Top 5 Primary Components of a Reliable Pressure Vessel

May 11, 2015

A plain description of a pressure vessel details the container as a shell and a handful of parts, which is a fine way of expressing this storage unit in easy to understand terms, but there comes the time to add a few fact-filling brush strokes to this explanation. Let's begin by elaborating on the primary components of a functional pressure vessel.

Common Shapes and Materials Used to Fabricate Pressure Vessels

Vintage pressure vessels were rolled from low-grade steel and riveted to a pair of circular end sections. Fast forward to today, an age where pressure vessels are welded to form a vast inventory of shapes. ASME guidelines dictate steel rolling techniques and the incorporation of additives that range from finite quantities of carbon to trace amounts of nickel and molybdenum, exotic metals that improve critical characteristics in the vessel. Shapes vary just as dramatically in this theatre of operation, changing to adapt to stored mediums. Look for the classic barrel shape, for semi-elliptical tanks, spheroids, cones, and other eccentric forms.

Manifold Connections

The header cross-section is the next component to receive due consideration, for pressure vessels are part of an enclosed system, a closed process that receives, stores, and dispels a pressurized fluid or gas. Intake and outlet nozzles are part of this classification, as are inspection plates and maintenance access points.

The Fitting of Active Trap Components

Depending on the application of a pressure vessel, any number of contaminants can be present. For example, a downstream petrochemical pressure vessel is filled with fractional fuels that may include catalyst leftovers. An array of specially fitted scale traps capture and separate this contaminant, leaving the purified form of the fuel to be stored in the main chamber of the vessel.

Plate and Shell Geometry

Since the shell of the pressure vessel is fabricated from rolled steel or some other exotic alloy, the geometry of the form naturally trends toward the simplest form, that of a sphere. Unfortunately, spherical constructs are harder to manufacture and more complex shapes are difficult to analyse. The sweet spot in this scenario is some variant of a cylinder. The design then incorporates a combination of plate and shell ends, before welding or bolting the panels onto the end of the rolled vessel. The eventual geometry appears as a bulbous cylinder with a thicker plate at one end, a purposefully reinforced panel that serves alongside the manifold connections as an access point.

Dynamic Additions to the Pressure Vessel Model

Flanged and welded headers are one thing, as are connection methodologies and manifold designs, but we would be remiss in not detailing other, safety-centric, functions of the reliable pressure vessel. Safety valves are an intrinsic part of the design, so as mathematically calculated engineering flanges that metallurgically assess thickness computations that assign the right grade of steel to the stored medium. These engineered assessments deal with everything from the simplest spherical storage unit to multi-chambered vessels that incorporate heat exchanger functions.

Contact Details

Fusion - Weld Engineering Pty Ltd
ABN 98 068 987619

1865 Frankston Flinders Road,
Hastings, VIC 3915

Ph: (03) 5909 8218

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