SA Mechanical Engineer Mar12 by Promech Publishing

THE SOUTH AFRICAN MECHANICAL ENGINEER

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AN ENGINEERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S VIEW

National Planning Commission (NPC) Report: Dream or Nightmare? Chris Reay

Admirable and ambitious goals are always regarded as an essential component of any programme. Those recently published by the NPC can hardly be seen as anything but ultra ambitious. Populated with the usual visionary statements we have become used to imbibing at every political packaged speech and woven together in innuendo and an overdose of clear naivety as to what it takes to deliver results, it leaves one experiencing the after-effects of a fairytale storyline.

Chairman of the Working Committee: Communications (SA Institution of Mechanical Engineering)

We would all like to believe that we will achieve the developed country status that is outlined by 2030, reduce unemployment by 11 million and have education and service delivery at levels expected of a developed nation. The big concern on virtually every readerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mind however is how on earth is the country going to get all this done, with not only an abysmal record at delivering anything, except the feted world cup stadiums. So many of the necessary conditions to be able to action the many projects are just not in place and are unlikely to be so for a long time, if ever. Reference to the world cup stadiums as an example of our excellence must be tempered with the fact that the whole programme cost the country an absolute fortune and was largely supported by a good deal of foreign input that would bankrupt SA if we were to address our infrastructure needs in the same way.

There is simply no hope of having any impact on the huge skills need of the country The next big concern is that the government has only just begun to display a realisation (by generating the NPC) that much has gone wrong over many years, where it seems inconceivable that it could not see the writing on the wall earlier: the collapse of education at grass roots level, replacement of skilled administrators and engineering resources with political cadres whom they will struggle to now remove, and rampant corruption and stealing of the public purse being exposed daily. We have had the closure of the teachers and nursing colleges and cessation of time-proven apprenticeship training as well as the perpetual decline of health and judicial services. If we add all this up, are we at all surprised that we have such diminished capacity problems?

and probably inevitably regress. Worse still is that our 5% taxpayer group is actually shrinking. This must be the most scary metric of the lot. We had better all be eternal optimists to think the big plan will do more than lurch ahead slowly. The engineering fraternity has been asked to comment on the NPC and the overall and somewhat obvious verdict so far is that unless some serious investment is made in training of graduate engineering resources in a dramatically improved, supervised and mentored system, there is simply no hope of having any impact on the huge skills need of the country to effectively replace the aging, retired and emigrated engineering resources. Just imagine what the profession could do with a tiny fraction of the immense waste and theft that passes as government, provincial and municipal service spend. The measure of the real intent of the NPC will be just how many of these necessary basic activities are implemented for the plan to have any observable movement. We have yet to see any modicum of how it is to be done. It will be interesting to observe if the government believes in the comments from the professsion. The basic groundwork for the escalation of graduate training is being fast tracked by willing and keen members of ECSA and the Voluntary Engineering Associations. Finding sufficient funding just to construct the curriculum details is another challenge and without that, the process will be still-born. We envisage that the outcome of this effort will have a massive impact on driving both the candidates and the employers to join the envisaged training party. The NPC cannot afford to mess this one up by ignoring such obvious advice.

The NPC report makes no reference to an international study that shows that a country that has a taxpayer base of less than 25% of the population is doomed not to emerge beyond undeveloped status THE SOUTH AFRICAN MECHANICAL ENGINEER

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March 2012 VOLUME 62 NUMBER 3

Contents

On the cover: BMG Hydraulics Tel: (011) 614-2004 mjohnson@bmghydraulics.net www.bmgworld.net

Monthly Column

Power Transmission

9 Prominent Professionals

35 From Bicycles to Engineering Shop 37 Caring for Bearings

Cover Story 10 Firmly Found its Feet

Regulars

Energy Efficiency 12 Every Drop Counts

3 An Engineer’s View

Tertiary Education

6 Institution News

13 A Solution to the Education Problem in SA

8 SAINT

Hydraulics & Pneumatics Copyright

All rights reserved. No editorial matter published in “SA Mechanical Engineer” may be reproduced in any form or language without written permission of the publishers. While every effort is made to ensure accurate reproduction, the editor, authors, publishers and 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 particular field or fields.

39 Market Forum

19 New Pneumatic Stope Drill Rig

POWER GENERATION TODAY 21 Money for Mahala 26 Power Generation News

Opinion 28 Soapbox

Oils & Lubrication 29 Clean Lubes in Mini-bulk

Mills 31 Trends in Mining 33 Grinding Applications Research The monthly circulation is 4 242

Produced by:

Official Publication of THE SA INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

PROMECH PUBLISHING, P O Box 373, Pinegowrie, 2123 Republic of South Africa Tel: (011) 781-1401, Fax: (011) 781-1403 Email: samecheng@promech.co.za Website: www.promech.co.za Managing Editor Susan Custers Editor Kowie Hamman Advertising Mark Bennett Circulation Catherine Macdiva DTP Zinobia Docrat/Donovan Vadivalu

and endorsed by:

Disclaimer

PROMECH Publishing and The South African Institution of Mechanical Engineering as well as any other body do not take responsibility for the opinions expressed by individuals.

Printed by: Typo Colour Printing, Tel: (011) 402-3468/9

 CORROSION INSTITUTE OF SA  SA PUMP MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION  SA VALVE AND ACTUATORS MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION  THE SA INSTITUTE OF TRIBOLOGY  NUCLEAR INSTITUTE  SA INSTITUTE FOR NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING  NATIONAL SOCIETY OF BLACK ENGINEERS  INSTITUTE FOR CERTIFICATED MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS  SOUTH AFRICAN ASSOCIATION OF CONSULTING ENGINEERS  ASSOCIATION OF SOCIETIES FOR OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

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THE SA INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Forthcoming SAIMechE Training Events

Council 2011/2012 Office Bearers

President .................................................. G Barbic (George) Vice President .............................................. D Findeis (Dirk) National Treasurer ............................... KK Nyangoni (Kudzai)

Branch Chairpersons

Central ...................................................... M Cramer (Mike) Eastern Cape ................................................ W Rall (William) KwaZulu/Natal ................................................. J Moto (John) Mpumalanga Highveld.............................. L Odendaal (Louis) Western Cape ........................................... Dr D Blaine (Debbie)

Portfolios:

Communications/Strategic Planning/ Specialist Group..................................................CD Reay (Chris) Young Engineers Forum................Prof B Collier-Reed (Brandon) Education: Universities of Technology............... E Zawilska (Ewa) Membership .................................................... E Zawilska (Ewa) Professional Development Programme..........M Black (Malcolm) Technology Programme ................................. SZ Hrabar (Steve) To be confirmed....................................................A Roos (Andre) To be confirmed.........................................G Bartholomew (Bart)

Event fee : R2,920.00 per person per day (excl.VAT). SAIMechE Members in good standing may claim a 20% discount on their event fee. An early payment discount of 5% of invoice value may be claimed for event payments received no less than 7 calendar days before the event start date. A registration form and full terms and conditions may be obtained from Carey Evans on E-mail carey@saimeche.org.za or Tel. 031-764-7136. Also, detailed individual event programmes are available from Carey. For information on In-House events, as well as event planning, kindly contact Linda Robinson on linda@saimeche.org.za or Tel: 031 764 7136. Event Code

Abbreviated Date Title Start

Date End

Region

B6112

Leadership and 11 Apr 12 Management Principles & Practice Workshop

12 Apr 12

Port Elizabeth

C2212

Lean Manufacturing Workshop

1 May 12

3 May 12

Cape Town

F6112

Leadership and 2 May 12 Management Principles & Practice Workshop

3 May 12

Secunda

A2412

Predictive & 8 May 12 Preventive Maintenance Best Practice Workshop

8 May 12

Durban

F2412

Predictive & 15 May 12 Preventive Maintenance Best Practice Workshop

15 May 12

Secunda

C6112

Leadership and 23 May 12 Management Principles & Practice Workshop

24 May 12

Cape Town

B2212

Lean Manufac- 29 May 12 turing Workshop

31 May 12

Port Elizabeth

C2412

Predictive & 5 Jun 12 Preventive Maintenance Best Practice Workshop

5 Jun 12

Cape Town

B2412

Predictive & 12 Jun 12 Preventive Maintenance Best Practice Workshop

12 Jun 12

Port Elizabeth

E2512

Effective Man- 13 Jun 12 agement Roles Workshop

12 Jun 12

East Rand

K2412

Predictive & 19 Jun 12 Preventive Maintenance Best Practice Workshop

19 Jun 12

Bloemfontein

E2412

Predictive & 21 Jun 12 Preventive Maintenance Best Practice Workshop

21 Jun 12

East Rand

Chief Executive Officer: Vaughan Rimbault National Office Manager: Anisa Nanabhay PO Box 511, Bruma, 2026 Tel: (011) 615-5660, Fax: (011) 388-5356 Email: info@saimeche.org.za Website: www.saimeche.org.za Membership: Central, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga & KZN: membership@saimeche.org.za Membership: Western Cape: saimeche.wc@vodamail.co.za

Company Affiliates

Osborn Engineered Products SA

Alstom Power Service SA

Rotek Engineering

Babcock Africa Limited

RSD a division of DCD-Dorbyl

Bateman Engineered Technologies

S.A.M.E Water

Bosch Projects

Sasol Technologies

Fluor SA

SEW Eurodrive

GEA Air-cooled Systems

Siemens

Hansen Transmissions SA

SNC-Lavalin SA

Hatch Africa

Spicer Axle SA

Howden Power

Spirax Sarco SA

Howden Projects

Thyssenkrupp Engineering

Industrial Water Cooling

Transvaal Pressed Nuts & Bolts

MBE Minerals (SA) (Pty) Ltd Ultra-Flow Engineering Services (previously KHD Humboldt Vital Engineering Wedag SA) Weir Minerals Africa Megchem Eng & Drafting Services Winder Controls

THE SOUTH AFRICAN MECHANICAL ENGINEER

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THE SA INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Bloodhound Presentation Feedback SAIMechE Central Branch presentation by Richard Noble, Bloodhound Project Director

AIMechE Central Branch, in conjunction with the Engineering Council of South Africa’s (ECSA) Engenius, hosted a presentation by Richard Noble, Project Director for Bloodhound SSC on 27 February 2012. Richard captivated the audience with updates on the latest Vaughan Rimbault progress on this enthralling engineering adventure, and explained how the 1,000 mph Bloodhound Project aims to inspire the next generation to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematicians (STEM). According to SAIMechE CEO, Vaughan Rimbault, the Bloodhound Project presents a unique opportunity to engage with the youth and attract them into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. “Bloodhound’s innovative open-access design programme as well as their absolute focus on education, shows us many examples of how to improve our education efforts using technology. This is not about a fast car – this is about engaging with as many people as possible, and to engage with them in a manner that makes STEM exciting, attractive and understandable.” Richard Noble is not a novice when it comes to all-things-fast. He was the holder of the land speed record between 1983 and 1997, driving Thrust2 at 1 019 km/h. He was the

