Ray Westerlaken, P.Eng. - Regional Manager, Northern BC

Please join us in welcoming Ray back to the Fransen team.  Ray is an electrical engineer who also has a depth of experience in instrumentation and process control.  He was previously with Fransen between 1993 and 2000 working out of our Richmond office before moving to Edmonton, where he worked for Colt Engineering for seven years and gained valuable project management experience.  His family recently relocated to Prince George and Ray is just wrapping up an MBA.

As of September 8th, Ray will take over management of our Prince George office and coordination of our Northern BC project work from Bill Verdi, who will continue to provide support to the PG office for the foreseeable future.  We would like to thank Bill for his personal sacrifice in providing leadership for the Prince George office while we filled the role with a permanent PG resident.

Jack Vanier, P.Eng., CEM - Team Leader, Energy

Please join us in welcoming Jack Vanier to the Fransen team.  Jack is an electrical engineer who has significant experience with energy management which he gained over 35 years working primarily in the pulp & paper industry.  Most recently Jack was with Catalyst Paper, where he was the Energy Manager for the Crofton mill and also assisted the other Catalyst mills in meeting their energy objectives.

Jack will assume the role of Team Leader for our PowerSmart/Energy team.  In this role, he will work closely with Randy Wunderlich, George Coelho, Jonathan Ho and others who have done an excellent job of building relationships, procedures and tools, and completing successful projects over the past couple of years.

Canfor operates a Bleached Chemical Thermal-Mechanical Pulp (BCTMP) mill in Taylor, British Columbia.  The mill is a significant user of electrical power, consuming up to 65MW of electrical energy demand.  In 2007, the mill embarked on a Sustainable Energy Management Program jointly funded by Canfor and BC Hydro under the Industrial Powersmart Program.

As part of the program, the team conducted a preliminary mill wide industrial energy audit and developed an ISO based energy management system manual and related procedures.  The opportunities for improvement identified in the initial audit became the projects to be implemented in the first year of the program.

After implementing an energy use reporting system (EMIS), it became possible to target and report on specific areas within the process to identify best practices and project impacts.  Throughout 2008, several projects were implemented and the overall impacts tracked using the Monitoring Targeting and Reporting tools developed by Fransen Engineering.

One of the first projects to be implemented was the result of an employee-generated idea to replace the pulp cleaning system rejects tips with a new wear resistant material to help reduce the cost of reject refining.  The original cleaner tips were subject to excessive wear, resulting in excess pulp being rejected and thus extra refining power input . Immediately after changing the trips, the power usage in the secondary and rejects refiner system improved by almost 30GWh/year.  Project costs were negligible (the new cost of tips was roughly $30/each, $10 less than the original tips).

At the end of the first year of the program, an independent Measurement and Verification Professional estimate the total savings for the entire program to be worth over $3,000,000 per year to the Canfor Corporation.

The program was co-managed by Craig Thomson of Canfor Taylor, Randy Wunderlich, P.Eng. of Fransen Engineering Ltd, with the support of Kevin Wallace, P.Eng. and Matt Steele of BC Hydro PowerSmart.

In order to improve their pipeline capabilities in the Puget Sound area, which includes metering delivery stations at Anacortes and Ferndale, Kinder Morgan has constructed a new pumping station at Laurel, Washington.

Two 2,500hp medium voltage pumps were installed with the capability of serving either of 2 different pipelines, or both pipelines at the same time.  The relief at the station was upgraded, and the two 96,000 barrel storage tanks re-connected and brought back into service.

The project was challenging due to the complexity of pumping requirements and station safety had to be at the forefront of all decisions.  Along with the 2 pumps, a 300hp medium voltage booster pump was installed to increase pump suction pressure from the storage tanks.

3D modeling was used to ensure the complex layers of piping would fit and allow for maintenance to all valves.  Modeling was used in reviewing alternate layouts and arrangements that lead to a practical layout of the site, piping and electrical facilities.

All equipment was commissioned and brought online during the winter shutdown in early 2009 without any delays to the terminals.

Owner: Kinder Morgan (Canada) Inc., Calgary, AB. (Alan Waggett)

Civil/Structural, Mechanical and Electrical/Instrumentation Engineering and Design: Fransen Engineering Ltd., Richmond, BC.  (Kevin Savage, P.Eng.; Raymond Tong, P.Eng.; Doug Morris, P.Eng; Mark Lafferty, P.Eng.)

