Case Study - Hatch

Background

As a major portion of facilities engineering services for the non-ferrous mining industry, Hatch Ltd. in Toronto Ontario, Canada, designs autoclaves – giant vessels with internal agitators that mix slurry material under intense heat and pressure to extract metals such as gold, silver, nickel and copper. Each autoclave must be custom designed for the ore composition at different mine sites. Building and testing prototypes to verify proper operation is prohibitive, due to the equipment size and the high cost of materials of construction. With hundreds of millions to several billion dollars at stake, designs must be right �rst time.

Challenge

Hatch meets these challenges with ANSYS FEA software for structural and thermal analysis to optimize designs for performance and economy. The company relies heavily on SimuTech services for training, consulting and mentoring. In one project, SimuTech assisted in developing an ICEM parametric model for improved meshing of autoclave components. In another, SimuTech engineers con�gured a solution for running analyses faster through distributed computing across multiple platforms.

Solution

“We would not have met a critical customer deadline without SimuTech’s help,” states Ted Barrette, Supervising Mechanical Engineer in the Hatch Autoclave Group. “Analysis software is written by its developers to satisfy a broad range of industries. Best applying the programs for applications in a particular industry such as ours requires insights into the nuances of the software for performing those specialty tasks, however. SimuTech de�nitely has the know-how in helping us optimize use of the technology for our work. They’re really up on the applications and problems we face every day at Hatch.”

Analysis Helps Hatch Design Equipment Right First Time

Services

■ Software Sales

■ Training

■ Mentoring

Bene�ts

■ Reduced risk

■ Increased Productivity

■ Extended Life

Software

■ ANSYS Mechanical™

■ DesignModeler

■ ANSYS CFD™

Engineer.Simulate. [email protected](866) 400-5737

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