Richard Noble, Bloodhound Project Director

Project Director of ThrustSSC, the vehicle which holds the current land speed record set at Black Rock Desert, Nevada in 1997. Against a background of today’s low risk culture, Richard specialises in developing high risk ventures. Vaughan Rimbault, SAIMechE CEO

From left: George Barbic: SAIMechE President and Richard Noble

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18th World Conference on NDT Attend the 18th World Conference on NDT and obtain the required CPD Points: It has been approved – The 18th World Conference on Non-destructive Testing (WCNDT) will carry CPD points for engineers attending the conference. The final details are still to be decided, but the go-ahead has already been given.

part from attending the 18th WCNDT to obtain the CPD-points to maintain the registration as a professional engineer with ECSA what could possibly be an additional motivation for an engineer to attend the conference? The possibility that an engineer poses such a question to himself, or to a colleague, or to a superior could point to the likelihood, that he does not know that he does not know about NDT in general. Most of the people who know that they know about NDT attend the conference to recalibrate their knowledge about NDT. The more than 450 papers, the overview lectures, the plenary lectures and the possibility of having interaction with the 150 exhibitors at the conference, provide more than enough scope and opportunity for these knowledgeable engineers. They will be able to inform themselves about the state-of-the-art with respect to NDT. They are also most likely attending the pre-conference workshop on Digital imaging to gain insight into the intricacies of, and opportunities offered by, digital technologies in NDT. In the same vein the conference also provides enough scope and opportunity to those engineers who know that they don’t know to get au fait with what the technology has to offer and to start the learning process in the field of NDT, thus enhancing their ability to be “better” engineers. If the people who do not know that they do not know are at this stage still not convinced that they should attend, I can only offer a further analogy: the 18th WCNDT is the “world cup” of NDT technology. South Africa is extremely privileged and honoured to stage and offer also “this world cup” from 16 to 20 April 2012 at the ICC in Durban. Please attend because the opportunity to have this showcase of NDT technology on your doorstep will not come again in your lifetime. This opportunity would then be lost forever. Please register on www.wcndt2012.org.za. Looking forward to meeting you all in Durban Manfred Johannes, President of the 18th WCNDT

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MONTHLY COLUMN

Prominent Professionals George Barbic Pr.Eng B.Sc.(Mech.Eng)

Projects

Academic

Most challenging

School

College de Lesseps, Ismailia, Egypt

Graduate studies

University of Natal, Durban

Post-Graduate

Diploma in Project Management; Department of Labour: Mechanical Engineer’s Certificate of Competency (Factory)

Professional Bodies

Fellow Member of SA Institution of Mechanical Engineering; Associate Member of Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Career Path - First employer

Engineering Inspection Company/Vector Equipment: Mechanical Engineer, Production Manager/Site Manager: 1964-1969

Growth path

Sandock-Austral: Development Manager of armoured cars: 1969-1973 National Springs Manufacturing: Technical Director, General Manager: 1973-1978 Mitchell Cotts Engineering: Technical Manager: 1978 1981 (Company closed down) GH Marais Partners/Stewart Scott: Director: 1981-2001

Present employer & position

George Barbic & Associates: Principal Member: 2001 - to date

Achievements A design: SAPS Forensic Laboratory ( Pretoria) and the Paarl Government Hospital. A project: The SAPS Academy in Oudtshoorn which included mechanical and electrical services and the coordination with structural and civil engineers including six mechanical and electrical sub-contractors. Future: With my son joining my company, the company will include Project and Construction Management. Additional technical staff will be required and the emphasis will be on young Engineers of all races.

S A P S Fo r e n s i c Laboratory ( Pretoria); the mechanical engineer’s appointment included building services. New ideas were implemented to meet the very tight conditions expected by the Swiss equipment suppliers.

Most rewarding

The SAPS Acad- George Barbic emy in Oudtshoorn which included mechanical and electrical services.

Commentary In my opinion the present Government has endangered the future of mechanical engineering by eliminating the training of apprentices and the removal of subsidies to companies in the training of technicians and engineers. Young engineers who have graduated in the past ten years have very little practical experience and companies are mainly concerned to meet the BEE requirements at the disadvantage of these young engineers receiving the correct engineering training.

How would you mend this?

The South African Institution of Mechanical Engineering is launching in 2012 a scheme to train the young mechanical engineers who will be guided by appointed monitoring engineers. We must not exclude organisations such as Sasol who do have similar schemes to train young engineers.

Message to young engineers

My personal message to young engineers is: do not be tempted by high salaries and senior management positions when you are not certain that you will be capable to face the realities of the engineering life. Each engineer should be capable of saying: “ After three years I can become a Pr.Eng. or a Tech.Eng. and can therefore assume the responsibility of my position”.

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COVER STORY

Firmly Found its Feet By systematically adding specialised engineering services such as power transmission, materials handling and hydraulics & pneumatics to its portfolio over the past couple of years, BMG has become one of the largest engineering suppliers in Africa. Today, the company literally covering all aspects of engineering for all industry sectors.

ike the hydraulics division, the acquisition of specialised companies has strengthened each division to grow into strong independent business units, while being fully integrated into the BMG group as a whole. “SA Mechanical

Confidently provide the industry with premium quality hydraulic components, the technical expertise and the superior service expected from a leading engineering supplier

Engineer” visits the BMG Hydraulics division based in Benrose south of downtown Johannesburg to see what’s on offer.

Hydraulics

“In the field of hydraulics, including the pneumatics section added recently, we can now confidently provide the industry with premium quality hydraulic components, the technical expertise and the superior service expected from a leading engineering supplier,” says Greg Lester, managing director of BMG Hydraulics. Apart from the design and manufacture of a wide range of hydraulic components and systems, a special bay for the servicing, repair and manufacture of hydraulic cylinders, particularly the popular sizes used in the earthmoving industry, has been completed. BMG Hydraulics carry a large range of service exchange cylinders for specific popular earthmoving machines – CAT, Liebherr, Komatsu, Hitachi, Bell and Volvo. “Our operation is essentially divided into two sections, a new manufacture and repair section,” explains Roelof Luyt, manager of the cylinder department. “For new manufacture, we design cylinders according to specifications provided by the customer and on the repair section we reverse engineer cylinders back to OEM tolerances. BMG Hydraulics doesn’t believe in quick fixes.

Manufacturing

Left to right: Mark Johnson, marketing manager, Greg Lester, managing director of BMG Hydraulics and Roelof Luyt, manager of the cylinder department

The company offers a standard range of hydraulic cylinders, called the GQ2 range. This consists of a cylinder kit (piston, gland, ports, base & piston nut), barrel & rod. “The pre-honed barrels and chromed rods are imported as raw stock, cut to the required lengths for the specific cylinder and then get final machined” adds Roelof. The kit components are welded and fitted to make up a complete hydraulic cylinder. This system of manufacture applies to all new cylinders whether custom-made or one from our standard range of GQ2 cylinders.” In addition to investing in a special welding and in-line boring machine, made specifically for the refurbishing of inside worn bores, the company has installed a dedicated hydraulic cylinder servicing workbench for the repair, servicing and rebuilding of cylinders. This is complemented by a test bench for pressures up to 700 bar. Although the assembly bench can only take cylinders up to 7.9 metres, cylinders of 12 metres in length have been serviced at this facility.

Running record

“We follow a strict protocol for cylinder repair in order to keep a running record of all the work done,” Roelof says. “When a cylinder comes in for repair, it is stripped, washed and all compo-

Assembling a cylinder

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COVER STORY

nents are tagged and hard-stamped for traceability purposes.”

identify and amend possible design flaws before fabrication commences.

The components then go through to the assessment section where each main component, seal sets and grooves, barrel and the rod are assessed and a full report is drawn up. A complete internal measurement of the barrel is undertaken while all the seals grooves are inspected to make sure they are within OEM tolerances. This is submitted to the customer for approval before proceeding to repair. “Final finishing of the barrel and rod is undertaken locally by reputable chroming and honing specialists to our specifications. After components are refurbished, they are inspected before the unit goes to final assembly. All units are tested and painted before delivery,” Roelof explains.

“A whole range of hydraulic power packs can be designed and manufactured in Durban which has similar facilities to this centre here in Johannesburg,” he adds. “Our design engineers have the know-how and experience to design, build, test and complete hydraulic power pack systems. This includes most electrical specifications, complete with terminal junction boxes, starters and PLC systems. We also have our own paint and coating facility which covers most coating specifications.”

Manifold design

Apart from getting involved in project engineering/ consulting in terms of hydraulics, pneumatics and electronics, BMG Hydraulics designs and manufactures hydraulic manifolds. “We use CAD and CAM software to offer our clients a total solution, from manifold design through to manufacturing and assembling a complete system,” says national sales and marketing manager, Mark Johnson. “Our 3-D modelling programmes allow us to view both the interior and exterior of a manifold in a virtual environment before we manufacture. This helps to

The company has installed a dedicated hydraulic cylinder servicing workbench for the repair, servicing and rebuilding of cylinders Pneumatics

Although the hydraulics side of this business has now firmly found its feet in local industry, the recently-established pneumatics section of BMG Hydraulics is still in a growth phase. “We’ve selected the best quality pneumatic products which we’ll be marketing in the coming months,” Mark says in conclusion. Mark Johnson, BMG Hydraulics, Tel: (011) 614-2004, Email: mjohnson@bmghydraulics.net www.bmgworld.net

All units are tested and painted before delivery

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ENERGY-EFFICIENCY

Every Drop Counts When it comes to energy saving, every drop counts. A one percent saving may not sound like much, but in the context of 48 gigawatt of power, it means a saving of about 480 megawatt of power, the equivalent of a small coal-fired power station, or a large solar park or wind turbine farm.

n a drive over the past couple of years to improve the efficiency benefits of their various technologies, deeply entrenched throughout the coal-fired power generation industry across the globe, Clyde Bergemann aims to achieve this target. “SA Mechanical Engineer” speaks to Jeremy Kirsch, director of Clyde Bergemann Africa. “In South Africa we’ll soon have the capacity to generate about 48 GW of electricity from coal-fired power stations,” he says “With the technologies we now have in our group, we can comfortably achieve a 1% improvement in the utilisation of electricity in these power stations.

Jeremy Kirsch of Clyde Bergemann Africa

With the technologies we now have in our group, we can comfortably achieve a 1% improvement in the utilisation of electricity in these power stations Better technologies combined

“These technologies include air cleaning equipment, boiler cleaning systems, firing systems, dense phase material handling technology, dry bottom ash sys-

Paul Hamilton, technology and innovations manager at Clyde Bergemann

tems, gas handling control systems and heat recovery technologies,” adds Jeremy. “Through the acquisition of specialist companies in their respective fields, we can assist industry to reduce emissions, clean up the environment while saving energy to boot.” Legislation is a driver but many companies have already taken the initiative in their own right to clean up their act. “In line with this trend, our specific focus is on improving all the technologies which play a role in the coal-fired power generation chain,” Jeremy says. “And we’ve specifically concentrated on doing so in an environmentally-sound way.”

