Customer-specific tanks and vessels in stainless steel
Standard vessels rarely fit existing machines, pipe routes or process requirements exactly. Dimensions, volume, installation space, connections, bottom shape, surface and drainage all have to be matched to the plant in question.
stainlesstec makes customer-specific tanks and vessels in stainless steel to drawing and CAD data – round, rectangular or in a special geometry, from the one-off to the recurring small batch.
Cylindrical vessels make good technical sense and are widely used. In many plants, though, the available installation space decides the matter – and then rectangular or individually shaped vessels are the better answer. We make:
round tanks for conventional storage and process duties
rectangular vessels to make use of restricted installation spaces
conical vessel sections for controlled product discharge
combined geometries where round and rectangular parts of a plant meet
special shapes to your own design
What counts is not the standard shape but the function within your plant.
From storage to process
Vessels take on very different duties:
storage vessels to hold liquids or other media
feed vessels as a defined buffer ahead of the next process step
collecting vessels to take in process media and pass them on under control
dosing vessels for smaller quantities and defined transfers
process vessels, where the contents are heated, mixed, degassed or measured
As the duty changes, so do the requirements for geometry, connections and internals.
A vessel is more than a shell and a bottom
It is the interfaces that make it part of the plant. Depending on the project, we integrate:
inlet and outlet nozzles
flanges and pipe connections
lids
inspection and cleaning openings
sensor and measurement connections
brackets, feet and support structures
fixing points
overflow areas and drains
customer-specific internals
Position and alignment have to match the eventual installation exactly. Besides the vessel drawing, the plant interface is therefore often relevant to us as well.
Complete drainage means thinking ahead in the design
In food and process plant in particular, product left in the vessel is a problem. Bottom shape, outlet position and connection geometry determine how completely a vessel can be drained. Common answers are sloping bottoms, conical outlets, low-set drain nozzles and defined falls.
Which design is needed is set by your process or hygiene specification – we put it into production.
Large areas need stiffness
A round vessel shell stiffens itself through its own geometry. Large rectangular walls, by contrast, can bulge or deform under load. Depending on the design, that calls for:
swages
bends
reinforcing sections
frames
additional stiffeners
adapted material thicknesses
Even with apparently simple tanks, then, the combination of plate geometry, forming and welding sequence matters.
Welding without needless distortion
Vessel building means long welds. The longer the seam, the greater the heat input – and with it the risk of shrinkage, stress, distortion and changes to the surface.
We therefore take welding sequence, clamping and any subsequent straightening into account at the production planning stage. For suitable geometries, TIG, MIG and mechanised longitudinal seam welding are available. What counts is not the individual process but the result on the finished vessel. More under Welding.
Surface to suit the application
A storage tank for a technical medium makes different demands from a product-contact vessel in a food plant. Before production starts, it should therefore be clear: which areas are in product contact? What surface is required? Are there visible surfaces? Which welds have to be dressed? What roughness value or grit is called for?
We grind and finish stainless steel surfaces in our own surface finishing department. For especially high-grade applications the work additionally runs in our segregated production area.
Vessels for food plant
In food plant engineering several requirements come together:
corrosion-resistant stainless steel
readily cleanable geometries
clean welds
defined internal surfaces
good drainability
interfaces that suit the plant
Typical examples are feed, collecting, process or storage vessels within complete production lines. We build them to the design and hygiene requirements set by the plant builder or operator.
Vessels as part of a thermal process
Vessels can form part of heated or cooled processes. Depending on the design, we integrate components for:
heating or cooling jackets
external heat transfer
temperature measurement
flow and return lines
thermal process connections
The thermal design is yours to set. We take care of putting the vessel and welded structure into production.
Vessels under pressure?
Not every tank is a pressure vessel. As soon as a vessel is designed for relevant positive or negative pressure, technical and legal requirements come into play.
For projects like these we hold the manufacturer qualification AD 2000 HP 0 in conjunction with DIN EN ISO 3834-3. Whether a given vessel falls under it we judge from its technical specification – more under Pressure & process vessels.
From sheet metal to finished tank
Review the CAD data – dimensions, material, connections and installation situation
Cut the plate – prepare contours, openings and connection areas
Form – roll bending, folding or other forming processes create the geometry
Weld – join shell, ends, walls, reinforcements and connections
Finish the surface – complete internal and external surfaces to specification
Complete – fit lids, brackets, feet and further components
Test – check dimensions, tightness and any other agreed characteristics
Individual plate blanks thus become a vessel component ready to install.
One-off or recurring small batch
Many tanks are built for one particular machine or production line. That does not mean they have to stay one-offs: from stored CAD and manufacturing data, repeat parts, plant variants, further production lines and replacement vessels can all be built again under control.
For machine and plant builders in particular, that combines individual vessel design with the advantages of repeatable small-batch production.
Typical applications
Food processing technology
Feed, collecting, storage and process vessels for production plant.
No finished detail design yet? Then we will use the plant data you have to judge which production points need to be considered early.
Your installation space defines the geometry. We build the vessel for it.
Round, rectangular or bespoke – send us the CAD data, the dimensions and the technical requirements.
We will assess how a vessel that is sound to manufacture can be developed from them and built economically within our process chain.
Let’s talk about your project.
Send us your drawing or CAD data by email – together with material, batch size and your requirements. We will come back to you with a sound assessment.
