XL83NL
Mechanical
- Mar 3, 2011
- 3,110
Im struggling with an issue here to which the applicable Code(s)/standards dont really seem to provide an answer, I think.
Our company (EU-based) quite often produces it's own SEP (Sound Engineering Practice) vessels, which are small vessels that fall under the regulations of the PED (97/23/EC), article 3 paragraph 3.
For those unfamiliar with the PED, these kind of vessels have to be produced acc. article 3 paragraph 3 of the PED (PRessure Equipment Directive), which basically tells you one needs to produce such a vessel according to good craftsmanship.
You dont e.g. need PQR's/WPS's, WPQ's, calculations, etc. for vessels which fall into this category. Examples of SEP vessels are pressure vessels for which the vapour pressure at highest temperature is higher than PS = 0.5 bar above normal atmospheric pressure, but with the limitation that for fluids in Group1 with a volume greater than 1 L and a product of PS and V greater than 25 bar·L, or with a pressure PS greater than 200 bar (Annex II, table 1).
Parallel to this, there are more groups (and limitations), but just to give an idea.
Now, if I make pressure vessel for hydrogen (say 200 bar, 0.5 Ltr), to which the above mentioned rules apply, I might want to do some calcs for the wall thickness. You dont want to have such a vessel exploding, even though (acc. to PED) you dont need to do any calcs.
To make things simple, I thought it might be a good idea to do the calcs acc. to a simple yet effective code for pressure containing equipment.
Since most of these SEP vessels are produced with a lot of piping components, I thought of using B31.3. Im starting to get familiar with this code, and it would take me too much time to go through BPVC Sect VIII Div 1 thoroughly.
My question now is, if it's allowed to use ASME B31.3 as the design code for such a pressure vessel. The components of such pressure vessels are often a piece of pipe/tube, which a cap (or sometimes a tubing flange), and some half coupling branches on the side.
I looked through B31.3 but I couldnt really find a section which made it clear I couldnt use this Code for such a design.
Another example is a tube in tube heat exchanger, also made of 2 pieces of tube, perhaps a Tee at the end for in- and outgoing fluids, and a cap to close the tube headers.
Our company (EU-based) quite often produces it's own SEP (Sound Engineering Practice) vessels, which are small vessels that fall under the regulations of the PED (97/23/EC), article 3 paragraph 3.
For those unfamiliar with the PED, these kind of vessels have to be produced acc. article 3 paragraph 3 of the PED (PRessure Equipment Directive), which basically tells you one needs to produce such a vessel according to good craftsmanship.
You dont e.g. need PQR's/WPS's, WPQ's, calculations, etc. for vessels which fall into this category. Examples of SEP vessels are pressure vessels for which the vapour pressure at highest temperature is higher than PS = 0.5 bar above normal atmospheric pressure, but with the limitation that for fluids in Group1 with a volume greater than 1 L and a product of PS and V greater than 25 bar·L, or with a pressure PS greater than 200 bar (Annex II, table 1).
Parallel to this, there are more groups (and limitations), but just to give an idea.
Now, if I make pressure vessel for hydrogen (say 200 bar, 0.5 Ltr), to which the above mentioned rules apply, I might want to do some calcs for the wall thickness. You dont want to have such a vessel exploding, even though (acc. to PED) you dont need to do any calcs.
To make things simple, I thought it might be a good idea to do the calcs acc. to a simple yet effective code for pressure containing equipment.
Since most of these SEP vessels are produced with a lot of piping components, I thought of using B31.3. Im starting to get familiar with this code, and it would take me too much time to go through BPVC Sect VIII Div 1 thoroughly.
My question now is, if it's allowed to use ASME B31.3 as the design code for such a pressure vessel. The components of such pressure vessels are often a piece of pipe/tube, which a cap (or sometimes a tubing flange), and some half coupling branches on the side.
I looked through B31.3 but I couldnt really find a section which made it clear I couldnt use this Code for such a design.
Another example is a tube in tube heat exchanger, also made of 2 pieces of tube, perhaps a Tee at the end for in- and outgoing fluids, and a cap to close the tube headers.