Air cleaning

The major areas addressed

A typical air gas handling system

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in terms of environmental issues include air cleaning technologies which cover fabric filter plant, electrostatic precipitators (ESPs), flue gas desulphurisation and catalytic NOX systems.” Jeremy elaborates, “Many ESP designs date from the late seventies, but as pressure to reduce emissions has increased over the last decade, these systems have evolved dramatically to improve efficiencies, so we’re upgrading many of the old systems around the world with the new technology.” An ESP is a high efficiency, particulate removal device that collects particulate matter from high temperature combustion or process gas streams. The electrostatic precipitator works by exposing particulate matter entrained in the gas stream to electro magnetic fields with high voltage electrodes and then electrostatically influencing those particles to oppositely-charged collecting plates within the ESP. Although the basic principle of ESP has remained unchanged, physical design and new electronic technology resulted in improved new generation ESPs. “We’ve developed better geometric rigidity in the construction of the systems by making the electrodes more rigid to help retain the geometric layout of the system during operation where tem-

peratures and flow changes constantly,” explains Jeremy. “The new generation ESPs have much better electronic control, allowing much higher voltage discharges across the electrodes. All this has contributed to improving the overall collection efficiency of the new ESP systems which we’re using to upgrade and refurbish various old installations in South Africa as well.”

The large damper systems to control flue gas flow are highly engineered systems operating in very high temperature environments Bag filters

“However, South African power station ash is not generally as electrically active as in other parts of the world which means it has to be treated chemically to make an ESP more efficient,” explains Jeremy. “One of the best ways to go is the fabric bag filter method. We literally cut the top off an existing ESP system, take everything out and replace it with bag filters to improve the efficiency of collection.” “The other three technologies impacting the power generation industry are our gas handling systems, heat recovery systems and burner technology,” says

The major areas addressed in terms of environmental issues include air cleaning technologies which cover fabric filter plant, electrostatic precipitators (ESPs), flue gas de-sulphurisation and catalytic NOX systems

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A long retractable soot blower

Paul Hamilton, technology and innovations manager at Clyde Bergemann, as he joins our conversation. “The large damper systems to control flue gas flow are highly engineered systems operating in very high temperature environments. These are made by Clyde Bergemann Bachmann in the USA, our global centre of competence for high performance process and exhaust gas control solutions.”

Energy recovery

“On the energy recovery side we specialise in the manufacture of the H-type economisers which we’re supplying to new power stations as well as replacing at many existing power stations,” adds Jeremy. “Our sister company in Australia has developed methods to manufacture these systems much more cost effectively than in the past. This

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is a huge contributor to achieving the one percent saving in the operation of boiler by having better back-end heat recovery from the flue gas.” Clyde Bergemann’s burner technology covers a wide range of applications across all industries, but new niche products have been developed for specific industries. Says Jeremy in conclusion, “Historically certain low calorific value gas, at a steel mill for example, is flared off to atmosphere as it cannot be used effectively for industrial purposes as a heat source because it has very irregular combustion characteristics. We now have burners which burn this gas consistently enough to be used in industrial processes.” Jeremy Kirsch, Clyde Bergemann Africa, Tel: (011) 704-0580; Email: jeremyk@cbz.co.za

March 2012

TERTIARY EDUCATION

A Solution to the Education Problem in SA Martin Bailey, a director of Industrial Logistic Systems Pty Ltd and a mechanical engineer tells us more. Although focused on supply chain, this article gives much food for thought on improving tertiary education across the board in South Africa.

hile there are a few islands of excellence, and the quality of students is getting better and better (as population grows and competition increases), many of the Supply Chain education programmes are outdated, not relevant and do not prepare students adequately for South Africa’s business needs. Martin Bailey

How did this happen? Firstly, much like the IT industry, Supply Chain is a rapidly developing business, and Universities simply don’t have the resources to keep up with what is happening in industry. Coupled with this rapid change in technology and process, there is an extreme shortage of skilled management. There are thus ample employment opportuni-

In some cases, we have therefore created an environment, where mediocrity prevails

ties for University graduates (especially engineering graduates), at salaries massively higher than what can be paid by the Universities.

Take home pay

The average take home pay for junior lecturers in South Africa is in the order of R7,500 pm. A lecturer, on average, receives RI0,190 a month, up to a maximum of R16,503 pm. A senior lecturer starts at R12,254 reaching R21,120 at the top of the scale. The average pay of professors in South Africa varies between R20,000 pm to R30,000 pm (reference http://www.solidaritysa.co.za/Home/ wmview.php?ArtID=394). While Engineering lecturers may have these salaries supplemented, overall remuneration is substantially below that earned in industry. At these salaries, “best minds” either have to be extremely dedicated, or spend most of their lives consulting (or have a second job). Certainly they can easily triple their salaries in Industry.

Incestuous

Industry has thus drained many of the best academic minds out of the Universities. Many of those who stay behind, are so poorly paid that their life’s focus is on supplementing their income, and not on keeping up to date with Industry’s needs. In some cases, we have therefore created an environment, where mediocrity prevails. The teaching can easily become incestuous, where academics who have no modern industry exposure (no matter what their qualification) teach students, who in turn graduate, and teach the new crop of students. Teaching often thus tends to be out of a convenient text book and is not necessarily related to what industry needs. THE SOUTH AFRICAN MECHANICAL ENGINEER

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realisation that it was inevitable that their best minds would be pinched by an insatiable need for skills in a rapidly changing industry. How could they solve the problem? Several of the universities have solved the problem as follows: • First they created a separate entity with an organising secretary in charge – outside the normal teaching structure (an “industry liaison centre”) • They then went out to industry and found several “leading lights” in the industry – generally senior Directors of companies – and typically in the 50 to 65 age group • These “leading lights” were selected firstly on their knowledge and experience and then on academic background.

He visibly puffed up and proudly produced his University business card In December I visited a few countries in Europe who have come up with some very simple solutions to this problem. They were faced with the same crisis. An environment, where industry was unhappy with what they were teaching, and a

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• They then formally organised programmes using these leading professionals as core inputs – using their expertise on a regular basis (say 2 to 3 lectures a week) • These inputs were done on a highly structured basis (not random lectures)

Huge benefits

The Universities thus used their ultimate leverage –

March 2012

TERTIARY EDUCATION

providing a status for these successful businessmen. By creating “Associate / Honorary Professorships” for leaders in the industry, they harvested the best minds, with the most experience, at nominal cost, and created huge benefits for their students (and staff who are exposed to a “whole new world”). I met with one grey haired gentleman who heads up one of Europe’s largest consulting groups. When he told me about an arrangement where he lectured at a leading British University, he visibly puffed up and proudly produced his University business card. One of his staff told me he never missed his regular day at the University, and he regularly uses substantial company resources to help prepare world class presentations.

Status

But - wait – this is nothing new. In the medical profession, almost all the lecturers have main jobs that include paid patient consulting. They start out as general practitioners, specialise, and when they become “leading lights” they go back to university on a part time basis to share their knowledge. Most of these lecturers earn their “real money” from their medical consulting, not from the University. So why are we in the Engineering and Supply Chain business different? Why do we

retreat into an academic shell? Just think of the opportunities for Universities that can change the way they do business. So we now have a simple process that will provide best possible expertise for universities providing courses in Supply Chain & Logistics. A simple method using the University’s status, coupled with the best expertise in the country – at a very low cost. It seems like a win-win concept. Tel: (011) 656-1100, Fax: (011) 656-2642, Email: ils-jhb@ils.co.za, martin@ils.co.za, www.ils.co.za

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SAMHYDRAULIK, which is one of the leaders in the field of hydraulic transmission, has been operating for over 25 years in the international market, offering a complete range of orbital hydraulic motors and power steering units, axial pumps and motors for medium and high pressure ranges, all characterised by excellent performances. SAMHYDRAULIK employs 120 people who operate inside a very modern and efficient plant that spans over 6 000 square metres to assure a high standard and flexible production capacity. The latest computer technology is used for both design and production, combined with strict quality control procedures during all production phases, which translates into innovative, reliable and functional products that meet the various needs of the market. Its ISO 9001 certification, held since 1994, is the result of a qualityorientated philosophy on which SAMHYDRAULIK has always based its operation.

A H 18

AXIOM HYDRAULICS (PTY) LTD Tel: (011) 334-3068 / 334-3086 Fax: (011) 334-4543 E-mail: axiomjhb@mweb.co.za

THE SOUTH AFRICAN MECHANICAL ENGINEER

17 Heidelberg Road, Village Main, Johannesburg, 2000 P O Box 260248, Excom, South Africa, 2023

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HYDRAULICS & PNEUMATICS

New Pneumatic Stope Drill Rig Working at the coal face takes on a whole new meaning when it comes to the low-stope mining conditions of gold and platinum mines. For a drill operator it is sheer hell in a stope only a meter high where it is dark, hot, humid, noisy, dusty and wet, never mind dangerous.

rillers have a strenuous job, one that does not appeal to younger workers to the extent that the average age of drillers on a mine sometimes exceeds 45 years. Aids is also threatening the skills base and ability to perform strenuous work. In addition there is increasing pressure from unions and employees to improve working conditions and reduce the risk of fatalities, injuries and operational illnesses.

With a mechanised machine, the driller is not only positioned away from the rock face under a section which is already roof bolted, but he’s out of the direct dust and water spray of the drill Mechanised drilling

“SA Mechanical Engineer” visits Galt Equipment, based in Isando near Johannesburg, to speak to technical director, Hannes Fourie, about the Mitra pneumatic drilling system they’ve developed for low stope drilling. “First off, our machine won’t eliminate the team of three-four currently drilling in a stope, rather it promotes a driller to a machine operator

Hannes Fourie of Galt Equipment

with more status while the others are simply set to work to clear the faster rate of production our machine brings about,” he says. “Originally it was a huge concern among underground workers when we arrived with our machine to do tests, but when they saw the machine at work, the attitude changed completely.”

Challenges

Hand drilling requires a physically fit and strong man to crawl into a slope varying between 800 to 1400 mm high to accurately drill numerous holes in a certain pattern into the hard rock face at a specific spacing and angle in order to blast the rock face so as to just reach the mineral bearing seam but not collapse the whole roof of the stope. When he’s in there at the face, that section of the roof has usually not been roof-bolted yet, making it dangerous for him to be there in the first place. With a mechanised machine, the driller is not only positioned away from the rock face under a section which is already roof bolted, but he’s out of the direct dust and water spray of the drill, allowing a much more comfortable position to operate the drilling machine more accurately.

Final prototype

Hannes is now on his fourth prototype of the Mitra drill rig design after experiencing first-hand all the potential problems that arise underground. “Many drilling machines have been designed, but most have gone the hydraulic route,” he says. The final drill rig prototype in the workshop just after completion

“We decided to use the pneumatic method for a number of reasons; compressed air

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is always available underground; there’s no chance of oil spillage and all the hassles that go with cleaning up the mess, and it is a lot cheaper. By definition hydraulic equipment needs very clean oil

Our tests show that the blasts resulting from our four holes are much cleaner than ever before, containing less unwanted material from over-break

to operate, and it is difficult to maintain this level of cleanliness in the arduous conditions in the low stopes. It is also far more complex, since an additional power pack is required. Our machine uses the exact same drill they use for hand drilling; we just make a slight modification to the valve of the drill before mounting it onto our machine.

