best potential is in the
Northern Cape and North-
west Province where con-
Figure 1 - Solar Resource Map of South Africa servative estimates show

POWER GENERATION
Location Site Latitude Annual Relative achieved in several ways. This article outlines some of
DNI (kWh/m 2) Resource the methods in which the sun’s rays can be focused
South Africa to produce high heat values at localised points. The
Upington, North Cape 28°S 2,955 100%
heat is then converted to electrical energy hence
the term concentrated solar power (CSP). Best
United States
available concentrated solar technologies produce
Barstow, California 35°N 2,725 92% about 100MW of electrical energy at their peak
Las Vegas, Nevada 36°N 2,573 87% output from an 8 km2 land surface area.
Albuquerque, New Mexico 35˚N 2,443 83% The widely accepted minimum required direct normal
International radiation (DNR) to justify a CSP plant internation-
Northern Mexico 26 30˚N 2,835 96% ally is 1800 kWh/m2 per year. The average daily
solar radiation in South Africa varies between 4.5
Wadi Rum, Jordan 30˚N 2,500 85%
and 6.5 kWh/m2/day with excellent areas such
Ouarzazate, Morocco 31˚N 2,364 80% as Upington measuring more than 8 kWh/m2/day
Crete 35˚N 2,293 78% (see Table 1). This places South Africa as one of
Jodhpur, India 26˚N 2,200 74% the best locations in the world for the utilization
Spain 34˚N 2,100 71% of CSP technologies.
Table 1 - Comparative Solar Resources Worldwide

Four technologies
Four CSP technologies are currently mature enough to
be demonstrated at large scale and, in some cases,
are being put into commercial operation. These are
the Parabolic Trough; Linear Fresnel Reflectors,
Stirling Engines and Central Receivers.
Parabolic troughs
These are constructed of long parabolic mirrors with
an absorber tube running their length at the focal
point of the sun’s rays. Sunlight is reflected by the
mirror and concentrated onto the absorber tube in
which a heat transfer fluid (usually oil) flows and
absorbs the heat energy.
This is then used to generate steam and power in a
traditional heat exchanger and steam turbine/gen-
erator configuration. The trough is usually aligned
on a north-south axis, and rotated on this axis to
track the sun for maximum efficiency.
Research into troughs has been intensive since
the late 1970’s driven mainly by Sandia and SERI
(later NREL). Southern California Edison constructed
Figure 2 - Parabolic Trough Basics a 14MW trough system (referred to as SEGS) in
1985 but, today, several systems are in commercial
operation with many more planned.
The first plant to be constructed following SEGS IX,
started production in June 2007. The 64MW system
was built in Nevada and introduced a new, exciting
collector technology. The US project was followed
by the commissioning of the 50MW Andasol1 plant,
in November 2008, in Spain. Andasol introduced
molten salt storage to troughs for the first time,
through a 7.5-hour storage system.
Numerous trough projects are under development
Figure 3 - Kramer Junction in the Mojave desert in California
worldwide. In Spain, 14x50MW troughs are cur-
rently under construction. Trough projects are under
Four CSP technologies are currently mature enough to development in, among others, Egypt, Algeria,
Morocco, Israel and Australia.
be demonstrated at large scale and, in some cases, are
being put into commercial operation Linear fresnel reflectors
Usually this technology produces steam by di-
rect steam generation, as opposed to using the
that Eskom’s current generating capacity of ap-
conventional oil heat transfer option. They differ
proximately 40 000MW could be harvested from
fundamentally from the parabolic troughs in that
just 0,3% of the land area of the Northern Cape. the heat absorber is fixed in space above the mir-
Sunny South Africa ror reflector field. The mirror field is constructed of
Conversion of solar energy to electricity can be many rows of flat, or slightly curved mirror segments

POWER GENERATION
which focus collectively on an elevated long
tower receiver running parallel to the reflector
rotational axis.
Because the receiver is fixed it does not require
flexible hose or ball joint piping connections
to connect to the header and is thus easier
and cheaper to manufacture. The mirrors
also do not need to support the receiver so
they are structurally simpler.
There are some drawbacks to the design
however, most notably being the shading
of incoming solar radiation and blocking of
reflected solar radiation by adjacent reflectors
and the reliability and tracking accuracy of
the mirror field given the divorce between
the mirrors and the heat absorber.
The world’s first Linear Fresnel Solar Power
Plant has started commercial operations in
Spain. The 1.4MW plant, located in Mur-
Figure 4 - Stirling engine and sun-tracking mirror at the Sandia National Laboratories
cia, is connected to the Spanish electricity in Albuquerque, New Mexico
grid, and was engineered, developed and
commissioned by Novatec BioSol AG. Other the movement of the sun through the sky and focus
applications are commissioned to provide additional it on a common point. These frames are called
steam to existing coal fired power applications, heliostats and many thousands of them reflect the
the most advanced of which are the 9MW thermal sunlight to a receiver mounted on a central tower
Liddell Solar Station located in New South Wales, in the middle of the mirror field. Air, water or a
Australia and the 25MW thermal Kimberlina Solar heat transfer medium is heated within the receiver
Thermal Energy Plant in North America. and is used directly, or through a heat exchanger,
Dish stirling technology By building the first demonstration plant of this type and
Stirling engines work on the principle of heating size in the country, Eskom aims to kick-start the
and cooling of a constant volume of gas (usually large-scale solar power generation sector in Africa
hydrogen) in a controlled manner to drive a piston
arrangement that is sometimes referred to as the
external combustion engine since the source of
energy is external to the gas cycle. When used in
a concentrated solar application, Stirling engines
are mounted at the focal point of a parabolic dish
mirror receiver and receive heat energy from the
focused rays of sunlight. The collector typically
varies from 80 to 500m2 in surface area and is
either pedestal or frame mounted. The heat from
the collector is transferred to the Stirling engine via
a complex network of tubes that heats the working
gas in the cylinder chambers.
Stirling Energy Systems (SES) concluded two pur-
chase agreements with SCE and San Diego Gas &
Electric to provide power generated by 500 and
approximately 300-900MW dish units in 2005. To
date, the main activity has centred around large-
scale manufacture efforts and the construction of
their Generation-3 units at Sandia National Labs,
where 6x25kW units are in operation.
Aside from the SES efforts, several companies are
active in this area, with some noteworthy efforts
from Abengoa Solar that operates 7x10kW and
2x25kW units and the ongoing efforts in Australia,
where the “Big Dish” at the Australian National
University (ANU) has been joined by a new Gen-2
dish, which is over 25% larger than the original
dish (total aperture close to 500m2).
Central receiver (power tower) technology
This technology uses a large field of mirrors mounted
on frames that are controlled on two axes to track

POWER GENERATION
is at 250°C and 40 bar and air systems

485°C, 27 bar. Common plant components,
across all three options, include the heliostat
field, steam system, turbine, generator and
cooling plant.
The most significant developments in central
receiver investment are the commissioning
of the 11MW PS10, outside of Seville in
Spain and the subsequent switch-on of
the 20MW PS20 in 2009 on the same
site. Both plants use the saturated steam
receiver technology.
Construction on the first molten salt receiver
plant since the experimental Solar Two is to
commence on the 17MW Solar Tres Proj-
ect, sited in the Andalucia region of Spain.
Several larger 50MW salt receiver projects
are in advanced stages of planning.
For example, NRG Energy has signed a deal
Figure 5 - Solar 2 with eSolar to develop 11 tower plants,
totalling 500MW, while eSolar has also
to power a turbine and generator.
contracted with Southern California Edison for
Three different receiver configurations are being 245MW of tower projects. In addition, 1,300MW
researched. Molten salt (typically sodium and has been contracted by Southern California Edison
potassium nitrates), direct steam and volumetric from BrightSource.
air all have different heat transfer properties and
advantages depending on the application. Typical
Eskom going solar
Eskom has an approved pre-engineering budget
salt conditions in generating mode are temperatures
of R110 million and significant progress has been
of 550°C and pressures of 125 bar while steam
made in the feasibility study for a 100MW concen-
A large field of mirrors mounted on frames trated central receiver power plant near Upington.
The plant will use a molten salt heat transfer fluid
for maximum efficiency as well as storage tanks
to allow power output during periods when solar
irradiation is insufficient. The 14-hour planned stor-
age capacity will give the plant a 68% availability
factor – essential to Eskom’s operating requirements.
The final plant is expected to cost R7-billion and
be commissioned in 2014 pending funding and
investment approvals which are imminent.
By building the first demonstration plant of this
type and size in the country, Eskom aims to kick-
start the large-scale solar power generation sector
in Africa. The solar community will be able to use
the experience gained at this plant to answer and
address some of the key issues that face concen-
trated solar technology rollout including but not
limited to:
• Understanding the true cost of construction
and real electricity prices of production rather
than using current estimates
• The risks and opportunities for large scale de-
ployment of the technology as a viable, clean,
renewable power generation option
• The opportunities for local manufacture and
job creation which would place South Africa
among the world leaders in technology solu-
tions of this type.
• Encouraging regional co-operation in order to
share resources and develop solutions that
promote the growth of other emerging solar
technologies.

