A pressure vessel is a closed container designed to hold gases or liquids at a pressure substantially different from the ambient pressure.
The pressure differential is dangerous and many fatal accidents have occurred in the history of pressure vessel development and operation. Consequently, pressure vessel design, manufacture, and operation are regulated by engineering authorities backed by legislation. For these reasons, the definition of a pressure vessel varies from country to country, but involves parameters such as maximum safe operating pressure and temperature.
More complicated shapes have historically been much harder to analyze for safe operation and are usually far more difficult to construct.
Theoretically, a spherical pressure vessel has approximately twice the strength of a cylindrical pressure vessel.[1] However, a spherical shape is difficult to manufacture, and therefore more expensive, so most pressure vessels are cylindrical with 2:1 semi-elliptical heads or end caps on each end. Smaller pressure vessels are assembled from a pipe and two covers. A disadvantage of these vessels is that greater breadths are more expensive, so that for example the most economic shape of a 1,000 litres (35 cu ft), 250 bars (3,600 psi) pressure vessel might be a breadth of 914.4 millimetres (36 in) and a width of 1,701.8 millimetres (67 in) including the 2:1 semi-elliptical domed end caps.
Specifications :
- Pressure vessels can theoretically be almost any shape, but shapes made of sections of spheres, cylinders, and cones are usually employed.
- A common design is a cylinder with end caps called heads. Head shapes are frequently either hemispherical or dished (torispherical).
Applications :
- Pressure vessels are diving cylinders, recompression chambers, distillation towers, autoclaves, and many other vessels in mining operations, oil refineries and petrochemical plants, nuclear reactor vessels, submarine and space ship habitats, pneumatic reservoirs, hydraulic reservoirs under pressure, rail vehicle airbrake reservoirs, road vehicle airbrake reservoirs, and storage vessels for liquified gases such as ammonia, chlorine, propane, butane, and LPG.
Advantages :
- Pressure vessels are used in a variety of applications in both industry and the private sector.
- They appear in these sectors as industrial compressed air receivers and domestic hot water storage tanks.