The first machine

“The first design had four pneumatic legs, each pushing down independently to level the machine. In turn, four pneumatic cylinders pushed rods up against the roof to keep the machine steady while drilling,” explains Hannes. “The drills were also at a fixed angle while the traction drive of the machine was powered through a single pneumatic drive and gearbox. This configuration presented a number of problems, making it tedious and cumbersome to set the machine up properly.

The drill operator is safely behind the machine and right into the stope as is required for hand drilling

The design then changed to three pneumatic legs to level the machine with only one rod in the centre of the machine going up to the roof to hold the machine in place while drilling. “The machine is locked in place after levelling with spring applied-air release locks to keep it in position during vigorous drilling,” says Hannes. “The drive on the traction was also changed so that each of the two tracks in the traction unit now has its own independent pneumatic motor, making manoeuvrability easy and very flexible.

Clean stopes

“In terms of the drill slides on the machine, we made a dramatic change on the final prototype compared with the first three designs where the drills were at a fixed angle and position,” Hannes adds. “The four drills are no longer fixed and can be adjusted pneumatically at various angles in order to achieve more accurate drilling. Our tests show that the blasts resulting from our four holes are much cleaner than ever before, containing less unwanted material from over-break while leaving a much more even roof surface than achieved with hand-drilled blasts.” The final design, now patented in South Africa, is ready for pre-production testing, which will be followed by marketing and manufacturing. “We’re satisfied with the final design and the initial testing above ground was very successful. We need a month of two of underground testing to verify everything is indeed OK. We are very positive of a good result” Hannes says in conclusion. “It’s up to the mines now to work out an implementation strategy which will make mechanisation acceptable to the workers. We’re ready for the manufacturing phase, but we’re on the lookout for a partnership with an established player in the mining market to provide implementation and support for the product.” Hannes Fourie, Galt Equipment Tel: 011-316 4161, Cell: 082-494 0602, Email: hannes@galtequipment.com

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POWER GENERATION

Money for Mahala

PROMECH PUBLISHING Tel: (011) 781-1401 Fax: (011) 781-1403 Email: editorial@promech.co.za Website: www.promech.co.za Managing Editor: Susan Custers Editorial: Kowie Hamman, Eleanor Seggie Advertising: Mark Bennett Circulation: Catherine Macdiva DTP: Zinobia Docrat/ DonovanVadivalu Disclaimer PROMECH Publishing does not take responsibility for the opinions expressed by individuals.

TICKER TAPE

All rights reserved. No editorial matter published in “Power Generation Today” may be reproduced in any form or language without written permission of the publishers. While every effort is made to ensure accurate reproduction, the editor, authors, publishers and 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 particular field or fields.

What many industrial property owners may not know is that they may well be sitting on, or rather under, hot property space which could generate extra income without having to fork out a cent. Their rooftops.

oogle satellite pictures of an industrial area clearly show that there are reams and reams of space on factory and warehouse rooftops in many cities and towns around South Africa which could be used to build photovoltaic (PV) solar farms as a clean energy source. It is this space some emerging independent power producers (IPPs) in South Africa want to exploit instead of scarring the landscape with large solar farms on a piece of cleared land as is normally the case with groundmounted PV farms.

PV solar

“SA Mechanical Engineer” speaks to Santa Scheepers of Distributed Solar (DS), a company which specialises in promoting the use of industrial rooftop space to build PV solar farms in South Africa. “Over the past year we have been working on various models but now that we have a RFP, we can finalise a workable model for the South African market,” she says.

The 6th Africa Economic Forum, to be held in Cape Town, from 5 to 7 March 2012 will include the 13th Southern Africa Oil, Gas & Energy Conference, with some sessions focusing on power projects, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Zambia expects to have a power surplus of about 600 MW by 2016, which should help ease the electricity deficit facing southern Africa.

Space on factory and warehouse rooftops in many cities and towns around South Africa which could be used to build photovoltaic (PV) solar farms

“We designed a programme called Phakisa Rooftop Solar whereby we can launch small projects yet adhere to the 1MW threshold in terms of requiring no environmental impact assessment (EIA) in order to participate in the IPP procurement programme.”

The concept

Basically the concept is to rent the roof space from the owner of a building, erect a PV solar plant which feeds into the grid and sell the generated electricity to Eskom which has been appointed as the buyer of IPP generated power. “We have two basic options available,” explains Santa. “The first is to forthwith rent out the roof space to us,

The South African Government has allocated R4.7billion to the solar water heater campaign and intends to increase the levy on electricity generated from non-renewable sources from 1 July 2012. International Renewable Energy Agency DG, Adnan Amin has reportedly said that inadequate policies and regulations, rather than a lack of funding, is the main reason for Africa's failure to exploit its huge renewable energy potential.

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“The second option is for us to erect a PV plant on part of the roof for the owner,” explains Santa. “It may, for example, only take up one third of the roof space to supply the owner’s company with clean energy. The other two thirds can be rented from him or her for us to install our plant which feeds into the grid. This is a win-win situation as the owner will not only benefit from reduced installation cost because we’ll be putting up our plant at the same time, but we can also include his plant in our maintenance plan.

Pays for itself

The owner not only reduces his carbon footprint but he has energy security from interruptions of supply from the grid, in addition to a saving on electricity costs.

Before: an industrial area form the sky. Huge potential for solar panels

“Let’s say you have a roof area of five hectares and the building’s requirement is 500 kW. We’d install an independent 500kW plant which belongs to the owner and is used purely to feed electricity into the building,” clarifies Santa. “This size unit will only take up about 10% of the roof space, leaving the balance available for us to install a much bigger plant which belongs to us and which feeds directly into the metering system of the national grid. The building owner’s plant will pay for itself over and over again if you consider both the electricity savings and the rental income he receives over 20 years.”

Suitable areas

After: an industrial area covred with solar rooftop systems

Forthwith rent out the roof space to us, thereby earning an additional inflation-linked income guaranteed for 20 years

thereby earning an additional inflation-linked income guaranteed ROMECH PUB p - T, O, G 2/20/11 9:54 PM Pagefor 2 20 years. This income can be off-set against the owner’s electricity costs. C M

omposite

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Not all areas in the country are suitable for effective PV solar power generation and nor are all roofs suitable for the erection of PV structures, but Distributed Solar will undertake proper feasibility studies at each prospective site. “We’re currently working with a good prospects in Gauteng and even a small town in the Western Cape” says Santa. As with all the inspection and construction work they will be doing at the various sites in future, DS is Y CM MY CY CMY K

March 2012

POWER GENERATION

A map indicating potential solar power area in South Africa

encouraging the town’s local experts to get involved and share in the project.

TICKER TAPE

“We use a local structural engineer, for instance, to check the roof structures to ensure the roof will be able to carry the weight we intend putting on it,” adds Santa. “In one case, the available roof space is a fraction too small to erect the minimum size plant as required by the government stipulations for these projects. So, part of our deal is to erect structures over the parking areas which will bear the PV panels, so the owner scores in terms of having shaded parking for his customers in future. Not only will all the construction work be carried

The owner not only reduces his carbon footprint but he has energy security from interruptions of supply from the grid out by local companies, but these teams will then be trained to do similar work on other projects in the area.”

Participation opportunity

This concept provides the opportunity for those who want to make a difference in terms of clean energy to participate without having to go through the red tape of becoming an IPP and having to bid against

The Kenyan government plans to invest US$1.4bn in the construction of several new geothermal power plants with a total installed generation capacity of 280MW. Rwanda is seeking $5 billion in funding for key energy projects, including hydropower, geothermal and methane gas, for the next seven years. Iranian Energy Minister Majid Namjou reportedly said that Iran is interested in making investments in South African energy market.

Exxaro Resources is moving ahead with plans to generate clean energy, says CEO Sipho Nkosi. The company is planning five renewable energy projects – two solar and three wind.

Hydro Alternative Energy, an emerging IPP, has announced its planned development of a hydrokinetic energy project in eThekwini Municipality, from ocean energy.

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1THREAD_3227_SAM

All you need to succeed

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POWER GENERATION

How the concept works

many others to secure a contract. “In the beginning we went from door to door in Johannesburg and Pretoria’s industrial areas to try and get businesses interested, now owners have started coming to us,” says Santa. “We believe there is enough potential on rooftops to fill the whole quota allocated to PV by the government.” The project documentation has been pre-prepared and will be applied to each project in a ‘cookiecutter’ style,” explains Santa in conclusion. “All the legal documents and agreements as well as the facility specifications are very similar and require

About 10% of the roof space, leaving the balance available for us to install a much bigger plant which belongs to us only minor ‘fill-in-the-blanks’ changes from one project to the next. Depending on uptake, which looks very good at this stage, the programme aims to tender between 30 MW and 100MW during the second round of bidding coming up early this year.” Santa Scheepers, Distributed Solar, Tel: (012) 929-5159, Email: santa6@mweb.co.za

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POWER GENERATION NEWS

Electric Car Project SKF has supplied advanced technological products and solutions to the Bolloré Group for use in their innovative electric cars. These cars will be used in the car sharing program, Autolib, to be launched in Paris and the surrounding area. “The fast growing electric vehicle market demands innovations. SKF has a strong focus on developing new offers for this industry”, says Tryggve Sthen, President, SKF Automotive Division. The SKF solution is based on bearings with ceramic balls and on advanced SKF sensor technology. It is developed to fit the electric powertrain application and to reach the high standards of efficiency and reliability in the new traction system. The Bolloré Group will operate the new electric car sharing program, Autolib in Paris and surroundings. The program calls for 3 000 cars on the road by mid-2012 and is anticipated to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 22 000 tons a year while improving traffic congestion as fewer Paris residents would need to own cars. The first 66 electric vehicles were launched on Paris roads in October last year in a two-month field test. The first cars were available to the public in December 2011. Samantha Joubert, SKF South Africa, Tel: (011) 821-3500, Fax: (011) 821-3501, Email: samantha.joubert@skf.com, www.skf.co.za

Microhydro Projects Wim Jonker Klunne, senior researcher: Rural Energy and Development, at the CSIR says, “The information on small hydropower in Africa is very sketchy and incomplete at the moment. It is certainly not known how many installations do exist and where. The ultimate aim is to identify success stories of small hydroplants that have been in operation for a long time already and see how their success can be used to develop implementation models for small hydropower that ensure sustainable operation.” He says it surprises him that such a robust mature technology has been ignored for so long. “Furthermore, there are many systems out there that operate very satisfactorily but which are not publicly known. In my interactions with players in the field we really “discover” existing plants very regularly!” He defines small and microhydro as “run-of-river” installations that normally do not having storage reservoirs and are well suited to serve isolated rural communities that are normally not connected to the national electricity grid. According to Wim, most of the challenges in implementing (small) hydropower in Africa are related to regulations, financing, human and technical capacity and a lack of resource data. He says, “the technology itself is certainly not a prob-

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lem as hydropower is a mature proven technology.” He adds that the potential is huge and that only a very small fraction is being utilised at the moment. “Small hydro in Africa has certainly not reached a situation as in China where more than 100 000 microhydro stations are in operation! One of Africa’s success stories is definitely the microhydro installations that you can find in remote areas of, for example, Tanzania that provide really remote areas with electricity for productive uses, lighting and entertainment. Microhydro is able to provide “gridquality” electricity to those communities and really make a difference in the living conditions. Wim says the potential for small hydro in South Africa is on the Mpumalanga escarpment, most of KZN and the Eastern Cape regions. “Also the many water conveyance systems, like the Lesotho Highlands Water System offer excellent opportunities for small hydro. Although some successful examples of small hydro do exist in South Africa, the traditionally low electricity prices did not encourage people to develop potential sites. The current shift in the country with more and more interest in renewable energy certainly has changed the situation.” www.csir.co.za

POWER GENERATION NEWS

The existing condensers above the refrigeration room condense the ammonia before it flows to the liquid receiver

Magnet has recently completed the design and installation of a new energy efficient hot water project at Rainbow’s chicken processing plant in Hammarsdale, Kwazulu-Natal. “The installation of an ammonia heat pump – the first of its kind in South Africa – has significantly improved the efficiency of the hot water system at the plant and as a result, has reduced steam consumption,” says Brian Howarth, Magnet’s managing director. “Magnet’s project encompasses a new system to harness the waste heat generated by ammonia compressors in the existing refrigeration plant to produce hot water.

