Graduate Mechanical Engineer - Need Advice 3

[Dacheeky]

Hello,

I recently graduated and I am looking to embark on a career in pump and piping engineering preferably in the HVAC building services or oil & gas sector.

I was wondering what are the essential applicable technical engineering skills that are highly valued by building services engineering consulting firms that I could master to make me an attractive candidate?

Thanks,

 

[BigInch]

Oil & Gas, know how to get the right pump (head & flow >= required and with pleanty of flexibility) out there running in the field as fast as possible.

Recognize what type of pump is needed quickly.
Know what is required for hard heavy duty service, minimizing chance of breakdowns.
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Building services, know how to get the right pump (head, flow and lowest cost) and keep it operating with no money.

Know what is required to keep the thing running and running and running.

Know how to evaluate your required operating points.

Know the correct way to evaluate wheather a VFD can save you money.

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Both

Learn how to read ... and USE a pump curve.

Be aware of how operating out of range can affect your downtime, production lost cost, available resources and maintenance budget, and in building services, your operating costs.

Learn how to make operational changes to suit the equipment installed, rather than operate out of range and damage it.

Learn the concepts of preventive maintenance.

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My impressions only.

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"Pumping accounts for 20% of the world’s energy used by electric motors and 25-50% of the total electrical energy usage in certain industrial facilities."-DOE statistic (Note: Make that 99% for pipeline companies)

http://virtualpipeline.spaces.live.com/

 

[HEC]

Star bigInch, very accurate and to the point.

Mark Hutton

 

[dabluffrat]

For oil and gas, learn API codes; API-610, API-682, etc. for pumps and seals.

Know ASTM material codes and how they apply to refinery applications and pumps (HF acid, Alky, Coaker units, etc).

Know how to size pumps, select a driver for the application, and mechanical seal and flush plan.

HVAC pumps are more simple in design and application. Learn ANSI and ISO pump standards

Both require a working knowledge of fluid mechanics, thermo dynamics, and electro mechanics (motors)


Did you know that 76.4% of all statistics are made up...

 

[BigInch]

Not to disagree, but I thought it was too early for that code stuff. I wouldn't expect a newbie to have much of a grasp on those. So much is interpretation anyway. Perfect the basics, then run with those when you can ask your boss decent questions about the details you don't understand ... and the escape clauses ... would be my idea.

**********************
"Pumping accounts for 20% of the world’s energy used by electric motors and 25-50% of the total electrical energy usage in certain industrial facilities."-DOE statistic (Note: Make that 99% for pipeline companies)

http://virtualpipeline.spaces.live.com/

 

[dabluffrat]

Agreed, I don't think a recent grad is going to "master" any of this over night, but it's also going to be difficult to learn the basics at a consulting firm (rather then working hands on, or for an OEM). Just a basic knowledge of the application of the codes (API -> Oil & Gas, ANSI -> HVAC) is good resume material

Did you know that 76.4% of all statistics are made up...