Construction: Diamond B Construction, Bellingham, WA. (Peter Chapman, Tom Franks)

Power System Studies

One of the core services that our Electrical department offers is Power System Analysis in the form of comprehensive power system studies.  Our Clients might require a power system study if they are building a new facility, making major changes to an existing facility, or to improve overall system reliability and safety.

Under the broad heading of Power System Studies there are various specific types of studies including:

• Fault (short-circuit) - Determination of fault levels throughout a system and ensuring installed equipment is adequately rated for the expected fault duty

• Coordination - Optimization of protective device selectivity to ensure maximum system uptime and proper equipment protection if faults do occur

• Arc Flash - In conjunction with the short circuit study, the arcing fault incident energy is determined at all major system connecting points, such as MCCs, so that workers exposed to energized equipment ensure that the PPE they are using will adequately protect them from arcing faults, and when possible, methods are presented to reduce the arcing energy to lower levels

• Load Flow - Ensuring that adequate power is available when it is needed is essential, such as during heavy loading and motor starting. Reliability and safety is critical, and hardware must be chosen and utilized within its load ratings and these are all verified and checked under various operating conditions.

• Motor Starting - During motor starts, there are extra loads placed on the power system under many circumstances, and these demands must not have a negative impact on the rest of the power system. Corrective measures can be evaluated such as utilizing soft starts, reconfiguration of transformer taps, and new starting schemes.

• Harmonics - Modern power systems incorporate equipment such as VFDs that can result in higher harmonics in the system, which can in turn place extra stresses on the power system resulting in higher than normal heating and also affect protective device accuracy and performance. Identifying areas of high harmonic distortion is important to mitigate these effects.

Fransen has been completing Power System studies since we first opened our doors in 1980.  Our team has a depth of both theoretical expertise and practical experience, having completed these studies in a variety of industrial settings using the latest advanced software tools.

Fransen Engineering offers full 3D Scanning (also referred to as High Definition Surveying) solutions using the latest time of flight laser technology for mechanical, piping, structural, civil, electrical, and instrumentation applications.

Based on cutting-edge technology, high-definition survey uses a narrow laser beam to “sweep across” a target object, so that hundreds of thousands of closely spaced measurements can be taken in a matter of minutes. When these scanned measurements are displayed on a computer, a dense representation of points (a point cloud) blankets the target. The results can be viewed and navigated much like a 3D model.

Once the point cloud has been created, specialized software can then be used to draw solid 3D objects over the points. The result is a useable model that can be modified or added to using our standard 3D design tools.

When should our clients use this service?

• Lack of accurate record drawings
• Difficult and/or unsafe access for taking measurements
• Tight project schedule limiting time available for design

What is the Process for conducting a 3D scan?

• Client meeting to confirm extent of the existing plant to be processed and the end use of the information
• Site visit to perform scan
• Download and process ‘point cloud’ data
• Create a full or partial 3D model
• Utilize the model as per project requirements
• Store for future use and update

What are the Long Term Impacts of 3D Scanning?

• Safer acquisition of data
• Enhanced accuracy of design resulting in better prefabrication
• Enhanced interdisciplinary coordination
• Reduced construction costs and safety risks
• Reduce design costs
• Improved accuracy
• 3D visualization aid for constructability and safety reviews
• Georeferencing for easy integration into GIS systems

We are pleased to announce that effective July 16th Larry Sawchyn will assume the position of Team Leader for our newly formed Water Resources Team.  The Board has elected to form this new team in response to growing emphasis amongst our clients in different sectors regarding their water and wastewater challenges and opportunities.

In this new position, Larry will be responsible for developing water and wastewater opportunities with our existing core clients at all stages of project development – from initial opportunity identification through all stages of project execution.  With over two decades of experience working as a consultant and vendor in the municipal industry, Larry will draw on his experience to build a team that will:

Develop and manage water resource based projects for our core industrial clients working in close coordination with our existing core client teams.

Seek and develop water resource based projects for our developing and targeted industrial clients.

Seek and develop opportunities to work with partners (vendors and other consultants) to provide services to the municipal sector.

Directly pursue water resource work in municipal settings that fit with our existing core competencies, focusing particularly in the geographic areas around our offices.

Work with our Strategic Services group to identify water resource based opportunities for our clients.