The site previously relied on an electrode boiler to generate steam from municipal supplied water. This steam heats water entering the two hot water tanks used for site ablutions and washing.” The new heat pump, which has been installed in the existing refrigeration plant, consists of a suction intercooler, a six-cylinder reciprocating compressor with a variable speed drive, a plate-and-shell condensing heat exchanger and a new PLC.

in the plate heat exchanger. As the gas condenses, it transfers heat to the water on the other side of the plate. The water outlet temperature is controlled by varying the compressor speed.

The operating principle of this system is the hot ammonia gas which has already been compressed by the high stage compressors, is further compressed in the heat pump, before being condensed

Brian Howarth, Magnet, Tel: (031) 274-1096, Email: brianh@magnetgroup.co.za, www.magnetgroup.co.za

The water is heated to just below the condensing temperature of the ammonia, which is typically 32oC at that operating pressure. The heat pump then heats the water via the heat exchanger to 55 oC.

Solar Power Meters The Iso-Tech product range offers an impressive selection of cost-effective test and measurement equipment, ranging from rugged and water resistant multimeters, through to digital light meters, sound level meters and high performance oscilloscopes. Iso-Tech is distributed exclusively by RS Components and is manufactured and tested to international standards. The ISM series (ISM400 and ISM410) solar power meters are instruments used

to measure radiated and transmitted solar power at an installation, in order to determine the optimum positioning and alignment of solar panels and the total solar energy against elapsed time or average solar energy per hour calculation. The range meets the requirements of safety, health and industrial safety officers and determines the percentage of solar power transmission through glass, heat insulation materials, sunshades etc.

to operate at a temperature range of 0°C to +50°C and have a battery life of 100 hours. They are frequently used in solar power research, solar radiation measurement and solar transmission measurement applications, as well as physics and optical laboratories. Devin Ross, RS Components, Tel: (011) 691-9300, Email: editorial.za@rscomponents.com, www.rsonline.co.za

The solar power meters have the ability

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OPINION

Soapbox On his rounds, Kowie Hamman, our Editor, is conducting an informal survey on the lighter side of engineering. We kick off in this issue with two pertinent questions.

If you had R100K to blow, what would you do with it? Brian Volk of PHC Projects - Well I couldn’t buy a Ferrari so I would probably spend it on my home or help my kids with theirs.

Phildy Schlotz of DRA - mmm, I’ll probably buy bricks because I’m busy building a house…

Tom Esterhuizen of Tom Esterhuizen & Associates - Property…

Thalefang Mtombeni of Schaeffler - Personally one of the first things I’d do is go to the USA and travel the long highway which crosses the continent. Other than that I will donate some of the money to the organisation I do voluntary work for among previously disadvantaged communities. We go around to high schools to tell pupils about professional occupations like engineering and we always need money to travel in order to do this on a wider scale.

Izak van Niekerk of Bell Equipment - Go on vacation to a wine region I haven’t been to yet. Probably Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

Konnie de Boom of Megchem – I would spend it by making allowance to expose secondary school kids (primarily Grade 11 & 12) to the engineering fraternity, especially during school holidays, to give them a feel of what the economic active life (everyday life - together with the challenges) of a mechanical engineer, is like, to eventually assist in correct career selection and planning (by the youth). There is a tremendous shortage of technical people in the world and the young ones do not know very much about the day to day life of an engineer.

Mentioning no names, describe the worst client you’ve ever encountered?

Brian Volk of PHC Projects - Difficult to single out one worst, however there are a few difficult clients and some questionable practices that I have encountered from some of them. The writing of specifications that clearly favour one tenderer (which renders the tendering process pointless for anyone else) is bad. Calling for detailed design information in a tender, then using this information to issue a more detailed enquiry or to place orders on another company is also bad. Some clients make unreasonable demands which make working with them difficult. In this regard the Quality and Safety requirements are often out of all context to the work being undertaken, and some Quality and Safety practitioners make it difficult to work productively and profitably.

Phildy Schlotz of DRA - there is no such thing!

Tom Esterhuizen of Tom Esterhuizen & Associates - Besides some arrogant clients, generally I have not had many bad clients…

Thalefang Mtombeni of Schaeffler - Typically this will be someone who gets through to me on the phone after he’s spoken to five or six other people about a complaint which had not been sorted out. They’re then rude to you without you even knowing what the real problem is.

Izak van Niekerk of Bell Equipment - I often get involved with sales for technical input and negotiations. I enjoy challenging honest negotiations, but clients with no integrity who go back on their word or simply lie, really upset me!

Konnie de Boom of Megchem – no comment.

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OILS & LUBRICATION

Clean Lubes in Mini-bulk Buying lubricants in mini-bulk form is commonplace for many small-to-medium size plant operators, but especially for those in rural areas. Purchases comprise anything from 200 to 10 000 litres of lubricant per month. These are usually delivered in 210 litre steel drums or in an intermediate bulk container (IBC), which is rented on a continuous basis.

he IBC option is favoured as it helps cut costs. It is, however, not without drawbacks, most prevalent being installation issues and the transfer of oil into small tanks.

But for many, IBCs are not even an option. With no tanks on site, storage in steel drums is the only other alternative despite the high risk of dust and water contamination, as well as an inability to effectively monitor stock levels. Running dry is not an infrequent occurrence, with frantic calls to a supplier to get oil or grease to the plant on the double.

IPS is a transparent foldable polymer bag, which contains up to 900 litres of oil or grease and is aimed at small-to-medium size plant operators

of oil or grease and is aimed at small-to-medium size plant operators. “This five-layered bag fits into a four-pole structure on a wooden non-returnable pallet to make it easy to handle for transport and storage purposes,” he explains.

How it works

New system

Engen Lubricants has taken heed of this common problem and has developed a solution – called IPS or Innovative Packing System - which not only ensures the clean transfer of lubricant, but also solves the problem of unexpected stock-outs and the mad-scramble to secure replacement product. The African energy giant is in the process of introducing IPS to their customers across the continent.

So what is IPS?

Anton Allner industrial lubricants strategy manager at Engen

According to Anton Allner, Industrial Lubricants Strategy Manager at Engen, IPS is a transparent foldable polymer bag, which contains up to 900 litres

IPS is a closed system, meaning it provides protection against water, dust and airborne particles which often contaminate product during transfer, handling and pump-over routines. “The closed system is filled through a butterfly valve located at the bottom of the bag. The bag has a 50mm (two inch) outlet valve for oils, or a 75mm (three inch) opening for greases. This enables users to discharge without having to open an extra valve,” continues Anton. He points out that because product is discharged at the bottom of the bag, a counter weight system attached to the top of the bag automatically lifts the bag higher to ensure product flows downwards to the outlet without having to let air into the bag. The bag eventually takes on the shape of a deflated balloon hanging on the cable of the stretch unit which is suspended from an overhead beam structure affixed to one of the four poles on the pallet.

Animated workshop layout

“The stretch unit comes as part of the initial container conversion kit and can either operate with a fixed counterweight, or by a hand winch to lift the bag higher whenever product is discharged. The winch is preferred for mobile installations. The kit also provides a standard aluminium Camlock 50 mm (two inch) coupling for easy connection to the lube pump,” adds Anton.

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to stringent quality control tests including leak and pressure tests using Nitrogen. Each one has a unique serial number for traceability and both the top and bottom outlets are sealed with tamper-proof security seals.”

Engen Bund tray portable lube station (Moz)

Advantages

One of the main advantages of the IPS system is that the emptied bag can be re-used to store, transport and dispose of the used oil. It also weighs a lot less than the equivalent 4-plus 210 litre steel drums or conventional IBC’s, while all the different polymer layers are fully recyclable and the wooden pallet and steel poles can be re-used for other applications. “We’ve made the 900 litres a standard because then 20 IPS units fit perfectly into a standard 20 foot shipping container. This means we can ship 18 000 litres in a container as opposed to 16 000 litres in one container when using drums.” “Furthermore,” says Anton, “the IPS container is a one-way pack in terms of freight which means there is no return freight, cleaning or maintenance costs as is the case with drums or IBC rentals.”

The IPS container is a one-way pack in terms of freight which means there is no return freight, cleaning or maintenance costs And while initial reactions from customers have largely been positive, some sceptics have questioned the strength of a “plastic bag”. Anton, however, assures that Engen (and Fluid-Bag their partner in the programme) has done extensive testing under local conditions with no failures reported.

Cost savings

The inner container provides a protection barrier to ensure product hygiene and cleanliness levels beyond anything that Engen has yet been able to offer in mini bulk format. “Each bag is subjected

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He says the solution was developed by Engen in partnership with Fluid Bag of Finland. It is specifically targeted for the transport and dispensing of lubricants. “Since we started testing a few years ago, particularly UV tests for African conditions, our design engineers have extended the solution to include a multiple unit dispensing setup for workshops as well as designing a portable containerised unit which can be moved around as operations change location,” adds Anton.

Single cell

Engen is currently running a pilot project where they have designed a dedicated IPS dispensing system which travels around a customer site or external field maintenance site to top-up or change lubricants on a regular basis. “We’re calling this the single cell dispensing system,” explains Allner. “Basically two IPS units can be placed on a truck, one filled with new oil and one empty, enabling operators to easily drain old oil into the empty bag before refilling it with new oil. This is much better than when using drums, a messy exercise with no means of measuring exact quantities or controlling stock. It can be used in mobile and static application areas.” The IPS system has been rolling out at several operations in South Africa, as well as in Mozambique and in Angola with great success. “Right now we’re building the prototype units of the containerised dispensing units which should be popular in the mining industry,” says Anton. “We expect that any operation using more than 200 litres a month will benefit from the IPS system as tests have shown that we can keep lubricant stored in an IPS, out in the open for up to two years without any problems.” Anton Allner, Engen Lubricants, Tel: (011) 480-6320, Email: anton.allner@engenoil.com, Website: www.engenoil.co.za

March 2012

MILLS

Trends in Milling

The reason old mine dumps are being re-processed is to extract the remaining valuable minerals from the waste material. This is as a result of improved processing technologies that allow for the liberation of the micron-sized minerals embedded in the throwaway material. Nowadays, with new technologies developed by equipment manufacturers, this is done right from the start through improved grinding processes to liberate a maximum yield from the raw material.