POWER GENERATION
Capacity
Technology Name Country Location Notes
(MW)
Solar Energy Generating
354 Trough USA Mojave Desert California Collection of 9 units
Systems
64 Trough Nevada Solar One USA Boulder City, Nevada
Andasol solar power Andasol 1 completed, 2008
100 Trough Spain Granada
station Andasol 2 completed, 2009
Energia Solar De Puertollano,
50 Trough Spain Completed May 2009
Puertollano Ciudad Real
50 Trough Alvarado 1 Spain Badajoz Completed July 2009
20 Central Receiver PS20 Central Receiver Spain Seville Completed April 2009
11 Central Receiver PS10 Central Receiver Spain Seville Europe’s first commercial solar tower
Kimberlina Solar Thermal
5 Fresnel reflector USA Bakersfield, California Ausra demonstration plant
Energy Plant
eSolar commercial power plant, North
5 Central Receiver Sierra SunTower USA Lancaster, California America’s only operating solar tower,
completed August 2009
Liddell Power Station Electrical equivalent steam boost for
2 Fresnel reflector Australia New South Wales
Solar Steam Generator coal station
Stirling Energy Systems / Tessera Solar’s
1.5 Dish Stirling Maricopa Solar USA Peoria, Arizona first commercial-scale Dish Stirling power
plant. Completed January 2010
1.5 Central Receiver Jülich Solar Tower Germany Jülich Completed December 2008
Hybrid solar/gas electric power, using
THEMIS Central
1.4 Central Receiver France Pyrénées-Orientales solar energy to heat the air entering a
Receiver
gas turbine
1.4 Fresnel reflectorPuerto Errado 1 Spain Murcia Completed April 2009
Saguaro Solar Power
1 Trough USA Red Rock Arizona
Station
1 Trough Keahole Solar Power USA Hawaii
Kibbutz Samar Power
0.1 Central Receiver Israel Kibbutz Samar
Flower
Table 2 - List of operating concentrating solar power plants worldwide (Source: Wikipedia)
• The reliability of the technology solution the world in terms of plants under construction.
• Understanding the operations and maintenance Developing countries with planned World Bank
costs and procedures. projects for some form of solar thermal projects
include Egypt, Mexico and Morocco. South Africa
• Agreements with local government municipalities is blessed with an abundant solar resource and
concerning land, water supply etc, as well as stands on the verge of joining the leading nations
transmission infrastructure requirements. in the quest to provide future generations with
• The ability of the plant to meet predicted load clean, abundant and renewable energy. The future
factor levels and prove storage ability. is bright.
Worldwide, projects in excess of 20GW Note: All the images in this article are in the public domain
on the internet.
are planned
Gaining favour
It is clear that concentrated solar power
is a rapidly developing technology which
is gaining favour as a viable supply-side
option for many power utilities. Devel-
opments in all four of the technologies
highlighted in this article continue to
gain momentum with the application
and power requirement determining
the final choice. Worldwide, projects
in excess of 20GW are planned. They
include 2500MW by the Spanish util-
ity Iberdrola and 1200MW by FPL
Energy and largely constitute a mixture
of Trough, Linear Reflector and Tower
projects. Table 2 lists the solar thermal
power plants currently in operation. The
industry is growing with over 1000MW
under construction, with Spain leading Figure 6 - Basic Principles of Eskom’s planned 100MW Central Receiver Solar Power
Plant

NUCLEAR INSTITUTE (SA BRANCH)
PBMR Debacle
Several weeks elapse between the drafting of these pages and African countries like Algeria, Libya and Namibia
their appearance in print. They cannot be topical. The PBMR now sizing up the nuclear option.
situation, however, is not to be ignored. As is now well-known, For interest, I taxed the remaining grey cells of col-
on 18 February the PBMR Company announced in effect that, leagues from that era. We listed everyone we could
because of severely reduced Government funding, it would think of who worked on the project up to 1982.
have to retrench six hundred of its eight hundred staff.
Subsequent shipment
T
South Africa, of course, has had a nuclear indus-
he announcement coincided, ironically, with try right from 1945. It started with the discovery
three significant developments. The first of uranium in the gold-mines and its subsequent
was a memorandum of understanding with shipment to Britain and America for weapons
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to collaborate programmes. Many of South Africa’s brightest and
on developing the PBMR system. The second was a best received overseas training largely in America.
visit by an Algerian delegation expressing interest in The Safari reactor, acquired from America, was
the system for small-grid power generation and the then commissioned in 1965. Substantial research
third was the award by the US DOE of contracts to and power reactor design teams were developed.
teams led by Westinghouse and General Atomics for Surprisingly, however, none of this expertise ever
conceptual designs for the NGNP (New Generation found its way into Eskom.
Nuclear Plant). Both organisations will get $20 mil-
The deal was that Eskom would build and operate
lion, of which PBMR expects to earn $10 million as
the plant and the then Atomic Energy Board would
founder member of the Westinghouse team.
provide the independent licensing authority. Also, I
Potential appalling loss of expertise to the country suspect, conditions of employment in the then-pam-
thereby avoided pered AEB were just too luxurious to abandon.
John Colley, this country’s messiah for nuclear
Furthermore, Steven Chu, US Secretary of Energy,
generation, did make the transition in 1969 and
has very recently put out a statement vigorously
started the Nuclear Division within Eskom’s one-
extolling the merits of small reactors and announcing
time Mechanical Engineering Department. After
a budget request for $39 million to promote
that, my venerable colleagues can remember only
their development. This appears to be in ad-
two individuals who made the change.
dition to the $20 million contracts referred
to above. By the time the Outline Enquiry for Koeberg was
issued in February 1974, not more than eight
No conception
people had been involved. All but two were nuclear
There are obviously enormous pressures on
professionals recruited overseas.
Government spending but this whole PBMR
evolution seems deplorable, not least for Memories fade
those now looking for jobs. I really wonder The Koeberg contract was signed in August 1976
whether our industry has adequately com- and Unit 1 was about ready for fuel loading in
municated the enormous potential of the December 1982. At that point, at least ninety
system for coal-to-oil, desalination and other engineering staff had been involved on the project
John Walmsley process heat applications now acknowledged side of this (turnkey) project. They included Eskom
by Steven Chu. Certainly critics among the staff supplemented by experienced individuals
general public have no conception of it. contracted overseas, international consultancy
organisations, QA consultants and Eskom site staff
Another aspect is timing. We have been waiting for
monitoring construction. Over half had prior nuclear
years for a decision on nuclear new-build. Could all
experience elsewhere.
this not have been timed so that the six hundred
could have slotted into a major Eskom nuclear pro- In addition, some 94 senior staff were recruited
curement programme and the potential appalling locally and overseas to manage and physically
loss of expertise to the country thereby avoided? It operate the plant. About 38 management staff
would be quite easy to get excited about that. learnt French and were trained in France by EdF.
Remarkably, more than fifty people involved with
In fact, it’s not so straight-forward. Thinking back
the Koeberg project had a Royal Navy background.
to the early days of the Koeberg project, the staff
Twenty of them, formerly licensed operators in Brit-
build-up was slow. Starting in 1970, expertise was
ish nuclear submarines, became licensed operators
gradually brought in until Unit 1 was ready for fuel-
at Koeberg. Memories fade and the numbers are
loading in December 1982. The ANC’s sabotage of
rough. They may nevertheless be worth thinking
the plant then delayed start-up until April 1984. It
about by neighbours now looking our way.
might well be worthwhile for someone to document
the build-up process. It could well be of interest to John Walmsley

