What's a basic Valve engineer software package?

[NPS1978]

We have always used simple 2D autocad lite since the majority of drawings are gate globe check valve and only minor tweaks are being made. Now getting into R&D into some slightly more engineered products, Pressure Seal Bonnet, Pipeline valves, etc. For that we will get a 3D cad program (AutoCAD Inventor?), but wondering about the usefulness of other software programs.

Since we do not design castings I dont think flow modeling is necessary.

Thoughts?

 

[Danlap]

Indeed valve (as a type and function) do not have major changes for the last century.
Improvement aimed most to make the valve more compact and light (e.i. Pressure Seal bonnet); Minimize friction (Rising stem Ball valve; Triple Offset Butterfly valve; etc.) and aiming for limited leak path (Bellows Sealed, packing improvement, etc.).
All comes with pros and cons:
- Some operator do not like Bellows Sealed since it may entrap very toxic service (hazardous during disassembling the valve)
- Pressure seal bonnet susceptible for fatigue, and fluctuated pressure also susceptible for leakage.
Majority of oil and gas company not yet cascading the proper Process information thoroughly (only scanned datasheet in SAP, SharePoint, etc.)

However our Process condition also change. What used to be robust valves for the last 20 years, now initiate vibration, and other problems. Some of them due to Process changes.

Recommended software Program for Valve beginner is sizing and calculation.
flow modelling may not be quite helpful for us now. But once the plant grow or modified, the wheel invented today maybe useful as input for future development.
Otherwise, Valve engineer 20 years from now will tackle the same problem as we were facing 10 years ago. I am not fully agree with your statement. Someone need to start the "evolution"

Regards,
MR

All valves will last for years, except the ones that were poorly manufactured; are still wrongly operated and or were wrongly selected

 

[NPS1978]

Yeah that's great, so how about a software recommendation.. thoughts on AutoCAD Ivnentor Pro?

 

[SPDL310]

Inventor pro is a good 3D CAD system. IMO Inventor offers better tools for creating 2D machine drawings than solid works. There is also a plugin available for interfacing with ANSY for FEA and flow analysis. Unless there is a massive catalog of 2D legacy drawings at your company I wouldn't look to adapt a 2D CAD program. Most new graduates will have a hard time adapting to 2D CAD suites, as they are instructed exclusively on 3D modeling systems in most schools today. Solid Works has a better 3d photorealistic rendering plug in than Inventor (I don't know if you would want or need that functionality for marketing and presentation images).

 

[NPS1978]

I am not the engineer here so I don't have a clue; is there a big learning curve for an Engineer with Solidworks experience to move over to Inventor? I have been reading alot of reviews and it seems Inventor has the consensus vote. I'll be buying the sotware new so would like to make the best choice.

I'm looking for something that also has a CAM function, Inventor Pro HSM, like that.

 

[SPDL310]

From my experience having learned Solid Works in school and switching to inventor at work was not a difficult task. To be fair my employer went out of the way to make the transition easy. They paid for a week long training course, and placed me in an office with a very experienced draftsmen who is an expert at using the software. With that being said the functionality of inventor and SW are very similar, and a transition to either shouldn't be difficult. Learning the CAM capabilities will probably be your greatest hurdle, but I am unable to comment further because I have never used either CAM suite.

 

[NPS1978]

Thanks