Does anybody can help on how to design "spherical tank" using sheet metal,
thanks to share any of sample design.
Attached of jpeg file.
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Does anybody can help on how to design "spherical tank" using sheet metal,
thanks to share any of sample design.
Attached of jpeg file.
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Agus,
The class of tank you want to design, a large Liquid Gas (LPG) Tank is not something you can do with the SW Sheet Metal module, I design those tanks for a long time (below you can see the picture of one installation in Spain), and is something that represent a problem for a normal general purpose mechanical CAD such as SW and for which a sheet metal module is not the tool.
As you know the Sphere of those tanks is fabricated with segments of very heavy steel (the large ones are over 2.5" in thickness) and are formed using progressive stamping on very large presses, the problem is that the flat shapes need to be accurately calculated to end with the correct segments which are welded to form the sphere, also some of those tanks are "double wall". You can model the tank with SW, but the sheet metal module will not be able to provide you with "flat patterns" of the formed segments. How ever, you can calculate flat patterns outside SW as it is normally done on the industry.
Dear Sir,
Actually as SW reseller i also having the same problem .
i'm going to try to present the possibility
to design this type of tank using solidworks.
The prospect still using autocad to design that project.
I really appreciate if could help to share the sample of dummy tank
design Solidworks and the information on how to calculate the "flat pattern".
Regards,
Josep,
No doubt that your customer uses AutoCAD to design the tanks, in fact he will be using AutoCAD just to "Draw" the tanks, not to "design" them, since "design" includes the entire engineering including calculations. In fact, I see engineers at a large company fabricate this type of thanks working on drafting tables, calculate the thickness required to support the internal pressures, draw the formed shapes and let the "experts" at the shop decide the shape of the blank to use. The problem is that this very large tanks are normally erected and welded at installation site, and sometimes they discover that the segments do not "close" properly into the perfect sphere, leaving clearances that can not be filled by the welding process.
This is not a job to do with the sheet metal module of SW, since the segments of the tank are very heavy trapezoidal sections (when flat) of steel plate formed to the shape required to assemble the sphere, the forming process do not allow the calculations required to determine the geometry of the flat blank using conventional sheet metal bending formulas, on the other hand, even if each shape where formed by single stroke stamping usign a giant tool (which is not the case), SW can not produce a flat pattern of a part formed by an stamping tool.
The calculation of this tanks are part of the proprietary technology of the companies that fabricate them (in fact are part of the "experience" gained after years of "trial and error", even when there are mountains of books on the steel forming and shaping subject, some of them published by the large steel makers (as The making, shaping and treating of steel and other books by United States Steel Corporation), which describe the basic methods and provide basic formulas for calculations, etc.
On the other hand, the "above surface" spherical tanks for liquefied petroleum gas is and "old" technology partially abandoned due to the hazard of explosion of this tanks and the damage they can produce by being above ground surface. Presently, large storage facilities used in-ground tanks in which part of the tank is hidden underground or even fully buried underground tanks, since in case of accident the expansion wave of the explossion will go upwards and not in a semi-spheric path as will be the case of an over-groud spheric tank. Another problem of the above-ground is the efect of the sun radiation over one side of the tank and the effect of this over the temperature control required by this tanks filled with a very large volume of LPG or LNG. I believe at this time, the over-groud spheric tanks are only used for small facilities or in places were safety regulations allow them.
Model your part as single component and then split into bodies.
Also check this post Re: Convert Ball to sheet metal