POWER GENERATION NEWS
The South African market

Capital expenditure projects in the power generation and
chemicals industries will sustain growth in the South African
temperature sensors market in the short and medium terms.
Factors such as improving process efficiency in South Africa’s
process industries to reduce costs, produce superior-quality
products and increase profitability, are expected to contribute
towards higher revenue growth over the next five years.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan finds that the South
African temperature sensors market earned revenues of
$11.9 million in 2008, and estimates this to reach $18.9
million in 2015. The technologies covered in this research
are integrated circuit, infrared, thermocouples, thermistors,
resistance temperature detectors and transmitters.
“A rise in the use of automation products within key end-user
sectors has caused greater demand for temperature sens-
ing products,” says Frost & Sullivan industrial automation
analyst James Fungai Maposa. “This will aid the successful
monitoring of process parameters, assist in the decision-mak-
ing process, and help in effectively utilising and managing Automated gypsum dewatering cyclone distributor
plant assets.”
solids to leave the system as a by-product. Multotec supplies
Enhancing process efficiency has caused a rise in the purchase into both the primary and the secondary dewatering device
of sensor products to monitor critical processes and provide stations to various forms of construction regulations.
rapid feedback to help in the decision-making process for a
Segregating the unreacted ultra fine limestone to the overflow
particular plant. Electronic and digital temperature sensors
stream and returning this stream to the FGD process also
have assisted end-user companies in maintaining quality
allows the FGD system to maintain higher levels of limestone
control records and contributing to superior process and
in the absorber slurry than in the by-product solids. This, in
plant efficiency.
turn, allows the process to maximise SO2 removal while still
Despite the prevailing economic uncertainty, investments within achieving high overall limestone utilisation. It also allows for
end-user industries such as power generation, chemicals and the removal of undesirable materials such as gypsum fines,
petrochemicals and water and wastewater will continue due to inerts, fly ash, and chlorides.
South Africa’s higher demand for energy and access to clean Bernadette Wilson, Multotec Group, Tel: (011) 923-6193, Email:
water. Frost & Sullivan believes that this trend will contribute marketing@multotec.co.za, www.multotec.com
to strong growth of the market in the long term.
Patrick Cairns, Frost & Sullivan, Tel: (018) 464-2402
Email: patrick.cairns@frost.com, www.frost.com
Water treatment refurbishment

One of the country’s major power stations recently decided to
refurbish its water treatment plant and chose Omsa to supply
the valves for the project. Water quality is a critical element
Reducing emissions in the generation of electricity and, if not managed correctly,
Flue gas desulphurization (FGD) is the chemical process used can lead to catastrophic plant failure. Accordingly, equipment
to remove sulphur oxides from the flue gas at coal-burning must be technically excellent as well as an economic choice
power plants. Ninety percent of the FGD systems use limestone to give maximum plant availability.
or lime as the absorbent. As the flue gas comes into contact
The industrial valve range offered by SED Flow Control, part
with the slurry of calcium salts, sulphur dioxide (SO2) reacts
of the global Aliaxis Group, is corrosion resistant and erosion
with the calcium to form hydrous calcium sulphate or gypsum
resistant and particularly well suited to the ion exchange
which is used in the manufacture of wallboard.
process for water treatment and the resin regeneration pro-
Recent trends in the technology development of the FGD cesses used in the plant. The industry requires high technical
systems, as well as the stringent manufacturing specifications specifications and these are comfortably met by the SED
of power stations, have called for fewer numbers of larger valve design which offers a number of features and benefits
capacity cyclones in order to optimise plant efficiencies and not present on other valve ranges. The company works to the
provide more economically viable installations. well known DIN ISO 9001 standard and can supply requisite
The Multotec cyclones used for primary dewatering can be guarantees and certification for each valve produced.
designed to separate a stream rich in the smaller size solids for Omsa is supplying over 350 SED diaphragm valves, with
returning to the absorber, while allowing the larger size gypsum a value in excess of R4 million to this project. Some of the

valves are manual and some are automatically actuated whilst MikroPul, a member of the ACTOM group (formerly Alstom
all of them comprise polypropylene lined steel bodies, an South Africa), won the contract partly on the basis that it
upgraded specification from the current installation. Sizes guaranteed it could adhere to the rigorous supply schedule.
range from 15mm to 200mm diameter. Awarded the contract in early-February 2009, it duly deliv-
Marco Errath, OMSA, Tel: (011) 793-5562, Email: marco@omsa. ered the first two filters as required by late-March and the
co.za, www.omsa.co.za remainder in April.
“The other main reason, apart from our bid being competitive,
was that Eskom was happy with our previous performance a
few years ago when we supplied replacement fly-ash collec-
Fast-track contract
A fast-track contract to design, manufacture and
supply envelope-type bag filter units for the fly-ash
transfer silos at Eskom’s Kriel power station near
Witbank, Mpumalanga, was completed on schedule
by Johannesburg-based dust control and gas-cleaning
specialists MikroPul.
The contract involved a total of six filter units – one
per transfer silo for the station’s six power generating
units – to replace existing filters that had reached
the end of their operating lives. The new filters are
reinforced by stiffeners and heavy steel plate to enable
them to withstand pressures of up to 35 kPa from the
pneumatic loading system carrying the fly-ash from
the boilers. This picture shows filter units similar to those supplied by MikroPul for the
fly-ash transfer silos at Eskom’s Kriel power station

tion filters for the final silos at Kriel,” comments Des Tuck,
MikroPul’s marketing & sales manager.
MikroPul, Des Tuck, Tel: (011) 478-0456, Fax (011) 478-0371, Email:
des.tuck@mikropul.co.za
Handling for wind power

The Taylor range of materials handling equipment, distributed
exclusively in Southern Africa by BLT, now encompasses a
new reach stacker, designed especially for handling com-
ponents used in the wind power sector.
“The new Taylor TS-9973W reach stacker is fitted with
an attachment developed specifically for lifting, loading,
transporting and positioning wind tower and blade compo-
nents,” says Clinton van den Berg, products manager for
BLT. “There is no longer the need to use slave attachments
when handling critical wind power components.
“This machine, has a specially designed attachment with
powered rotation and side shift and mechanical
pile slope capabilities to enhance efficiency
and safety during the handling and instal-
lation of wind power components.”
This special attachment, which
has three freely rotating hooks
for sling suspension, can
be fitted with a magnet
to lift and transport
steel plates from
The Taylor range of materials
rail cars to the
handling equipment, distributed production
exclusively in Africa by BLT, now line.
encompasses a new reach stacker,
designed especially for handling
components used in the wind
power sector
This reach stacker is also used to lift and load completed

tower components onto trucks and for transportation to
designated storage sites.
The new TS-9973W reach stacker, which is built on a 6
500 mm wheelbase, has rated lifting capacities of up to 45
T at 1,930 mm load centre (L.C), 33 T at 3,850 mm L.C
and 17 T at 6, 400 mm L.C.
Clinton van den Berg, BLT, Tel: (031) 274-8270, Email: clinton@
biglift.co.za, Web: www.biglifttrucks.com

