MechChem Africa November-December 2024

⎪ Products and industry news ⎪

WearCheck team celebrates diagnostic milestone

backgrounds, the diagnosticians hold several degrees and diplomas in a variety of engineer ing and scientific disciplines. This presents a vast amount of experience on which to draw when diagnosing oil samples, leaving very few areas that aren’t covered in their combined diagnostic experience of over 200 years. Says Evans: “Probably the best part about oil analysis diagnostics is that never a week goes by where you don't learn something new. Diagnosing 3 million samples is like checking the health of everyone in a city with a popula tion of 3-million people!” In addition to used oil analysis, WearCheck is a hub for alternative condition monitoring services, including water analysis, trans former oil analysis, asset reliability care (ARC), lubricant-enabled reliability and advanced field services: non-destructive testing, rope testing and technical compliance. The company’s services assist clients across a wide range of sectors, including min ing, earthmoving, power generation, aviation, maritime, transport, construction and others. www.wearcheck.co.za density, and future fit-out for liquid cooling technologies. These are all aimed at improving efficiency, he says. The latest expansion at Africa Data Centres, a long-standing client of Zutari, has added 1 000 racks of white space avail able for customers to lease. The expansion added three state-of-the-art halls and another 6.0 MW of critical IT load, effectively doubling the facility’s capacity. It included two colocation halls and a hyperscale hall built using a cutting-edge modular design for rapid scalability. www.zutari.com extends its gratitude to Robert and Jackie Coutts from the Nelson Mandela Education Programme for their essential role in facili tating containerised library conversions over the years. “We forward to continuing this col laboration to positively impact children and communities across the country,” says Kühn. https://boschrexroth.africa

Condition monitoring specialist company, WearCheck, celebrated a noteworthy mile stone recently when diagnostic manager, John Evans, diagnosed his 3 millionth used oil sample at the company’s Durban laboratory. WearCheck’s scientists analyse used samples of oil and other machinery fluids,

focus, which centres around uplifting com munities, improving access to educational resources and fostering a brighter future for children. “We hope that this library positively impacts the children’s education and drive to excel academically”, says Freddie Kühn, General Manager, Hytec South Africa, “We believe that education uplifts children, the future leaders of our country”. The school’s students, its School Headmistress, Shela Mina, and the Chairman of the School’s Governing Body. Mr Chauke, welcomed Group Chief Operating Officer Mike Harrison and Hytec South Africa’s General Manager Freddie Kühn. Also present were Limpopo Regional Manager Michelle Bruwer and Werner van der Merwe, Branch Manager of Mogalakwena. Hytec South Africa such as coolants, greases, fuel and more, using high-tech laboratory equipment and techniques to assess the condition of the en gine or component being tested, and predict whether mechanical problems are imminent. Evans joined WearCheck in 1989 in Durban, after starting his career in the oil analysis world in 1983 with Caterpillar in Botswana. He has worked in the tribology sector for more than 40 years, and holds a BSc in chemistry from Southampton University, At WearCheck, Evans is involved in di agnostics, customer support, training and managing remote diagnostic facilities for companies running their own oil analysis labo ratories. He has also co-authored a book en titled ‘The Oil Analysis Handbook’. He heads up a highly experienced, professional team, which includes nine diagnosticians, who have collectively analysed 12.5-million samples. Four of the diagnosticians in this team have diagnosed over one million samples each. From various engineering and scientific building.” These tunnels were evaluated for reticulation of electrical cables and drainage. It was a live facility, so there were many pro cedures we had to follow,” says Stan Rudman, technical director, Mechanical Engineering. “We also completed the first fan wall cooling unit installation, which was a first for the cli ent,” says Rudman, adding that the facility is currently fully operational. Looking at some current trends in data centre design, Rudman points to higher tem peratures, lower water usage, increased load

Spearheading WearCheck’s highly experienced team of diagnosticians is diagnostic manager John Evans (front), who recently diagnosed his 3 millionth oil sample.

MEP upgrade for Africa Data Centre expansion

To meet a desperate need, over two hundred learners at Monene Primary School, located in rural Limpopo have received their own containerised library. This is the 15th library provided by Hytec South Africa, a Bosch Rexroth Africa Group company, and the Nelson Mandela School Library Project to schools across the country since 2011. Chosen for its incredibly motivated group of young learners, the library opened on 16 July 2024 to commemorate Nelson Mandela Day. Stocked with books donated by Rotary South Africa, Good Samaritans, and Early Learner Readers from publishing company Quali-Naledi, it is well-equipped to meet the needs of the learners. This initiative aligns with Hytec South Africa’s corporate social investment (CSI) Leading consulting engineering and in frastructure advisory practice Zutari has completed the mechanical, electrical and plumbing upgrade for the 6.0 MW expansion at the Cape Town 1 (CPT1) facility of Africa Data Centres. The fast-track project posed a challenge in that it was a Brownfield site with existing structures. “We had to work around the exist ing live facility. We used 3D modelling and had to explore the use of existing underground tunnels to aid in drainage under the existing

Hytec SA opens 15 th Mandela Day library

Learners at Monene Primary School in rural Limpopo have received their own containerised library.

44 ¦ MechChem Africa • November-December 2024