A Mechanical Engineer” visits one of the world leaders in mill design, FLSmidth, to speak to Terence Osborn, capital sales and marketing manager of minerals processing at FLSmidth. “The demand from all over Africa for mills is on the increase, a clear indication that mining operations are steadily growing,” Terence

We’re also seeing growth in the demands for all types of mills, with the trend moving toward finer grinds not only in ball mills, but also for stirred mills says. “Globally we’re also seeing growth in the demands for all types of mills, with the trend moving toward finer grinds not only in ball mills, but also for stirred mills. High pressure grinding rolls, part of the FLSmidth portfolio, are also increasing in popularity in hard rock applications where energy savings in the mining industry are being sought.”

Every crumb

“The reason is the much more intense treatment of ores where the valuable minerals are more

Terence Osborn of FLSmidth

finely disseminated, requiring different technologies to liberate it,” adds Terence. “For example, the FLSmidth Vertical Stirred mill technology, formerly

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doing this because they’ve found that there are some free platinum sulphides in the ore which tend to get lost through the normal processing procedures. The same principle applies to gold as some of the free gold particles are in the same size 1 to 10 microns range. “Many companies have started showing significant improvements in yield as a result of fine grinding,” says Terence. “In the past, this was all lost as waste because it was acceptable to get 80 percent recovery given the technology of the day.

High pressure grinding rolls

“FLSmidth has always been a worldwide supplier of high pressure grinding rolls, but mainly for the cement industry, where they have been branded as hydraulic roll presses or hydraulic roll crushers,” says Terence. “Due to the success and effectiveness of this type of grinding machine and a growing demand for finer grinding and mine operators looking to reduce energy, we have invested in the development of high pressure grinding rolls technology for the minerals industries. Roll wear surfaces and control systems have made it possible to adapt the technology specifically for hard rock applications such as copper, gold, iron ore and others.

How it works

The vertical stirred mill design

called the Kneslon-Deswik is used to further treat material in a regrind application. A ball mills generally delivers material sized down to about a P80 of 38 microns while fine grinding produces P80s of 1 to 5 microns.”

Because they’ve found that there are some free platinum sulphides in the ore which tend to get lost through the normal processing procedures Platinum

One platinum mining group in South Africa has introduced fine grinding across the board at most of its operations. “They’re using it in two ways,” explains Terence. “Firstly for re-grinding where they take intermediate flotation product to grind it down further before floating it again, and secondly they’ve introduced it in some of their mainstream milling processes as a tertiary milling process. “Instead of going through the normal steps of primary and then secondary ball milling before going into flotation, they now go through primary, secondary and tertiary milling with fine grinding mills before the materials goes to flotation,” he adds. “They’re

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In high-pressure grinding roll comminution, the feed material is exposed to very high pressure for a short time. The high pressure causes the formation of micro-cracks in the feed particles and generates a substantial amount of fine material. The pressed material can be fed directly to a given size ball mill, making it possible to substantially increase the throughput of a given size ball mill and reduce the specific power consumption of the whole mill system. “If high pressure grinding rolls achieve their theoretical potential, then milling circuits could be downsized substantially,” Terence explains. “High pressure grinding rolls also promotes micro-fracturing to expose minerals encased within the particular ore which increases liberation very favourably.”

Customisation

Today’s ore bodies are complex. It’s not unusual to find different types of ore within one single pit. To achieve the optimum yield from such challenging conditions requires a great deal of specific customisation in terms of technology. “The total comminution solution we offer from one source is what differentiates us in the market,” says Terence. “We have the design expertise, experience and the equipment range to engineer a complete processing flow sheet for each unique mining challenge out there.” Terence Osborn, FLSmidth, Tel: (0) 10-210-4000, Email: terence.osborn@flsmidth.com, Website: www.flsmidth.com

March 2012

MILLS

Grinding Applications Research Metso and the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, have finalized a three-year agreement encompassing joint research and performance evaluations of the Vertimill Grinding Mill developed by Metso.

he agreement is part of a longstanding relationship between Metso and the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre, known as the JKMRC, at the university’s Sustainable Minerals Institute.

As the application range of the Vertimill Grinding Mill expands, this independent research can help to find better ways of operating

The project

The project provides the JKMRC with the opportunity to enhance its knowledge base in stirred milling while providing direct value to Metso and its technologies. In the project, Metso and JKMRC will cooperate by sharing their expertise and methodology, and by further validating field performance in terms of energy efficiency, not only in fine grinding applications but specifically in coarse grinding applications. Metso has a rich laboratory history and has invested in, for instance, developing procedures for mill selection. As the application range of the Vertimill Grinding Mill expands, this independent research can help to find better ways of operating, and validate the methodology. Professor Malcolm Powell, JKMRC’s Professorial Chair in Sustainable Comminution, comments that the JKMRC endeavors to cover the entire comminution and classification process chain in mineral processing. “We provide complete modeling and simulation capability, delivered via the JKSimMet processing plant simulator,” he explains. “Fine grinding is playing a growing role in the beneficiation of finely disseminated minerals, so the JKMRC is actively improving its modeling capability in this area.”

Technical information

The high-capacity vertical grinding mill has proven to be a versatile tool that exhibits many advantages over traditional ball milling. In comparison to ball mills, the vertical mills can perform the same grind with 30% to 50% less energy and significantly lower grinding media consumption. Furthermore, the machine has fewer moving parts than a ball mill, translating into lower maintenance and operating costs. These features bring substantial savings for the mining companies.

Variations

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profile of an ore. Metso has both stirred milling technologies in the Vertimill and the Stirred Media Detritor (SMD), allowing it to offer the optimum equipment solution for the circuit.

Energy efficiency

Vertimills have been proven to grind more efficiently than ball mills with feeds as coarse as 6 mm to products finer than 20 microns. In addition to grind efficiency, reduced media consumption, lower installation cost, minimal maintenance, and minimal liner wear make the Vertimill the lowest total cost of ownership in many applications, substantially improving the profitability of concentrators.

The high-capacity vertical grinding mill has proven to be a versatile tool that exhibits many advantages over traditional ball milling movement of a screw to provide a size reduction mechanism. In contrast, fluidized stirred mills use a rotational movement to fluidize a media-slurry mixture, resulting in a size reduction mechanism. The type of mill and the circuit configuration are intrinsic to maximizing the grade and recovery

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Mechanically, the Vertimill is a very simple machine with an agitating screw suspended into the grinding chamber, supported by spherical roller bearings and driven by a fixed speed motor through a planetary gearbox. The figure above shows the Vertimill in its standard arrangement with all of its major components. The capacity of each unit size is relative to the required power input for the intended grind, however mills have been operated with throughputs exceeding 500 mtph. Kenneth Brame, Metso, Tel. +1 570 271 7719 or Geoff Gault, Professor, Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre, University of Brisbane, Tel. +61 7 3365 5806

March 2012

POWER TRANSMISSION

From Bicycles to Engineering Shop Robin Mugawazi was paging through the Junk Mail one day, searching for a spare part for his son’s bicycle. He came across an advert for a small secondhand industrial steel lathe which suddenly triggered the idea to make the part himself. A damaged shaft which will be reproduce

eeing as though his bicycle part was not available from any stockist, there might very well be others searching for the same part, he reasoned. So he set off to buy the lathe for a price probably equivalent to a new bicycle, but Robin likes an engineering challenge. So he seconded one half of his double garage at home and set up the machine.

Our involvement with one client very often leads to other engineering work which needs to be done, especially on the mines He made the part and his son’s bicycle was back on the road for just a day or two when a friend noticed the part and wanted to know where he got it. It turned out there was a huge demand for this

particular part and Robin next found himself behind the lathe every free minute making a thousand of these parts for a bicycle spares supplier in Johannesburg.

Setting up business

Today, over a decade later, the little steel lathe is still in service, no longer in the garage, but as one of the many machines on the floor of Rodecon Engineering’s workshop in Alrode south of Johannesburg. “Being employed in a full time job at the time meant there wasn’t enough time to make all the bicycle parts, so I taught the gardener to make parts during the day and I’d check them in the evening,” he says with a proud smile. “This incident and my natural knack to fix mechanical things, inspired the establishment of our own engineering business Rodecon, a name made up of my first two initials, the first letter of my first child’s name, then my second child’s name and finally the wife’s initials making up the last three letters.”

Hangars to mines

From these small beginnings the company has progressed to an engineering firm which today does anything from refurbishing large industrial gearboxes for the mining industry to designing, manufacturing and installing large mechanised electric door systems for the Boeing hangars at OR Tambo airport.

Robin Mugawazi of Rodecon Engineering

“Our involvement with one client very often leads to other engineering work which needs to be done, especially on the mines,” says Robin. “For example, we were busy with drive systems and conveyor structures on a platinum mine, when one of their engineers asked one day whether we couldn’t source ribbed THE SOUTH AFRICAN MECHANICAL ENGINEER

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Design

In the beginning Robin did all the design work and draughting himself, not only because of his flair as a mechanical problem-solver, but also because he has the practical experience from being a hands-on man who doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty to delve into a problem on site. “We now have draughtsmen who do the drawings which, in the case of profile cutting, for instance, is integrated directly to the profile cutter on the workshop floor,” he explains. “However, with complex designs I do get involved, especially gearbox overhauls where the gears have to be drawn because they’re so damaged they can’t be measured and there are no specifications available any more.”

The small lathe which got Robin started

galvanised plating used to make their air ducts for underground ventilation.

Innovation

“First we tried to get hold of a machine which could roll flat sheets into tubing with a ribbing, but nobody had anything like that,” he adds. “We then tried to source just the rollers, but that was even more unheard of. We put our heads together and started designing the roller set with a rise in one set and a valley in the other. This we built into a manuallyoperated machine which produced perfect ribbed tubing for the round ducting the client required.”

With complex designs I do get involved, especially gearbox overhauls where the gears have to be drawn because they’re so damaged In the workshop Robin proudly shows off his prototype of the machine, including the first length of duct tubing they made on it. The mining company is over the moon with the result. They’re going to fit an electric drive and gearbox to drive the plate roller before it will be set up in a proper production line at Rodecon’s premises for the mass production of tubular ducting lengths for the mining industry.