Shaping the Future

The year is 2030. You’re driving along a rough tar road that’s capable of capturing critical dynamical behaviour
more potholes than smooth patches. Inside the vehicle, how- and faithfully preserving the essential properties of
ever, it feels as if you’re travelling on an air cushion with the the larger models.
mug of coffee in the holder on the dashboard showing not An accurate and effective reduced-order model can
even the slightest ripple as you speed along. be applied for steady-state analysis, transient analy-
sis, or sensitivity analysis of large-scale models and
W
the physical systems they emulate. Consequently,
hy? Because your vehicle is equipped
scientists and engineers can significantly reduce
with a computer system so fast it
design time and pursue more aggressive design
instructs the suspension to counter-
strategies. Designers can try ‘what-if’ experiments
act the bumps and holes in the road
in hours instead of days.
that the scanner detects nano-seconds before
the wheels hit them. How’s it that the computer The code
system is so fast? It’s because the computer code Although our vehicle example is just a glimpse
has been ‘simplified’ to such an extent that it no into the future, people like Dr Arno Malan and his
longer needs to be processed by a supercomputer colleague Dr Oliver Oxtoby of the CSIR are paving
before it is logically processed by the controllers the way for the development of such computer
that operate the vehicle’s suspension. code with the work they’re doing in developing
multi-physics CFD (computational fluid dynamics)
ROM
code today.
This ‘simplification’ of code is known as reduced-
order modelling (ROM), currently used as a com- “We’re currently writing the CFD code for an in-
putational prototyping tool to replace large-scale ternational aircraft manufacturer that will enable a
models by approximate smaller models. These are combination of physics to be modelled simultane-
ously,” Arno tells “SA Mechanical Engineer”
in an interview at the CSIR in Pretoria.
This ‘simplification’ of code is

known as reduced-order
modelling (ROM)
“The code will help us to use the same

solver to model the flow over a structure
and simultaneously see the stresses and
displacements in the solids. This technology
will also allow us to determine the loads on
a wing structure caused by the flow of air
over a wing and at the same time model the
dynamics of the fuel in the tanks. Currently
there is no software that can simulate this
in a 3D model.”
CFD
CFD is one of the branches of fluid mechanics
that uses numerical methods and algorithms
to solve and analyse problems that involve
fluid flows. Supercomputers are usually
used to perform the millions of calculations
required to simulate the interaction of liquids
and gases with surfaces defined by boundary
conditions. With the added element of solids
coming into the equation, this literally adds
reams of extra code that has to be processed
to generate such a model.
“We make use of a supercomputer in Cape
Town that processes the calculations quickly,
Dr Arno Malan and his colleague Dr Oliver Oxtoby of the CSIR but it’s expensive and not normally within

reach of the average engineer,” says Arno. “The all other industries as well. “It can be used to model
simulation of the simultaneous interaction between the filling of an aircraft with fuel to see where air
solids and fluids has just been completed and Airbus bubbles are trapped, a problem they’re trying to
is satisfied with the result. Now we want to take it solve every day,” says Arno. “Other applications
to the next level and model the sloshing of the fuel are endless. We can start studying the behaviour
inside the tank while the aircraft is flying.
“We not only want to know the extent of deflec- Model the sloshing of the fuel inside the tank
tion in the structure of
an aircraft, but also what
goes on in terms of loads
inside the tank when the
fluid moves around.
Supercomputers
“In order to do this we
typically use between 100
to 200 CPU’s (central
processing units) of the
supercomputer in Cape
Town,” adds Arno. “Engi-
neers usually want results
overnight and calculations
of this magnitude are typi-
cally suited to supercom-
puters so that the aircraft
design engineers can get
the analysis quickly and
solve the problem.
“At this stage, we can do
this type of modelling in
2D quite accurately, but
the ultimate aim is to
provide engineers with a
3D model that accurately
depicts the behaviour of
fluid and structure.
Weight factor
“We’re about 95% down
this road, it’s a matter
of fine-tuning the code
before we can accurately
analyse a wing by show-
ing the actual deflection
of the wing as well as the
dynamics of the sloshing
inside the wing.
“The dynamics of fuel are
significant if you consider
that the fuel on a large air-
craft like an Airbus weighs
around 290 tons, which
is over 50% of the total
weight of the aircraft.”
Usable tool
In about 2-3 year’s time,
Arno expects to have this
new tool for design engi-
neers completed, fully vali-
dated and benchmarked so
that it can be used across

working on,” says Arno.

“An analysis like the one
we’ve developed requires
a minimum of 100 CPUs
and the output of the analysis is
a huge amount of physics. However,
engineers are interested in slightly less detail
such as the amount of deflection and stresses
in the structure. From the detailed information,
we then build a ‘simplified’ model that provides
engineers with just the specific information they’re
looking for.
“This then becomes a tool the engineer can use
easily and get results quickly,” says Arno in con-
The work Arnuad and his team are doing at the CSIR clusion. “Beyond that, the ROM becomes so fast
that you can start doing them in real-time. We’re
of fluids in road tankers and ships, for instance, looking at levels where control systems react far
and design accordingly. more intelligently to the physics an aircraft or car
is experiencing in real-time. In an aircraft, for
The future example, you could literally sense a gust of wind
“Once this software has become a general engineer- and the aircraft will automatically surf it smoothly.
ing tool, the next level is ROM, which we’re already Similarly, the cars of the future could be fitted with
a reactive suspension system that simply smoothes
The ultimate aim is to provide engineers with a 3D out the road automatically.”
model that accurately depicts the behaviour of fluid and Dr Arno Malan, CSIR Computational Aerodynamics, Tel:
structure (012) 841-4004, Email: amalan@csir.co.za
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PIPES, PUMPS & VALVES
Rebuilding South Africa

the answer everyone is looking for right now.
The
collapse “Our business model is unique in that we not only
that is slowly but surely supply all the equipment you need to get water
eating away at South African infra- from the dam to the tap in your home, but we’ve
structure is not a unique problem, it is happen- introduced several technologies to rehabilitate sys-
ing all over the world. Technologies to fight the collapse tems cost effectively,” Allistair says. “In addition we
of water resources, pipelines and water processing plants are provide all the technology and support to maintain
and manage such systems into the future.
rapidly coming to the fore, often adapted from other indus-
tries to be applied to new fields to prevent total destruction All industries
before it is too late. “The projects we’ve been involved in reach across
all industries, from water reticulation to sewerage
plants, mining installations and petrochemical plants,
anything to do with liquid conveying,” says Allistair.
J
“In some instances, like municipalities, the owner
ust one example is the re-lining of exist-
does not even know the extent of his assets, let
ing water pipelines without having to dig
alone manage and maintain them. In such a case
trenches to get to the pipe. This technology,
we start with an audit to determine the number
and many other innovative pipe, pump,
of assets such as pumps, valves and the extent of
valve and coupling solutions are now available to
the pipeline. After checking the condition of each,
South Africa through the Rare Group based
we prioritise repair and rehabilitation according to
near Johannesburg. “SA Mechanical
the condition of the equipment.
Engineer” speaks to Allistair Balutto,
group marketing director of Rare “The unique aspect of our business model is that
about the total solution the company is we can supply any brand of pump or valve to the
currently implementing in end-user, eliminating the need to shop around while
several projects around the trying to match components that don’t necessar-
continent. ily work well together for a given situation,” says
Allistair. “In addition we have several different
Infrastructure trenchless technologies which cut a huge chunk,
“Infrastructure collapse is anything between 30 to 40 percent, out of the
widespread and there isn’t near costs of replacing a pipeline, be it water, gas or
enough manpower to address the any other liquid.”
issue, so we make use of a number of dif-
ferent technologies to solve problems,” he Pipelines
says. “As a company we strive to become The traditional method of rehabilitating a pipeline
a partner with infrastructure entities to is to dig it up and put in new pipes, but apart from
assist, not only in managing the assets the expense, these pipelines, built 20 to 30 years
of an entity, but to look at the whole ago, today often run underneath built-up areas
system in terms of assessing current which pushes the costs of replacement even higher.
conditions, drawing up a plan of ac- “Depending on the condition of the pipeline, we can
either use the Swageliner process, the Aqualiner
There isn’t near enough process or the CIPP process to re-line the inside of
manpower to address the the pipe to extend the pipeline life another lifetime,”
issue explains Allistair.
“The Swagelining process applies tight fit HDPE
tion, executing the plan and providing liner inside the pipe in situ to protect it from further
practical and management skills to corrosion while cathodic protection will protect
sustain the system into the future so the outside. This coating improves flow which
that we can leave behind a lasting in turn reduces the power requirement from the
infrastructure legacy.” pumping side.
This is a tall order in anyone’s book, Technologies
but if it is done systematically, as “The Aqualiner process is a case of literally mak-
Rare does with the Xtender Man- ing another pipe inside the old pipe, using the old
agement concept, it seems to be pipe as the mould to form the new pipe inside it,”
Allistair Balutto of the Rare elaborates Allistair. “In this case the condition of
Group the exterior of the pipe is not important and it will

The CIPP process
The Aqualiner material
continue to simply corrode away. The CIPP process The Swagelining process
is similar, but mainly for larger diameter pipe and
consists of a process whereby a ‘sock’ of special same time from his office.”
materials is pulled through the pipe, followed either Allistair is passionate about training and strongly
by hot water or steam to cure the epoxies in the supports an organisation called ZETA. “We support
sock, forming a new liner.” ZETA because they have the same approach as as in
It seems to be the answer everyone is looking for right terms of looking at the industry broadly and train-
ing people in all the aspects around infrastructure
now
maintenance,” he says.
Skills “Apart from teaching all the technical aspects around

