Colorado Springs, Colo., USA -- November 30, 2020 -- Applied Flow Technology is pleased to announce the results of the 2021 Platinum Pipe Award. Each year, this AFT award recognizes excellence in piping and ducting system modeling using AFT software. Customers who use AFT Fathom, AFT Arrow, or AFT Impulse can enter projects in one, or several, of the categories.

Each of the winners below received a $500 Amazon gift card, $2,000 in software credit for their company, and physical awards to display on their desks. This year we had one Honorable Mention. This person received a $100 gift card. 

All of the entries below will be used to create case studies to show others how AFT software can be utilized in a variety of ways within industries around the world. 

While the Platinum Pipe Award contest has closed for this year, any AFT user can prepare to enter the contest next year and submit a project before October 31, 2021. 

Most Interesting Model:

Tejas Ambre & Dr. S. Bharath | Vertex Piping Engineers Pvt. Ltd.  |  India

Project: Thermo-hydraulic Analysis of Experimental Helium Cooling Loop for lead Lithium Cooled Ceramic Breeder

Product used: AFT Arrow

Experimental Helium Cooling Loop (EHCL) is a high-pressure high temperature closed loop helium gas system that will be used as cooling system for evaluating the performance of various fusion blanket components including the Indian Test Blanket Module (TBM), fusion blanket first wall mock-ups, Pb-Li helium heat exchangers, divertor mock-ups, and more. AFT Arrow was found to be very useful to determine the steady-state thermo-hydraulic performance of the experimental helium cooling loop including the hot and cold leg interactions for various operating and commissioning conditions as per test protocol. The loop consisted of turbo-compressors, heat exchangers, heaters and control & isolation valves. The project team was able to successfully determine the maximum and minimum permissible mass flow rates circulation in the various sections of the closed loop, turbo-compressor delivery limits, required Control Valve performance characteristics, capacity requirements of of helium-water exchangers, and operating limits of He-He exchangers/ recuperator.

Indian Test Blanket Module (TBM) program in ITER is one of the major steps in its fusion reactor program towards DEMO and future Fusion Power Reactor (FPR) vision. Along with the DEMO machine design, liquid type and solid type breeding blankets are being developed for testing in ITER.

Test/Field Data Correlation:

Swapnil Paingankar | Ingenero Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.  |  India

Project: Root Cause Analysis and Mitigation for Loading Line Vibrations at Petrochemical Plant Storage Tanks

Product used: AFT Impulse

A root cause analysis (RCA) for sudden pressure rise that occurred during material loading operations. This project completed the validation and reconciliation with respect to limited available operating data and allowed the team to suggest mitigation options for reliability & sustainability. The root cause was identified, and mitigation options were suggested. After the implementation of the recommendations, the client responded with a testimonial: “Historically pending issue has been resolved scientifically with clear focus.” The report submitted with the project shows 8 measured steady-state data points compared to steady-state Impulse results. The maximum pressures measured during the transient for two of the operating cases are compared to the maximum pressures from AFT Impulse. Generally, all data matched within 5-10%. They used AFT software because of the availability of necessary features and ease of use to obtain faster solutions.

Operational Benefits & Sustainability:

Michael Arthur |  Hydrus Works, LLC  |  USA

Project: Optimized Stormwater Drainage at a Gulf Coast Refinery

Product used: AFT Fathom + GSC Module

This project provided a solution to a long-time drainage issue for a Fortune 500 company by providing an optimized solution while reducing overall capital for the project. The overwhelming complexity of marrying a gravity system model to a pressurized system model calls for a software that can integrate field data while providing an accurate assessment of the existing system for use in future expansion projects. Hydrus Works was able to provide an accurate model that solves the long-time drainage issue with multiple configuration options by use of AFT Fathom's scenarios, all while reducing the project scope by over $25 million.

Honorable Mention:

Operational Benefits & Sustainability:

Ricardo Pontes |  Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)  |  Brazil

Project: Optimal Synthesis of Cooling Water Pumping and Distribution Systems

Product used: AFT Fathom

 Given a cooling water demand and the location of the cooling water consumers, the project goal was to define the optimal strategy to distribute cooling water by determining the number of pumps, the pump locations, and determine if secondary distribution headers are to be used. AFT Fathom eased the modeling of a system in loop and enabled the quick data insertion of different pump and valve models.  The robust algorithm yielded a solution for the model in few seconds. Professor Pontes was also able to estimate the capital and operating costs of the cooling water distribution system. Three strategies for cooling water distribution were analyzed: one with a single pumping system and one distribution header, one with a main and auxiliary pumping station and one distribution header, and a third one with two distribution headers, each with a devoted pumping system. Two concepts presented reductions of 7% and 13% in energy consumption, and a subsequent decrease in costs by 4% and 11%, respectively.