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Turnkey projects

Apart from manufacturing drive components such as drive shafts up to 4 metres in length and 1.5 metres in diameter, the company gets involved in projects on a turnkey basis. “The OR Tambo project is a good example of where we did absolutely everything,” Robin says. “They did not have specifications for the drives required to move the huge hangar gates, so we designed from scratch, made everything here in the workshop and then did installation on site with our own crews during night shifts when there was very little activity at the hangers. We even go to the trouble of drawing up our own Gantt charts to manage the project professionally in the time slots available to us.” Robin’s inquisitiveness on how things work since he was a kid has certainly paid off. “My father used to just shake his head when all toys were taken to pieces in my young days just to see how they worked,” he says in conclusion. “Our business philosophy is based on always being prepared to find a solution to a mechanical problem and our customers appreciate that fact that we’re always prepared to go the extra mile to make their lives easier with innovative high quality work.” Robin Mugawazi, Tel: (011) 868-5265, Email: robin@ rodecon.co.za, www.rodeconengineering.co.za

March 2012

POWER TRANSMISSION

Caring For Bearings Despite growing awareness in industry of the importance of lifecycle costs and the pitfalls of buying cheap substitutes, fake bearings are still flooding the South African market. And fakes are getting better by the day, making it very difficult to distinguish between a fake and the real thing.

irst-hand experience of this comes from the biggest independent distributor of FAG products in South Africa, G-Man Traders, based in Robertville south of Johannesburg. To find out more “SA Mechanical Engineer” speaks to director, Wynand le Roux. “One fake bearing can break a business, so we simply don’t take chances by sourcing from just anyone,” he says. “But you really have to keep your eyes open because it’s no longer only the general catalogue bearings that are copied, but also the large specialised bearings you find in critical installations like ball mills.

It’s no longer only the general catalogue bearings that are copied

Wynand le Roux, director G-Man Traders

Subtle differences

Wynand adds, “It appears that the manufacturers of the fakes are making several of these bearings and then meticulously branding them with top brand markings that even experts can’t distinguish with the naked eye. The fact that the markings are perfectly copied and that technical quality can

Bearings of all sizes are carried in stock

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train clients’ technicians on how to do it properly,” adds Wynand. “We can supply the full range of mounting equipment, from mechanical mounting to hydraulic mounting, thermal mounting and dismounting equipment as well as all the measuring and inspection equipment that goes with fitting a bearing.”

Back-up

In terms of field service, the company has the full backing of FAG Industrial Services (F’IS), a division responsible for full customer services on the INA and FAG brands in the industrial market.” says Wynand. “Our field engineering teams have access to the expertise of other field engineers based around the globe through forums and web-based systems, so whenever we run into problems we’ve not encountered before, we simply tap into that.”

Pulleys

only be determined microscopically makes it very difficult for us, never mind the customer who is taken for a ride.” Some end-users are well aware of this threat, so when they source a bearing from stock and aren’t sure of its origins, they approach G-man to check its authenticity. “We have even had to make use of third party specialists who will inspect a bearing for our client, especially if it’s an emergency and no other stock is available,” explains Wynand. “This inspection is not necessarily to determine whether the product is a fake or not, but rather to check that the bearing complies with Sprockets of all sizes are part of the offering the required specifications for the application. As a rule of thumb; if a Explains Wynand, “Regardless of whether the client bearing is well below the normal price you should has an isolated problem or requires help with a be suspicious of its authenticity and rather have it complete solution, the field service engineer first checked than run the risk of a failure and the huge carries out an inspection of the critical machinery cost associated with a breakdown.” and then, in consultation with the customer, he prepares a plan of action to eliminate the weak If a bearing is well below the normal price you should be points and find a solution to the problems.

suspicious

Hands-on Fitting

G-man has been in the bearing business for 18 years. “Supplying the full range of power transmission components, from bearings to chains, sprockets, couplings, v-belts, gearboxes and electric motors is just part of our business,” says Wynand. “We also offer a maintenance service, fitting, failure reporting and the full range of both off-line and on-line condition monitoring equipment from FAG. “One of the biggest mistakes clients make with bearings is fitting them incorrectly so not only do we offer fitting as part of our service, but we’ll

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“In addition, we have third part specialists who cover the full range of services such as fitting, inspection, maintenance and even failure reporting if the need arises in an emergency or when FAG’s engineers are not available immediately,” says Wynand. “Many of our own staff, like myself, have sufficient hands-on experience and often go out on site to assist with a problem, or at least identify what the real problem is before following it up with specialist assistance.” Wynand le Roux, G-Man Traders, Tel: (011) 672-7011, Email: wynand@gman.co.za

March 2012

MARKET FORUM

The Zest WEG Group’s first small works facility in Johannesburg enjoyed a flying start in meeting the demand for the supply of smaller starter panels for the OEM market and the end-user. “Zest has always been innovative and astute in identifying needs in the industry,” Louis Meiring, managing director of the Zest WEG Group, explains. “Two years ago we realised that such a facility had the potential to fill a range of needs. Firstly, it is an important value-add to customers who traditionally buy motors and drives from us. We are able to provide tailor-made solutions designed for specific purposes – a great improvement on the off-the-shelf products. “These are backed by our in-house expertise, rigorous quality control and exceptional lead times. Our staff also has the skills to assess application requirements and make recommendations about the most appropriate solution. This can also be done in a modular configuration which is particularly appreciated with repeat orders. “Our customers enjoy greater flexibility

Training and mentoring takes place in a practical environment.

too, because they can then adapt the panels to offer additional features which their customers might require, such as an emergency stop button.”

use as a platform for skills development. “We have set up training programmes and mentor our learners in this practical environment,” he continues.

Louis emphasises that the secondary advantage of the small works facility is its

Jamie Wilson, Zest Electric Motors, Tel: (011) 723-6000, www.zest.co.za

First Year Learnership The Western Cape Green Foundry Training Centre, located at Atlantis Foundries on the West Coast near Cape Town, was officially launched 7 months ago.

According to Tony O’Brien, senior engineer/trainer at Atlantis Foundries, the six Cape Town-based learners, who were selected to take part in the three year

learnership programme, have been successful in their first year, by completing NQF level 2 and being deemed to be “competent”. They can now proceed to the second year of the learnership this year. Tony says, “ This first group of students has completed both theoretical and practical classes in foundry operations. They were able to choose from three speciality areas, namely: patternmaking, moulding and melting. After the successful completion of the three year course, the students will qualify as artisans with an NQF level 4 certificate.” The Western Cape Green Foundry Training Centre is one of three pilot sites which were identified, the others being Mittal Steel and Scaw Metals, both in Johannesburg. Tony O’Brien, Western Cape Institute of Foundrymen (WCIF) and South African Institute of Foundrymen, Tel: (021) 573-7311, Cell: 072 313-8375 and John Davies, Tel: (011) 559-6468, Cell: 083 630-2809

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Excellence Award Aesseal has won the overall award for manufacturing excellence at MX2011, the annual contest held by the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers. From 222 entries and 31 assessment visits, just 18 finalists including Aesseal were shortlisted for the ceremony held late last year in London. The programme distributed to dignitaries and guests during this function said of the mechanical seals manufacturer: “The quality of this year’s entries was particularly high. So special credit goes to Aesseal, which emerged as the overall winner. “The company has a Purpose Statement that underpins everything it does – ‘to give our customers such exceptional service, they never need consider alternative sources of supply’. And the judges felt that these words were backed up by action. “There was no doubt that Aesseal was the stand-out

company in Manufacturing Excellence 2011. “It was shortlisted in an incredible seven out of nine categories, and won the judges’ unanimous vote for the IMechE Overall Winner. Rob Waites, Aesseal (Pty) Ltd, Tel: (011) 466-6500, Fax: (011) 466-6588, Email: rwaites@aesseal.co.za

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The MX2011 trophy for manufacturing excellence

MARKET FORUM

After searching for a reliable and maintenance-free method of measuring the gas emissions in the reheating furnace and continuous annealing process, steel giant Arcelor Mittal hit pay dirt with Rand Technical Services (RTS).

frequency and measures the amount of gas present as a percentage value. NEO LaserGas instruments can detect gas concentrations as low as ppm. Laser beams are effectively parallel and there is very little spread up ranges of 20 metres and more. NEO LaserGas offers extremely high levels of precision in measurement, even when gas concentrations are low.

RTS proposed the installation of a Neo monitor, which transmits a laser beam through the gas, to a receiver with a sensitive detector that detects absorption of the signal at the critical

“The Neo monitors can transmit readings accurately in ambient temperatures of up to 1 500ºC and the rugged industrial design and the built-in purging facilities make the LaserGas monitors easy to maintain. There are no Ian Fraser, MD of Rand Technical Services (RTS) moving parts in the instruments and normal preventainstallation environment is very demandtive maintenance actions are limited to ing and the client has been so pleased visual inspection and cleaning of the with the performance of the monitor, windows, together with annual calibra- that they are now requiring a second tion checks,” says Ian. instrument,” says Ian. “This was a challenging installation Ian Fraser, Rand Technical Services, due to the area in which the monitor Tel: (012) 993-9620, was placed. Characterised by confined Email: info@rtsafrica.co.za, spaces and high temperature levels, the www.rtsafrica.co.za

One of the smallest radio-controlled drill rigs in the Atlas Copco range has now become one of the most versatile thanks to an innovative rollover feed system.

has to do is put the rig into tramming mode, remove a locking pin, push the feed round 180 degrees, replace the pin and start drilling once again.

Atlas Copco’s FlexiROC T15 R drill rig, which is used for a wide variety of small-scale drilling jobs such as preparing building sites and trenching, now has considerably expanded its field of application.

This procedure, called re-pinning, takes just a few minutes and enables the rig to

“This is an area that is subjected to extremely high temperatures and Arcelor Mittal was unable to find an instrument that could withstand the heat while at the same time provide accurate measurements. Many instruments depend on probes that are mounted in the gas stream – which exposes them to high temperatures and dust contamination, resulting in faulty readings.” says Ian Fraser, managing director of RTS.

The reason is a completely new boom concept which enables the rig to switch from downwards drilling to upwards drilling in one easy operation. This facility on the FlexiROC T15 R is extremely easy to use. All the operator

be used in eight different configurations, including toe-hole drilling at various angles, upwards or downwards. The switch is also safe to carry out as the feed beam is in a resting position while the re-pinning is being done. “The FlexiROC T15 R is now even more valuable to have in the fleet,” says Erik Ahlström, product responsible service engineer at Atlas Copco Surface Drilling Equipment. “With a great vertical coverage area of 18 square metres it can go from drilling vertical holes to horizontal toe-holes and then to upward drilling, for rock reinforcement for example, all from the same setup.”