The skills shortage in both engineering and man- pipes, pumps and valves, they also spend a large
agement is a major contributor to infrastructure percentage of the training time around managing
collapse and to address this issue Rare is not only the assets from a lifecycle perspective in order to
intimately involved in training, but has technology get optimum performance from a capital investment.
to overcome the shortcomings. “Remote monitoring They are so up-to-date as far as the latest tech-
of pumps and remote control of valves are some of nologies are concerned that even our experienced
the technologies we utilise to address the short- engineers attend courses there to catch up on the
age of engineering skills,” says Allistair. “Through latest available technologies.”
Tasonline, for instance, one engineer can monitor Allistair Balutto, Rare Group, Tel: (011) 906-8000, Email:
several pumps scattered all over the country at the allistair@rare.co.za

A Case for the

According to the United Nations
Environment Programme, the
annual worldwide investment
in water developments totals
US$80 billion. A doubling of
Valve Industry
the sum will be necessary in the
foreseeable future to improve
both the supply of water and
the disposal of wastewater.
T
he worldwide market volume of construc- osmosis desalination plant costing US$105 million
tion work, machines, plants and services in Marin County. The plant is designed to convert
in the water and wastewater sector is seawater into drinking water. It will be the first
estimated at being between US$460 to development of its kind in San Francisco and is
US$480-billion. expected to go into operation in 2014.
Valves for control Little rain in Spain
Valve manufacturers are involved at several stages Even Spain is committing itself to seawater de-
within the water supply system: at the extraction salination as the water supply situation on the
point, water treatment, transport and supply. The Iberian Peninsula is already becoming dramatic.
gradual depletion of water resources means that Flowserve Corp has received orders to equip new
water catchment is becoming increasingly more and plants. The combined value of the orders totals
more important. Seawater desalination plants are over Î2.2 million.
one hope for the future as they offer an inexhaustible A new plant, the biggest of its kind on the conti-
potential. The oceans have immense water reserves. nent, is being planned for Australia as the country’s
According to the Royal Academy of Engineering, southern and eastern regions are threatened with
desalination will play a major role in the future. drought. Thiess, an Australian company, and its
The reverse osmosis process – a common process joint venture partners will construct a desalination
in such plants – uses high pressures and therefore plant, for which an investment volume of Î2.1
needs high pressure valves, pumps and piping. billion has been earmarked, for the Government
of the State of Victoria.
Seawater desalination plants are one hope for the future
Once building work has been completed towards
as they offer an inexhaustible potential the end of 2011, the plant will supply 150 billion
In view of the rapidly increasing importance of such litres of drinking water annually to Melbourne and
plants, valve manufactures are pressing ahead with the region’s other towns and cities. The develop-
the development of their products. A vital process, ment also includes the operation of an 86 kilometre
as salt induced corrosion is a technological problem long pipeline connecting the plant to Melbourne’s
of large proportions. water network.
In San Francisco, it is planned to build a reverse- Desalination energy intensive
Around half the seawater desali-
nation plants are located in Arab
countries according to the University
of Bochum, Germany. The reason is
obvious. Desalination plants are en-
ergy intensive. This does not present
a problem to rich states with large
oil reserves.
The signs of the times have already
been recognised by Fujairah, one of
seven emirates that have made up the
United Arab Emirates since 1971. In
order to meet the increasing demand
for energy and water, the Emirate has
built a combined power station and
seawater desalination plant in Qidfa.
The hybrid plant produces electricity
and drinking water simultaneously.
The whole complex produces 656
MW and 455 million litres of drink-
Increasingly, water will have to be piped long distances to feed water-starved populations ing water per day.

Some inventions PIPES, PUMPS & VALVES
really set things

in motion . . . New pipelines will increase the Fujairah plant’s daily
capacity from 455 million litres to 1 045 litres/day. To
do this, two parallel 180 kilometre long pipelines with
One of the most a diameter of 1 600 millimetres and a further single
influential inventions of 130 kilometre pipeline with the same diameter are
the industrial revolution being constructed. The pipelines, which will secure
was George Stephenson’s the water supply in one of the world’s hottest regions,
steam locomotive. will be ready for use during 2010.
In 1974, the invention of In Turkey, the country’s government has backed a

the hose pump by Bredel mammoth development to provide the Turkish people
with an adequate source of water. A 128 kilometre
had a similar impact on
long pipeline now runs from a drinking water reservoir
the process industries,
located to the south of the capital city on the River
providing reliable, cost
effective fluid handling. A new plant, the biggest of its kind on the
Another boost for continent, is being planned for Australia
process industries has
been Bredel’s patented Kizilirmak near Kesikköprü all the way to the north of
pump element which has Ankara. When fully operating, 9,000 litres of drinking
greatly extended the water per second will be pumped to Ankara.
lifespan of the reinforced Almost 2 500 butterfly valves, needle valves, ball valves,
pump element. air valves and diverse other valves were ordered by the
Ankara development.
Is it any surprise that
there are more Bredel
hose pumps in operation
than any other industrial
peristaltic pump?
BREDEL - INVENTING FOR YOU.
OUR PERISTALTIC PUMPS

Watson-Marlow Bredel produces a
wider range of peristaltic pumps
which meets virtually any capacity
and controlled requirement using
options of fixed or variable speed,
digital, analogue or manual control,
and single or multi-channel flows.
No other pump has the
controlability of the peristaltic – Valves are an essential part of water pipelines
with flow rates from microlitres a
minute to tens of thousands of litres an hour. Valves let in tourists
Valves are also become increasingly more important
Three IP66-rated cased drive peristaltic pumps – the 520Bp, 620Bp and for tourist projects in regions where water is a scarce
720Bp – offer certified Profibus DP networking. commodity. The US$1-billion Ayla Oasis development
in south Jordan will include an artificial lagoon which
OUR HEAVY DUTY INDUSTRIAL will add 17 kilometres to the seafront near Aqaba.
HOSE PUMP Scheduled to be completed by 2017, this gigantic
• World’s first industrial hose pump project will be supplied with EPC coated non-return and
• Robust and extremely reliable butterfly valves, bronze bushings and shafts as well as
• Simple to use duplex stainless steel seat rings. Demands on material
• Capacities up to 80m3 per hour and technology are high in salty sea water.
• Operating pressure up to 16 bar
• Low whole life cost Valve manufacturers will, however, continue to focus
on the supply of water to needy countries. They will
JOHANNESBURG: therefore make a vital contribution to providing the
Tel: 0861 WMB GAU (0861 962 428) world’s population with water.
Fax: (011) 794-1250
DURBAN: Petra Hartmann-Bresgen, Email: HartmannP@messe-dues-
Tel: 0861 WMB KZN (0861 962 596) seldorf.de
Fax: 0866 011 771
E-mail: info@wmbpumps.co.za
Website: www.watson-marlow.com
INNOVATION IN FULL FLOW
36 THE SOUTH AFRICAN
Watson-Marlow MECHANICAL
\ Bredel ENGINEER
\ Alitea \ Flexicon VOL 60
\ MasoSine April 2010
group2media
HEATING & COOLING
Process Cooling Reaches

