The Durban branch held its final Technology evening of 2010 at the Westville Country Club on 1 December. The topic was ‘Thermowell design and flow-induced vortices and Wake frequency calculations’ presented by Ralf Hesse, of Wika Instruments, who kindly sponsored the evening.
Ralf Hesse (right) being thanked by Vinesh Nundkishaw
Ralf’s presentation covered the main differences between the old ASME PTC 19.3-1974 and the new ASME PTC 19.3-TW2010 and highlighted the particular strengths and potential areas of weakness in various types of thermowell design. He showed the meeting some worked examples using his program to demonstrate how selection of correct materials and type of construction are critical in order to ensure safety when specifying thermowells to suit process conditions, in order to withstand the influence of vibrations induced by Karman vortices caused by fluid flowing past the well. Ralf also highlighted the potential risks associated with end users not providing sufficient information about the process application design conditions to thermowell designers and manufacturers. It was clear that the common approach to keeping a general stock of standard thermowells in stores may present a risk unless all the stocked thermowells are over designed for many of their potential applications, as is common practice among major industrial companies.
The potential for possible professional liability in the event of a failure causing damage, injury, or even a fatality, was brought to the meeting’s attention and left those present with some slightly indigestible food for thought as far as specifying temperature measuring systems in the future.
The next meeting will be the annual general meeting on 2 February.
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