Weir Valves & Controls, located in Ipswich, MA is a division of Weir Power & Industrial. This international company delivers end-to-end, whole plant valve solutions for all nuclear power, fossil fuel, renewable energy and Industrial activities.
Weir Valves & Controls is “N” stamp certified through ASME and specializes in designing valves for nuclear power plants. They traditionally design large valves (8″-36″), however they have started designing smaller valves (2″-4″) as well.
We sat down with senior project engineer, Arthur Talbot to talk with him about his use of SolidWorks and Simulation.
Q: When did Weir Valves & Controls start using SolidWorks and why?
A: They had been using a number of different CAD programs throughout the years, but only recently switched to SolidWorks once a new engineering manager came on board. One of the reasons they switched to SolidWorks was that the number of people in this area who are trained on SolidWorks is much greater than with other CAD programs, so hiring new engineers is easier. They have been very happy with SolidWorks since their switch.
Q: Was there a learning curve switching to SolidWorks? How was the transition?
A: It was a fairly easy transition, there weren’t really any speed-bumps in the road. It was mostly a matter of command sequences and syntax.
Q: What about legacy data from previous CAD programs?
A: They have all of their CAD data dating back to the 1940′s. They scanned in old 2D drawings and saved everything to their database, so they can pull up anything they need from the past, whether its a manual drawing or CAD data from an older program.
Q: What do you find to be the largest benefit of using SolidWorks? Is it the ease of use? Interface?
A: All of it is pretty good; Arthur doesn’t have any troubles with it. The only problem that tends to arise is crashing which may be explained by an incompatible document control system.
Editors Note: This sounds like a job for Enterprise PDM!
Besides that, he’s very happy with the interface and notes that it keeps improving. The capabilities are all good and it does everything you ask it to do!
Q: I understand you also have Simulation. How do you like working with Simulation right inside SolidWorks?
A: It makes it so much easier, especially with Flow Simulation. Their previous CFD program required them to model the fluid first, not the solid, versus using Flow Simulation which models the fluid for you. It automatically models it and picks up where the fluid goes, and does everything from there. “It’s much easier and more direct.”
They do use some of the finite element analysis; however they can’t use FEA for their official design reports. They use it as a design tool while they’re working, but their final analysis does need to be completed by manual calculations later on.
Q: Have you noticed a shift in how you design now, using SolidWorks?
A: Watch the video for Arthur’s explanation.
Q: I know you’ve taken a number of our training classes. Were the beneficial? What are your thoughts?
A: He’s taken just about all of them! Essentials, Advanced Parts, Advanced Assemblies, and Flow Simulation; pretty much all the courses he has a use for. He has yet to take Advanced Drawings however. They were really beneficial, and according to Arthur “Keith Pedersen is a genius, he really is, he’s very bright. He’s very clear, what he shows, I loved the courses that he presented.”