Even Lower Temperatures
A recent export project was for two
identical plants to cool a silicone
oil secondary refrigerant to -83°C.
The refrigeration capacity was 16
kW.
U
sing normal refrigerants, even
with two-stage compression,
the minimum temperatures
are in the region of -60°C us-
ing R 404A or R 507 with reciprocating
compressors. This is due to the low suc-
tion pressures and the pressure losses
in the suction valves. Slightly lower
temperatures can be obtained if screw
compressors are used.
The downside of this is that at normal ambient
temperatures, the pressures are very high
For temperatures lower than -60°C, cas-
cade refrigeration systems can be used,
where one refrigerant working at a relatively
high temperature condenses a second
refrigerant working at a low temperature.
In the case of these plants, R 404A was
used as the high temperature refrigerant
condensing at 40°C and evaporating at
-35°C. The low temperature refrigerant Fig1: Labyrinth compressor (courtesy Burckhardt/Sulzer)
chosen was R 23, condensing at -30°C
and evaporating at -87°C. R 23 and R 508B are both Group A1 refriger-
ants (non-flammable and non-toxic) and although
GEA Process Cooling is a division of GEA Refrigeration R 508B (an azeotrope of R 23 and R 116) is slightly
concerned with special refrigeration applications. more efficient, R 23 was chosen due to it being
Limited choice more widely available.
The choice of refrigerants for low temperature Pressure problem
systems is limited. The four usual ones are: The advantage of all these refrigerants is that even
Refrigerant Boiling Point at Atmospheric Pressure
at -90°C, the pressures are above or only slightly
below atmospheric. The downside of this is that
R 23 -82.2 °C at normal ambient temperatures, the pressures
R 508B -88.5°C are very high. R 23 and R508B have a pressure
Ethane (R170) -88.8°C
of about 4000 kPa at room temperature. To design
relatively large systems to be able to withstand
Ethylene (R1150) -104°C these pressures due to the plant being inoperative,
due to shutdown or power outage, would be very
The latter two being Group A3 refrigerants are expensive. The other choices would be to:
flammable and are rarely used outside refineries
or similar places where generally the whole area • Let the refrigerant disperse to atmosphere via
is classified as being hazardous and the additional the relief valves – an expensive option with
cost of special electrical components has to be R 23 costing R 290 per kg.
spent anyway. • Incorporate a small engine driven refrigera-

HEATING & COOLING
tion system to keep the R 23 at a lower

temperature and therefore pressure – an
expensive and complex solution.
• Fit a fade-out vessel that has sufficient
volume to absorb the entire refrigerant
charge as vapour at a reasonable pressure,
say 1800 kPa.
The fade-out vessel was the chosen solu-
tion.
An advantage was that the customer speci-
fied the use of oil-free compressors. This
allowed the flooded evaporators to be used.
If normal lubricated compressors were
applied where some oil always leaves the
compressor and goes into the system, then
direct expansion would be preferred as it is
easier to reclaim the oil.
Two types
Fig 1 shows a section through a Burckhardt
oil-free compressor. For industrial sizes there
are basically two types of oil-free reciprocat-
ing compressors, those using self lubricat-
ing piston rings and those using labyrinth
pistons. This project used the latter design.
The piston is held concentrically within the
cylinder by the cross head and bearings and
the grooves in the piston create turbulence
that reduces the leakage rate.
Obviously at these low temperatures, special
materials must be selected. The packages
were fabricated by sister company GEA
Grasso (Africa) (Pty) Ltd using components
Diagram of cascade system
from their large range of products such as
Fit a fade-out vessel that has sufficient volume to absorb pressure vessels, high-pressure float regulators,
the entire refrigerant charge isolating valves and heat exchangers.
Pre-delivery performance testing
As the complete plant was to be exported,
the scope of supply included performance
testing at GEA’s works. This included tem-
porary installation of a water cooling tower
for connection to the R 404A condenser
and providing a false load for the R 23
evaporator. This false load was achieved
by fitting a 20 kW electric heater bank
into the silicone oil buffer tank. By varying
the power to the heaters via a solid-state
relay (thyristor) until the applied heat
balanced with the refrigeration capacity,
the actual capacity of the system could
be measured.
GEA Process Cooling can supply gas liq-
uefaction plants, liquid transfer systems,
large capacity chillers as well as gas
compressors.
Hannes Steyn, GEA Refrigeration, GEA Grasso
Photograph of one unit in our works prior to dispatch. The insulation is stainless steel clad (Africa), Tel: (021) 555-9153, Fax: (021) 551-
but the protective coating is still in situ for shipping. The fadeout vessel can be seen in 4035, Email: hannes.steyn@geagroup.com,
the background. The units had to be built to fit into ISO containers Website: www.grasso.co.za

HEATING & COOLING
Special Heater for Class

40 Locos
A PTC heater has been custom designed and manufactured for the Class 40 locomotive which was, at that
stage, being refurbished.
A
yanda Boltina, project engineer at Booyco A 24 V DC brushless EC (Electrically Commutated)
Engineering, says that the selected loco- centrifugal fan was used for the heater, which
motive has a generous supply of 74 V resulted in the heater unit’s in-rush current being
DC power and a limited 24 V DC power virtually the same as the running current.
supply available from the auxiliary generator and
voltage converter respectively from which the heater High heating efficiency
can draw power. “The traditional heating method The large finned heat exchange surface area of the
in locomotives incorporates the use of a fan and PTC heater results in high heating efficiency (96
typically 5 mm diameter rod heater elements, made – 98%), effectively saving electricity consumption
from resistive (INCOLOY) alloy, which are coiled and increasing product life. In addition, the PTC
and placed into the air path. heater offers very low air resistance, a long service
life, with no electrical noise and a fast thermal
We researched alternative heating technologies for the response time with low inrush current. The heater
application and PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient) bank does not burn or ignite when in contact with
heater elements were selected paper, matches or clothes, further enhancing the
safety of the heater.
Alternative heating “The PTC heating component is installed with an
“Due to the high air bypass rate in this applica- internal safety protection device so that when it
tion, the application-dependent heater efficiency of is used abnormally, current will automatically be
this method is between 70-80%. We researched reduced to maintain safety. This means that there
alternativefootwell cab heating technologies for the is now no need for a cycling thermostat,” Ayanda
application and PTC (Positive Temperature Coef- adds.
ficient) heater elements were selected,” Ayanda
explains.
Extensive testing
“The PTC heater elements are installed with a
double insulation heating device, which
is suitable for installation in high humid-
ity, without causing electricity leakage
when it comes into contact with metal,”
she adds.
Prior to actual installation, these heater
units were manufactured, assembled,
tested (capacity and vibration/shock) and
commissioned on a locomotive.
Jeremy Pougnet, Booyco Engineering (Pty)
Ltd, Tel: (011) 974-8640, Website: www.
booyco.co.za
Engineer Placements
www.engineerplacements.com
A 3D model of the PTC heater

Market Forum
Spherical roller bearings
BMG’s range of high performance, energy-
efficient NSK HPS spherical roller bearings
has a running life nearly double that of
conventional bearings of the same size.
Other advantages of the HPS range include
reduced maintenance costs, energy savings
and downsizing in product design. The
maximum limiting running speed of these
spherical roller bearings has also improved
by 20%.
“During rotation of conventional spherical
roller bearings, slip between the raceway
and roller causes fatigue, which eventually
leads to flaking. To counter this, NSK has
developed a special treatment on the surface
of the outer ring that improves traction of
rollers and controls the rotational speed
of these rollers,” says Lionel Burden of
BMG’s bearings division. “This advanced
technology, which has extended the service
life of these bearings by up to twice that of
conventional spherical roller bearings, also
increases the bearing dynamic load rating
by about 25%.”
NSK also applies a special nitriding treatment on the surface under similar circumstances.
of the cage which forms a finer, harder and more uniform “Conventional castable and pre-shaped components fre-
surface than on conventional bearings. This surface treat- quently use chemical binder systems that work well for
ment increases strength and minimises heat and friction. shaping purposes and at lower application temperatures”
Maximum limiting speed is significantly increased and cage explains Martin Beyers, MD of CERadvance, “but very often
wear in harsh operational applications is reduced. these binder systems are also the Achilles heel of the com-
Robust HPS spherical roller bearings have bore sizes from ponent at higher temperatures when further heat work and
40mm to 130mm. These bearings offer extended service material shrinkage combined with the formation of eutectic
life, reduced maintenance and enhanced performance in melt-down can actually cause pre-mature refractory failure.
heavy duty applications. Line-ox refractories are different in that they are stable at the
Lionel Burden, BMG’s Bearings Division, Tel: (031) 576 6200,
Fax: (031) 576-6581, Email: lionelb@bmgworld.net, Web: www.
bmgworld.net
Sintered refractories
Refractory castables and pre-shaped refractory components
predominantly find uses in the primary metal refining, heat
treatment, ceramic, chemical and petro-chemical indus-
tries.
For these applications, where the cost of process-shutdown
is higher than the supposed savings brought about by using
conventional, low-cost castables and pre-shaped components,
CERadvance has developed a range of sintered refractories,
combining high-temperature mechanical strength with excel-
lent thermal shock properties. Line-Ox sintered refractories
are produced with pure Alumina and sintered at temperatures
of at least as high as the application temperature, thereby
producing a stable product with a longer life expectancy than
would be expected from conventional castable materials

