MechChem Africa November-December 2024

Ventsim and the five levels of ventilation optimisation MCA talks to Stephan Bergh of Howden, a Chart Industries Company, about Ventsim CONTROL, the company’s ventilation optimisation solution, which offers five levels of control for on-demand mine ventilation, ranging from manual remote control to advanced algorithms.Already in widespread use, energy consumption for ventilation systems can be reduced by between 10 and 70%. H owden has long been known in South Africa as an OEM of ventilation fans, cooling and engineered solutions for under stage’ with regards to mine cooling or fan applications. Howden wanted to get in volved earlier in the value chain to support our customers more comprehensively and to build mutually beneficial relationships. This led to the establishment of a consulting arm that offers specialised en gineering services to support mines from the inception stage all the way to the end of the asset’s life,” he says.

to support customers on their journey to ZERO HARM and ESG excellence,” Bergh continues. Ventsim CONTROL is an intelligent, customisable underground Ventilation Optimisation/Ventilation on Demand (VOD) software solution that communi cates with hardware devices, allowing remote monitoring, control, automation and optimisation of airflow, heating, and cooling. “As for specialised consulting services, our team of engineers, leveraging the pow er of our solutions, global footprint and collective experience, are able to design robust, and efficient ventilation and mine cooling solutions to support our custom ers’ operations across the life of the asset. Truly an all-encompassing single point of contact solution,” notes Stephan Bergh. Ventilation optimisation Mine ventilation and cooling systems typically comprise between 40 and 50% of a mine's total energy consumption. “The rise in energy cost and availability of energy, paired with ESG/carbon foot print reduction commitments and more stringent health and safety standards, are forcing engineers and mine planners

ground mining, tunnels and wastewater facili ties, as well as solutions for power industries. “Howden was founded by James Howden in Scotland in 1854 and quickly became an established designer of rotary blowers and compressors,” begins Stephan Bergh, Mining Lead for Howden Africa, Middle East and India, adding that the company has donned many caps to support different mission critical processes across multiple industries over its 170-years of history. “In March of 2023, Howden was ac quired by Chart Industries, the US-based molecule handling specialist and world leader in cryogenics, liquefied natural gas and hydrogen amongst others. This is a good fit for Howden, which has always been an air and gas handling solutions provider. The combination of the Chart and Howden products and solutions is very exciting, and we look forward to sup porting our customers in new, and more comprehensive ways ,” he tells MCA . “As an OEM, we traditionally supported our customers at ‘the request for proposal

The Ventsim Family of Products and Solutions At the core of Howden’s offering for un derground mine developers and operators is Howden’s Ventsim software solution, which is a critical component Howden’s total mine ventilation solution (TMVS). “Ventsim is split into two distinct packages; Ventsim DESIGN and Ventsim CONTROL. Ventsim DESIGN is a complete and integrated mine and tunnel ventilation software package for the design, simula tion and testing of ventilation circuits. It affords the user the opportunity to perform detailed scenario planning and analysis of different factors including airflow, pressure, heat, gases, power con sumption, radon, fire and others, and to design a system that is robust and efficient

Mine ventilation and cooling systems typically comprise between 40 and 50% of a mine's total energy consumption.

36 ¦ MechChem Africa • November-December 2024