Atlas Copco FlexiROC T15 R drill is used for a wide variety of small - scale drilling jobs

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Atlas Copco South Africa, Tel: (011) 821-9000, Fax: (011) 821-9106, www.atlascopco.co.za

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MARKET FORUM

Increasing Plant Performance Loesche Automation has introduced into its product portfolio a new product for increasing performance and for supporting the operators of Loesche vertical roller mills. LM Master provides for fully automatic control of the grinding process and continuously optimises regular plant operation. Online optimisation is achieved through precise depiction of the processes increasing throughput, energy efficiency and ailability. Loesche has the necessary experience and the know-how to create models which reflect the process as accurately as possible. Calculations show the future plant status with the aid of historic data and current process values, manipulated variables and disturbance variables. The vertical mill is stabilised during regular operation by means of a continuous adaptation of the controller operating points. The plant is therefore operated as closely as possible to its specified limits. This, in turn, increases plant performance. The software platform required for this purpose is, irrespective of the manufacturer of the automation system, installed on a separate industry PC. With only a few interventions in the existing automation system and low investment expenditure it is thus possible to increase the efficiency of the grinding plant. LM Master, Tel: (011) 482-2933, Email: umeyer@loeschesa.co.za, www.loesche.com

Ice Dams 42

As mining reaches greater depths, the virgin rock temperature increases, and in South Africa where the rock temperature gradients can be quite steep, the temperature can easily be warmer than 50째C. Since acceptable working conditions in mines are around 28/32째C (wetbulb/ drybulb), this means that temperatures need to be dramatically decreased in order for the mine to function. In addi-

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tion, the high heat loads place a strain on cooling systems. Mining at increased depths also produces logistical issues, since a water cooling system requires a lot of pipes which take up valuable space in the shafts. Ice cooling systems are available in different forms, but Johnson Controls believes that hard ice is more viable than slush ice, as it uses less water and does not require the addition

MARKET FORUM

World First

New Water Cutting Process Afrox has introduced a unique, innovative and cost-effective alternative to cutting non-ferrous material, particularly stainless steel and aluminium. The Water Mist Secondary (WMS) cutting process, developed by USbased Thermal Dynamics and available throughout sub-Saharan Africa exclusively through Afrox, harnesses nitrogen as the primary cutting gas and water mist as the shield gas to achieve high precision cut quality on aluminium and stainless steel. The result is a high quality dross-free cut on stainless and aluminium, at a lower cost per metre than other cutting processes.

Wouter Conradie (left) and Gareth Lloyd-Jones (right)

Ecowize, a South African hygiene and sanitation provider to the food production industry has become the world’s first cleaning company to have successfully been audited against the food safety system standard of the International Organisation for Standardisation - ISO22000. The announcement was made recently at a ceremony whereby Ecowize was awarded the certification by Wouter Conradie, managing director of the National Sanitation Foundation. According to Wouter this achievement marks a significant milestone for Ecowize, as the company has attained the highest possible level of being audited against the food safety system standard. “Many companies globally only reach the ISO 9001 level and often don’t even attempt to achieve such high standards.”

was conducted by highly qualified and experienced auditors from NSF-CMI, who selected various Ecowize plants at random and conducted a detailed systems analysis. Gareth Lloyd-Jones, MD of Ecowize says that in order to successfully meet all the requirements of the ISO22000 the company had to have an exceptional food safety management system in place. This included making sure all interactive communication systems, systems management, rerequisite programs and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) were in place. “We are all extremely proud of becoming the first cleaning company in the world to achieve this recognition. It also proves that through innovation and hard work, South African businesses can be true global industry leaders,” says Gareth.

The audit, which spanned over four days,

Ecowize, www.ecowize.co.za

of salt to the mine service water.

cooling systems at deep levels.

Producing solid tube ice on the surface and then sending it underground to an ice dam can significantly save on the amount of water needed to cool the mine, which in turn means that less water needs to be pumped to the surface again. This can provide substantial energy savings while at the same time increase the efficiency of

While ice cooling technology itself is not new, it is only in recent years that it has become a viable solution due to a number of factors. The technology has evolved and matured, making it more competitive and efficient, and the needs of the industry have changed such that ice cooling is beginning to make financial sense. While the initial capital

The WMS allows cutting of non-ferrous materials using nitrogen and water. This process provides extremely high cutting speeds, up to three times faster than standard processes, and excellent quality for a wide range of thicknesses. A vertical cut is achieved without dross or oxidation. At the same time, the use of normal tap water dramatically reduces production costs. Productivity is enhanced and the consumables last longer.” Afrox’s Johan Pieterse adds that among the other advantages of the WMS technology are the wide regulation window, which makes quality tuning very simple, and the minimal heataffected zone, which reduces plate distortion and helps with removing the plastic film on thin plate. Johan Pieterse, Afrox, Email: johan.pieterse@afrox.linde.com or 0860-020202, www.afrox.com

investment for an ice cooling system is fairly high, in deep mines the solution becomes more economical, since it reduces logistics issues while easing system complexity, improving water management and reducing energy and pumping costs. Nanda Aerts, Johnson Controls Building Efficiency Europe & Africa, Tel: +32 2 709-4481, Email: Nanda.Aerts@jci.com

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MARKET FORUM

F a m i ly Run

reduction; Instrupure ultra pure water purification systems; and Pfeiffer and Adixen high and ultra high vacuum pumps, forepump and roots booster combination pump sets, turbo pumps, vacuum

measurement, mass spectrometry and coupling components. Air & Vacuum Technologies, Mark Burn, Tel: (011) 318-3241/2/3/4/5, Email: info@vactech.co.za, www.vactech.co.za

Engineer Placements Professional opportunities Our job board continues to display a wide variety of excellent job positions that you can review and apply for online. Keep your credentials on our secure and confidential database, update them at any time. We keep in touch with you. www.engineerplacements.com

Air & Vacuum Technologies, established in 1988, is a family-owned and operated company with three sales divisions. Instruvac, the general vacuum sales division promotes and sells predominately Elmo-Rietschle rotary vane vacuum pumps, claw vacuum pump & side channel exhausters / blowers; Elmo-Rietschle self contained liquid ring vacuum pump systems; Instruvac Roots type exhausters / blowers; and Pompetravaini liquid ring vacuum pumps; Thyracont vacuum measurement instrumentation; and Instruvac RVD high vacuum pumps. The Instrupump division offers air-operated double diaphragm pumps as well as TAWI vacuum lifters, the Protema range of battery-operated mechanical lifting equipment, and a large range of heavy duty, large Industrial vacuum units for site cleaning on a large scale. Instrulab is the oldest division of the company, and services the laboratory industry with a wide variety of laboratory equipment: Precisa Swiss made precision balances; Endecotts sieve shakers and sieves for particle size analysis; Glen Creston mills for particle size

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MARKET FORUM

The new R690 and R677 2/2-way plastic diaphragm valves from Gemü control systems offer all the advantages for economical use in many applications. They are small and compact, lightweight and designed so that combinations of several nominal sizes can be installed on the same mounting height plane. For installation, the valves are supplied in all standard connections for the different international standards.

A Milestone 80°C and at pressures of up to 10 bar. The product line comprises nominal sizes from DN 15 to 100. In the course of redesigning its products, Gemü has also succeeded in significantly reducing the control air consumption of the type R690 pneumatic actuated version. In addition to the standard optical position indicators, features include options such as electrical position indicators, positioners or process controllers, manual overrides, pilot valves, seal adjusters and stroke limiters. Depending on requirements and application, Gemüvalve bodies are available in a variety of plastics (PVC-U, PP, ABS etc.) and with a range of seal materials (EPDM, PTFE, FPM, NBR).

Despite their compact size and smaller dimensions, the redesigned flow-optimised valve bodies provide the same high flow rates as the previous models, and in some cases even higher flow rates, as well as being competitively priced. Depending on the valve design, they work reliably at temperatures from minus 20°C to plus

Gemü, www.gemu-group.com

Effortless Pulling Becker Mining Africa’s range of gear and bearing pullers includes a robust selfcontained hydraulic system, designed for pulling various press-fit parts, including bearings, gears, bushings, wheels and pulleys. The Posi Lock PHS-108 hydraulic puller, which is a self-contained hydraulic pump and cylinder, ensures efficient performance, enhanced safety and reduced downtime in any maintenance application. These pullers, which can efficiently handle 12 tons of pulling force, have forged and heat treated jaws for enhanced strength. A handpumping hydraulic action and flexible swivelling adjustable length handle ensure easy operation. “A unique feature of the lightweight and user-friendly Posi Lock range is a patented control cage jaw retention system, with

high force hydraulic power for effortless pulling of large components. This safety cage holds the pulling jaws securely in either open or closed positions, preventing the jaws from slipping off the work surface,” says Eugene Davids, product manager for Becker Mining Africa, part of the Becker Group of Companies. “This system not only saves wear and tear on components removed, but also increases productivity and tool life and enhances safety for workers. “Another advantage of these pullers is that they are operated easily, safely and efficiently by one man. Conventional pullers often require a team of workers to hold the jaws to prevent the puller falling off or snapping back.” Eugene Davids, Becker Mining Africa, Tel: (011) 617-6300, Fax: (011) 908-5806, Email: info@za.becker-mining.com, www.za.becker-mining.com

THE SOUTH AFRICAN MECHANICAL ENGINEER

VOL 62

March 2012

MARKET FORUM

Monitoring Air Quality Ensuring high quality compressed air is delivered in pneumatic applications is possible, with the DS 500 monitoring system from Arctic Driers. It alerts staff of an air quality problem before it is evident on the production floor by monitoring all the components of the air system in the compressor room. It provides real time monitoring and controlling of any air or gas systems and takes system supervision to a new level. The wall or panel mounted unit

is able to accommodate up to 12 different sensors. Installation and set-up is easy with automatic sensor recognition and internal power supply to the sensors, saving you time and money in the installation process. The versatility of the DS 500 is unique; it’s capable of handling the whole range of CS sensors, these include: • Air or gas flow meters, including vacuum

Subscription Please fax us if you wish to subscribe to “SA Mechanical Engineer” at R405,00 (incl postage and VAT) per year; R1 020,00 per year for Africa/Overseas. We will post you an invoice on receipt of your fax.

PROMECH PUBLISHING Fax No: (011) 781-1403 From:................................................... (insert your name) Title: ....................................................

• Dew point sensors

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• Pressure sensors • Clamp on ammeters

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• PT 100 or 1000 temperature probes The CS Software allows alarm signals to be dispatched via SMS or email. Daily or monthly air or gas consumption reports are generated showing the m³ consumption, with the cost values making air and gas tracking really simple. Internal department billing for compressed air usage is now a real easy possibility. Artic Driers International, Allen Cockfield, Tel: (011) 425-3484, Fax: (011) 425-3462, allen@articdriers.co.za

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Index to Advertisers Aesseal

Artic Dryers

Axiom 18 Chemsystems 16 BMG

Outside Front Cover

Bonfiglioli

Inside Front Cover

Compressor Valves

Engen 17 Engineer Placements

Festo 30 Hansen 14

On the Move

Harmonious

Outside Back Cover

Horne 22

Nyami Mandindi is the new CEO of SSI Engineers and Environmental Consultants (SSI). Bill Yeo, former technical director of Bosch Projects, has been appointed managing director of Bosch Projects.

KDP 20 Loesche

M+J 40 Multotec 44 PPS 9 Polysius

Inside Back Cover

Rand-Air 8 Rotatech 16 SEW 24

Nyami Mandindi

Bill Yeo

THE SOUTH AFRICAN MECHANICAL ENGINEER

Voith 34

VOL 62

March 2012

THE SOUTH AFRICAN MECHANICAL ENGINEER

VOL 62

March 2012

THE SOUTH AFRICAN MECHANICAL ENGINEER

VOL 62

March 2012