Market Forum
application temperatures for longer, and have no chemical At 3º oil and water vapors condense from a gas into liquid,
binder systems that can cause the weakening of the structure these liquids can be drained from the dryer to a waste
due to constant exposure to high temperatures and corrosive handling plant by a timed automatic drain or an intelligent
environments. capacitance type condensate drain. Capacitance drains do
CERadvance also partners with its customers to develop not waste expensive compressed air they only exhaust liquids,
new, innovative products. & prevent expensive compressed air wastage and will pay
for themselves within a year.
Martin Beyers, Tel: (011) 397-8933, Email: inquiries@ceradvance.
co.za Distribution and technical support is provided by Artic Dryers
International the sole Southern African distributor for SPX
Dehydration (formally Jemaco Flair)
Allen Cockfield, Artic Driers International, Tel: (011) 425-3484,
Fax: (011) 425-2462, Email: arctic@mweb.co.za, Website: www.
articdriers.co.za
Compressed air dryers

A new range of refrigeration air dryers has been released
in South Africa that is fitted with a plate to plate stainless
steel brazed heat exchanger that will resist almost any
form of internal corrosion attack. All the heat exchanger
is manufactured and complies to the CSA hydrostatic CAGI First curtain coater
ADF 100 test Voith Paper has won the first order for a curtain coater used
for graphic paper coating in a board machine from a renowned
The majority of air dryers are fitted with aluminum heat ex-
producer of high-quality carton board grades.
changers these can be prone to corrosion attack, dependent
on the operational environment. Saturated compressed air is This innovative process is thus used for the first time for coat
passed through an Air to Air and Air to Freon heat exchang- applications beyond the field of specialty papers where the
ers. These reduce the compressed air temperature to 3°C curtain coater has been successfully used for years to apply
using cold eco friendly R407 Freon. Constant dew point is thermo-reactive or capsule coatings.
obtained by the use of a simple gas regulator. The predominant fea-
tures of the process are
perfect coverage and
excellent printability
and optimal runnability
and significant energy
saving.
In this rebuild project,
the existing air knife
coater is replaced with
a curtain coater, thus
allowing to overcome
the current speed limit
and to substantially
increase the coating
solids content. In this
case, the coat drying
energy costs will almost
be halved.
Curtain coating ensures
optimal coverage, per-
mitting the use of more
cost-effective coating
pigments.
Voith Turbo, Anthony Jo-
seph, Email: Anthony.
joseph@voith.com, Tel:
(011) 418-4000, Roy Web-
ster, Tel: (011) 418-4036,
Email: roy.webster@voith.
com, www.voith.com

Market Forum
Variable pump speeds constant flow and vary pressure and flow to compensate for
The new generation Hydrovar variable speed drive available any system losses.
from ITT Water & Wastewater is a pump or wall-mounted Varying the speed of pumps ensures maximum efficiency
variable speed, microprocessor-based system controller which and when demand is low pumps not required
matches pump performance to a range of can be automatically switched off. This
hot and cold water applications. can contribute to substantial Life
Essentially, a drive unit with a Cycle Cost (LCC) savings, with
full range of electrical controls considerably lower running
and protection built into the costs and broader energy ef-
design, the Hydrovar does ficiencies.
much more than just change
Other advantages include a
motor speed.
‘soft start’ eliminating ad-
This innovative system, ditional load to the pumps
which was the world’s first during starting, improved
pump mounted micro-pro- software structure and
cessor system controller, illuminated display for
manages pump performance easy handling and pro-
to match a wide range of gramming.
system conditions, allow-
Lanelle Wheeler, ITT Water &
ing energy savings of up
Wastewater, Tel: (011) 966-9300,
to 70% in some applications.
www.flygt.co.za
The Hydrovar will change motor
speed, manage constant pressure or

Market Forum
New oil-free compressor range
High quality oil free air is combined with
low operating costs in Atlas Copco’s range
of ZR/ZT 15-750 and ZR/ZT 37 - 900
VSD air compressors.
The simple modular construction and
service friendly design of the ZR/ZT
ranges extended service intervals, keeps
maintenance interventions to a minimum
and increases compressor availability for
maximum plant operation.
The ZT/ZR compressors are designed as
fully integrated, compact packages with
drive motor, coolers, moisture drains and
filtration along with a controller for optimum
efficiency and reliable performance even in
the toughest environments in temperatures
of up to 50 degrees C. The full feature
versions include integration of a choice of
drying technologies to ensure compliance
with customers’ air quality requirements
even in small operating areas.
Atlas Copco South Africa Pty Ltd, Tel: (011) 821-
9000, Fax: (011) 821-9106, www.atlascopco.com www.
atlascopco.co.za
system as it presented significant cost savings. In addi-

tion, Festo lent its expertise and experience in the process
automation industry to deliver the most efficient solution
Process automation solution to the project.
Festo Process Automation recently supplied a complete pro-
cess automation solution to the newly constructed Kleinbrak Joanne Dexter, Festo (Pty) Ltd, Tel: (011) 971-5560, Fax: (011) 974-
River water treatment works, located 4203, Email: joanne_dexter@festo.com
in the Mossel Bay Municipality in the
Western Cape. The 15 mega litre per
day capacity upgrade of the plant was
completed in December 2009.
Festo was contracted by the project’s main
mechanical contractor, Eigenbau, and was
the main sub-supplier for the raw water
flow control and filter automation and
control equipment. The scope of work of
the project included the design, supply,
installation, testing and commissioning
of new raw water flow control and filter
plant automation equipment.
The solution included equipment for most
of the plant, including raw water inlet.
The raw water inlet features modulating
flow control and is accurately controlled
via the new DFPI modulating linear actua-
tor. The DFPI is a completely enclosed
pneumatic cylinder featuring an integral
positioner and 4-20mA input.
This pneumatic control system was Kleinbrak River water treatment works: Sluice gate actuators, featuring filter inlets and
selected over an electrically operated backwash outlets for all six filters, DLP linear actuators

Market Forum
of knowledge, fieldwork and continuous R&D
to engineer, develop, manufacture and supply
class leading eco-friendly purification systems
for mining, municipal and other general indus-
trial applications.
“Precious water sources are rapidly depleting
across the globe and responsible without respon-
sible management, this life giving commodity
will be destroyed,” says ABS General Manager,
Hennie Basson. He adds that skillful, careful
water purification management in a ‘water
poor’ country like South Africa is paramount
to maintain water supply. In addition, ABS
perceives a major shift in thinking by end users.
The continuing steep upward trend in energy
costs leaves end users with no alternative but
to investigate energy efficient solutions for
maximum savings. FBDA is accepted as the
norm for water purification in Europe and South
Africa is also moving in this direction.
ABS Wastewater Technology (Pty) Ltd, Hennie Basson,
Fine bubble diffuser aeration Tel: (011) 397-1612, Fax: (011) 397-1795, Email: hennie.basson@
Global aeration system specialist, ABS, supplies an envi- absgroup.com
ronmentally friendly waste water treatment solution, Fine
Bubble Diffuser Aeration (FBDA) that delivers substantially
reduced energy consumption for the mining, industry and
waste water treatment plants. Environmentally sympathetic
ABS is present in over 100 countries and uses 140 years
New mobile bowser

Arlona Engineering has recently completed the design and
fabrication of a new mobile bowser for Transnet, which is
used at the Port of Durban’s Pier 2 container terminal.
“The expansion of Pier 2 at the Durban Harbour has seen
the number of straddle carriers increasing to 100, with the
introduction soon of another 120 machines. Transnet needed
to introduce an efficient new system to provide fuel to the
large fleet of straddle carriers and gantry cranes operating
Arlona Engineering has recently completed the design and fab-

rication of a new mobile bowser for Transnet, which is used at
the Port of Durban’s Pier 2 container terminal. Arlona was also
responsible for the upgrade of two existing mobile bowsers that
could no longer cope with increased fuelling demands at the
Durban Container Terminal

