Ryan Goh

Mechanical Engineer/Web Developer

1 minute read

Curious about the features of ASME PVDE? Check out ASME-PVDE: Intro & Features Overview first.

In February 2021, I joined a smaller company after leaving a large corporation. I noticed that many SMEs in Malaysia either avoided commercial engineering software due to cost or relied heavily on manual calculations, often leading to inefficiencies and potential errors.

Motivated to bridge the gap between engineering and modern digital tools, I started developing a user-friendly, automated engineering program to help both beginners and experienced engineers. Leveraging my web development background, I explored ways to integrate Excel with a custom interface and a built-in database, enabling fast and accurate pressure vessel calculations.

Early Challenges

  • Learning VBA syntax and translating engineering logic into code.
  • Building a basic interface to display ASME BPVC Section II Part D material data, which required hours of manual extraction.
  • Maintaining the material database as ASME publishes new code books every three years. Solved by splitting data into individual Excel files per year and using Power Query to compile them automatically.
  • Reusing the material interface across worksheets without conflicts. Solved using Excel named ranges scoped to individual worksheets.

These challenges taught me the importance of scalable design, data management, and user-focused interface development.

How the Program Evolved

Over four years, the project has grown far beyond a simple material database:

  • Expanded databases: flanges, piping, gaskets, and other components.
  • Multiple worksheets: covering code-governed and non-code components.
  • Options for multiple use cases: adaptable to various engineering scenarios.
  • User-friendly improvements: enabling quick navigation and checks, even for engineers with limited coding experience.

Some people ask why I didn’t build it in Python. The reasons:

  • Many engineers aren’t familiar with coding, and running a Python app wouldn’t be straightforward.
  • Python UI libraries are either limited or require commercial licenses.
  • Excel VBA is already integrated with a tool engineers use daily, making it the most practical choice.

After four years of development, this project has become the robust tool you see today. Along the way, I learned a lot about balancing user needs, data management, and software design in a real-world engineering context.

Explore the GitHub repository and check the changelog to see how it has evolved over the years. If you find the program useful, please consider leaving a ⭐.

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