Piping systems are designed for operation under specific conditions. However, over the lifetime of a plant, changes to the intended processes are likely to occur, which may have an adverse affect on the piping system.
A workshop, called “Piping System Optimization: The Winning Trifecta,” will be presented by Engineered Software, Inc.’s (Booth 916; Lacey, Wash.) chief engineer Ray Hardee for chemical facility personnel with an interest in piping and pumped systems on Tuesday from noon to 12:30 p.m. in Theater A.
The workshop will first discuss the many ways fluid piping systems can become inefficient, says Hardee. Poor planning of the system and a lack of communication during the planning, installation and early operational stages, changes to the amount of flow and switching products or processes are common ways piping systems may become “out of whack,” according to Hardee. “When a process is changed and a system is affected by it, often not enough care is taken to determine whether the installed equipment and piping systems will continue to work properly,” he explains.
Hardee says this is a common problem in all industries, but the recent push to become “green” and more energy efficient by the U.S. Department of Energy and organizations such as The Hydraulic Institute and Pump Systems Matter, is making processors realize they need to remedy the situation.
For this reason the presentation will discuss how to look at the overall system and determine how the pieces work together. “Doing this may reveal that there are oversized pumps within a system, pumps that aren’t operating at their best efficiency point and other things that could affect the system’s efficiency, such as bottlenecks or inefficient control means,” explains Hardee. This segment of the workshop will help chemical facility personnel determine how to find the inefficiencies of their pumped systems.
From there, Hardee will discuss some of the material within the new American Soc. of Mechanical Engineers’ Standard, “Energy Assessment for Piping Systems,” which focuses on how to conduct piping system assessments. The value proposition, including reduced operating, maintenance and capital costs, for taking assessment findings and optimizing the system will also be covered.
“We will be presenting some examples and case studies that reveal how keeping ahead of changes and learning how to optimize the pumping system can help reduce capital costs, operating costs and maintenance costs,” notes Hardee. Attendees of the workshop will also receive a set of references and weblinks to various Web-based applications that can be accessed for assistance with piping-system optimization efforts. A 10-min Q&A session is also planned.
Joy LePree