Market Forum
in the stack area,” says Steve Christy, managing director of of glass,” explains Kachelmaier.
Arlona Engineering. “Durban Container Terminal (DCT) which Rexroth has solved the challenge of smooth elongation by
is the largest container terminal in the southern hemisphere utilising a two-part cradle joint, featuring a hardened cradle
requires efficient fuelling methods to optimise productivity and trunnion, into its design. The joint demonstrates lower
and ensure safety. friction characteristics when compared to transitional one
“Arlona Engineering was awarded the contract to design trunnion systems. By reducing friction, wear is minimised
and manufacture a new mobile tanker bowser to service and the tooth chain retains smooth operation.
these machines on site. Arlona was also responsible for the Erika Bennion, Pneumatics, Tectra Automation (Pty) Ltd Tel: (011) 971
upgrade of two existing mobile bowsers operating in the 9400, Fax: (011) 971 9440, Email: erika.bennion@tectra.co.za
terminal which were in poor condition and could no longer
cope with increased fuelling demands.
“The successful design of this innovative fuelling equipment,
which involved close team work and impeccable manufactur-
ing standards, is likely to be introduced at other ports and
terminals in Africa.”
Steve Christy, Arlona Engineering (Pty) Limited, Tel: (031) 205-
5991, Fax: (031) 205-9835, Email: steve@arlona.co.za, Web: www.
arlona.co.za
The strongest link in the chain

Rexroth, represented locally by Tectra Automation, has been
working closely with Ardagh Glass, a glassworks located
in Germany, in an effort to optimise tooth chain conveyors
for glass production. Rexroth chain conveyors have been
precision engineered to ensure that they provide smooth
Exploded view of the Minerals Type AH showing latest technology
conveyance of glass with a minimum of wear and a smooth metal Hi-Seal expeller and wear fundamental hydraulics
chain elongation under the extreme conditions present in
the glass industry. Customised materials optimise wear life
In hollow glass production, it is impossible to prevent wear “The high degree of interchangeability within the pump
and elongation of teeth chain trunnions, because of the high hydraulic wet end components of the Minerals AH slurry
temperatures involved in the manufacturing process. “The pump range sets it apart from other units,” John Otten,
challenge is to produce conveyor chains that demonstrate divisional product development manager at Weir Minerals,
an absolute minimum amount of deviation in spacing and says. He says the pump’s materials of construction can be
exhibit smooth elongation characteristics, for the production selected to suit different slurry properties without sacrificing
on performance, reliability or wear life.
Weir Minerals Africa’s double casing principle is a
major advantage to end users. “The inner casing, or
liner, is manufactured in the optimum material for a
specific application, while the tough SG iron outer
casing lends the necessary mechanical strength. The
result is uncompromising maximum life for the wear
components.”
John says that the company has been working on a
number of design improvements which will benefit
many existing customers by reducing operating costs.
“The aim is to improve performance by using the SG
iron outer casings and only change inner components
without impacting on the infrastructure of existing
pump installations. Customers can order retrofit kits,
as part of scheduled maintenance or replacement
programmes, and this mitigates against needing to
make radical changes to the existing pump design.”
Rene Calitz, Weir Minerals Africa (Pty) Ltd, Tel: (011) 929-
The bottles are passed onto the belt in a cycle of seconds 2622, www.weirminerals.com

Market Forum
Fighting fires in four wheel drive
Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicles celebrates Unimog’s
Southern African re-introduction with the sale of a U4000 Subscription
unit to the City of Windhoek’s Fire Department.
Please fax us if you wish to subscribe to “SA Mechanical En-
Namibia’s M + Z Motors Commercial Vehicles dealership
gineer” at R400,00 (incl postage and VAT) per year; R945,00
based in Windhoek last sold a Unimog U120 way back in
per year for Africa/Overseas. We will post you an invoice on
1983 to the Namibia Water Corporation Ltd., marking this,
receipt of your fax.
their latest sale, as a watershed moment in the history of
this one-of-kind all-terrain workhorse.
PROMECH PUBLISHING Fax No: (011) 781-1403
From:......................................................................................
(insert your name)
Title: ......................................................................................
Company: ..............................................................................
Address: ...............................................................................
...............................................................................................
...................................................................Code: ..................
Telephone: ( ) ....................................................................
Fax: ( ) ................................................................................
Email:.....................................................................................
Making the decision to buy a new Unimog was an easy one

for the City of Windhoek, as the U120 bought in 1983 is
still regularly called to action. After the U4000 chassis-cab Index to Advertisers
arrived from Germany, the super structure was custom-built
locally, over a six-month period, with a focus on the vehicle AST Outside Front Cover, Inside Front Cover
being perfectly tailored for home soil conditions and chal-
lenges. Bearings International 23
DaimlerChrysler South Africa, Shirle Greig, Tel: (012) 677-1904, CERAdvance 42
Fax: (012) 677-1682, Email: shirle.greig@daimler.com Chorus Call 44
Engen 32
Engineer Placements 18,39
On the Move
Europair 13
iSyncSolutions 8
Multi Alloys 10
Ringroller has Munters 4

appointed Phil- Polysius Inside Back Cover
lip Jacobs as Qfinsoft 14,15
strategic mar-
keting manager, Ritz 29
while Banie Ra- SKF 18
bie has been Voith 28
appointed as
sales manager Watson Marlow 36
responsible for Weir Minerals Outside Back Cover
Phillip Jacobs Banie Rabie
domestic sales. Yellotec 20,24

2010
Ball mill - 1906 Polysius Mills - Mines ahead

150 years of leading design technology
Cerro Verde - Peru Northam - South Africa Catoca - Angola
Oxiana - Australia
Polysius Service Centre Johannesburg South Africa
Polysius has, for 150 years, led the minerals and cement industry with innovative AG, SAG,
Ball mill and Scrubber designs. Industry globally benefit from the state-of-the-art machines
which incorporate
•Full fabricated shell including endwalls and girthgear

•Slide shoe bearing shell support
•Combiflex and gearless drives
Skorpion Zinc - Namibia
Combiflex
Polysius
A division of ThyssenKrupp Engineering (Pty) Ltd Visit us at
71 Nanyuki Road, Sunninghill 2191 / Republic of South Africa Electra Mining
Tel: +27 (0) 11 236-1218. Fax: +27 (0) 11 236-1301 Hall 6, Stand J3
e-mail: pia.guertler@thyssenkrupp.com 4 - 8 Oct 2010
www.polysius.co.za
,6<285
7+528*+ 38 7
'(&5($6,1*"
Optimise operations and minimise

downtime with the Weir Minerals Mill Circuit
Solution
What goes in must go out. Swift. Steady. No bottlenecks.

The Weir Mill Circuit Solution - the most durable equipment
for your most critical processes - delivers longevity, capacity
and operating efficiency. At a lower TCO, Weir’s superior
hydraulic design and the combination of five performance
leading brands ensures constant plant throughput. Because
we know it’s more than just your asset on the line.
For further information, please contact us on:

+27 (0)11 929 2600
ENVIROTECH WARMAN VULCO CAVEX ISOGATE

Z- !%2N%2I. Z- !%2N%2I. A2C-2U--! R**%- N%2[%+
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Solutions

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THE SOUTH AFRICAN MECHANICAL ENGINEER VOL 60 April 2010 

SAIMechE R&D Journal

Fluor SA Siemens papers from

GEA Air-cooled Systems SNC-Lavalin SA

wards. Papers from 1985

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Western Cape Branch AGM KZN Branch AGM

Technology Olympiad AGM Eastern Cape Branch AGM

The Technology Olympiad AGM precedes the Central Branch

Training Events Calendar - 2010

Call for workshop developers

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forces it downwards to the server modules fitted

In addition the Pyrogen fire extinguishing module

The dual detecting system

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Off into the sunset oin the Vaal River

South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) Close to nature

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working with Microsoft Active Directory directory services brings.

CHALLENGE ANSYS MECHANICAL

Courtesy of qpunkt GmbH

The wealth of physical models in FLUENT

WINDOWS HPC SERVER

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Much less time

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Rail and Wheel Flange

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Produced by: Our New Monthly Section

Managing Editor Susan Custers

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Table 1 - Comparative Solar Resources Worldwide

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is at 250°C and 40 bar and air systems

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The South African market

Water treatment refurbishment

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Handling for wind power

This reach stacker is also used to lift and load completed

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Shaping the Future

This ‘simplification’ of code is

“The code will help us to use the same

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working on,” says Arno.

Energy-saving, superior lubricants for

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ENVIROTECH WARMAN VULCO CAVEX ISOGATE