The mechanical engineering capabilities in MegChem cover a wide variety of detail engineering services. The five engineering groups and three mechanical drawing office groups are managed as separate business units and are staffed with over 40 qualified engineers and 30 draftsmen operating from offices in Secunda, Vanderbijlpark and Centurion. Our services and engineering capabilities are applied mostly in the petrochemical environment; however, but includes solutions on any pressure bearing equipment and rotating machinery in other environments as well.
Detail equipment design
The MegChem Mechanical design team compiles professional design packages for statutory as well as non-statutory equipment, conforming to the OHS Act, client specifications and international codes and standards. All design packages prepared by MegChem consist of the design calculation showing all steps of the calculations and formulae used, the approved for construction drawings and supportive documentation, and is internally verified as per our Quality Management System procedures.
MegChem perform detail mechanical design for:
- Pressure vessels - all categories
- Shell and tube heat exchangers
- Air cooled heat exchangers
- Electrical heaters
- Reactors
- Storage tanks
- Piping components
- Customised rotating equipment
Our design calculations are done using commercial software as listed below, as well as customised calculation sheets mainly prepared in Mathcad.
Software capabilities:
- Compress - Pressure vessel, reactor and heat exchanger design
- CodeCalc - Pressure vessel, reactor and heat exchanger design
- PV Elite - Pressure vessel, reactor and heat exchanger design
- OptiVessel - Pressure vessel, reactor and heat exchanger design
- OptiTank - Storage tank design
- Nozzle Pro - Nozzle load stress analysis on vessels and tanks
- PRCI welding institute software - Calculation of on-line welding integrity and safety
- Mathcad - Mathematical modelling software - used for all customised calculations
- Microstation - 2D and 3D drafting
- Solid Edge - 3D parametric modelling
Plant maintenance support
In the petrochemical industry, the Mechanical Engineering divisions provides specialist capabilities in Plant Maintenance support, repair procedures for tanks, pressure vessels and heat exchangers, shutdown assistance and new equipment design.
We support clients in updating drawings and other statutory documentation, often required to be transferred in electronic format for modern record keeping.
We perform fitness for service analysis on most equipment that requires engineering input to verify its suitability for service and remaining life assessment.
Project execution support
Mechanical Engineering prepares the technical purchase specifications for various types of equipment such as pressure vessels, heat exchangers, pressure and temperature relieving devices, storage tanks, centrifugal and positive displacement pumps, compressors, specialised inline equipment and filtration equipment.
The mechanical engineering and design teams assist the project team in the following actions:
- Preparation of technical scope of work
- Preparation of technical purchase specification for equipment to be procured
- Bid clarification meetings
- Technical bid evaluations
- Hazard and Operability studies
- Potential deviation analysis
- Fabrication assistance (to ensure that execution follows the design intent)
- Detail equipment design where required
- Design verification of external designs
- Verification of quality control documentation
- Punching of mechanical installations
- As-built documentation.
