Selfless feedback from a chemical engineer to equipment designers
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As a chemical engineer, I have a genuine undergraduate degree in chemical engineering machinery. I did two course projects and one graduation project during my time in school, and I feel that my foundational knowledge is quite solid. After graduating, when I went to the production unit, I realized that some of my previous design theories worked in theory, but were rarely applied in practice. However, at my workplace I have gradually come across many cases of defects in the functionality of equipment designed by various design firms. Here are a few key points summarized for our fellow designers’ reference. I. Safety factors were not taken into account during the design: A design firm, when designing one of our separators, placed the manhole cover on the side of the floor railing; as a result, workers faced the risk of falling from the floor every time they carried out maintenance work ； II. Maintenance factors are not taken into account during design: A design institute designed a reactor in which the flange connection at the top, with a DN400 diameter, had a length of less than 150 mm, making it difficult to replace the bolts. It’s often a bit difficult to tighten the nuts ； III. There are also those who commit design errors directly. Our company manufactured a fiberglass equipment piece for a private enterprise; the access panel on it was covered with bolts. Strangely enough, there wasn’t enough space between the nuts to fit a wrench, so we immediately demanded a return!
You’re absolutely right. I hope all designers can see it.
Continue updating: IV. Empiricist errors! We have a horizontal storage tank for organic materials, with a length of 8 meters. It is said that it was designed by a design institute directly under the Ministry of Chemical Industry; unfortunately, it has only two bases at the bottom. When 70% of the liquid filled the tank, the middle part of the tank deformed. After thorough investigation by the design team, it turned out that one of their designers based the design on the specific gravity of water, completely ignoring our process requirements! ! !
Firstly, the process or piping team should pay attention to this issue when determining the location of pipe connections for the equipment; they have 3D models, so this should be easy to identify. As for other issues such as insufficient space for wrenches or bolts that cannot be inserted, these can also be avoided by drawing the diagrams at a 1:1 scale. I think this is still a matter of the designer’s experience and sense of responsibility.
Agree with the OP’s suggestion; support it! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
These problems arise from design professionals remaining detached from practical production activities for long periods of time. Additionally, in our country, design and manufacturing are separated; nowadays, large engineering companies integrate design, manufacturing, and installation, which will gradually lead to improvements.
The first issue mentioned by the poster should be a problem related to the engineering process; those in the equipment field may not necessarily be aware of the placement locations of the equipment； The second one is a technical issue related to equipment; this should be common sense
It’s mainly a matter of responsibility; they do things just to get them done.
This post was last edited by Dawn Bellows at 13:52 on July 8, 2015. Similar situations arise when pipeline technicians fail to provide timely feedback to other departments and do not communicate issues in a timely manner; ultimately, the problem lies in a lack of responsibility and commitment.
All of these things you mentioned should be referred to a piping specialist, because it is the piping that determines how the equipment will be arranged in the end.
This post was last edited by wuchangjian on 2015-7-8 at 15:08. First of all, I’m not a designer; sometimes I think that design poses difficult challenges for me, but at other times I can understand them. Everyone has their own focus points, and when considering things from one’s own perspective, it’s difficult to see one’s own mistakes. Design is also a person. 1. When performing maintenance on the platform equipment, with the manhole flange located near the outside of the corridor, it is essential to pay attention to the safety of the workers; measures such as safety ropes must be in place. Many factors need to be taken into consideration when designing a container. Don’t repairs still need to be carried out at heights of dozens of meters? It’s just on the platform. 2. This happens often; sometimes, the short length of certain sections isn’t the designer’s fault – due to various factors such as manufacturing processes and overall design constraints, there isn’t much room for flexibility for the container designers. 3. Return it without hesitation; I support you.