Product category:
Product Transportation
News Release from: Ritchie | Subject: Gas bundles to TPED
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 13 November 2007
Pressurised gas bundle transportation
To ensure its customers are able to transport pressurised gases across the EU, handling, storage and security specialist Ritchie has brought its bundle product portfolio into line with TPED
The Transportable Pressure Equipment Directive covers the transport of pressurised equipment, including the transport of gas bundles A gas bundle by definition is two or more cylinders joined together within a manifold and restrained within a frame
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 18 Nov 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Ritchie designs and manufactures the frame element of the bundle for a range of customers, including long standing clients Air Products and Linde/BOC.
Prior to the TPED, the transport of such equipment was solely covered by BS EN 13769, which governs the design, manufacture, identification and testing of this equipment.
Indeed, TPED still references BS EN 13769.
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However, there is confusion within the industry on how to interpret TPED and different companies are taking different viewpoints on compliance dates amongst other things.
"The document that outlines TPED is long and involved and by necessity written in a complex manner," explained Steve Robertson, one of the Ritchie project engineers: "Furthermore, the vast majority of the directive is concerned with other elements of transport and doesn't touch on gas bundles.
As a result, the challenge for all involved parties is to interpret the directive correctly and then apply it rigorously.
At Ritchie, we've built up a centre of excellence to do this and thus are able to make things easy for our clients".
The compliance and manufacturing process is by necessity quite complex.
An expert independent structural engineer verifies the Ritchie designs, and full calculations are supplied as a matter of course.
Following the structural calculations, a prototype frame is manufactured by the Ritchie coded welders, to which approved welding procedures apply.
The frame then undergoes some rigorous testing at the Ritchie plant in Forfar, Scotland.
This includes a rotational drop test, to simulate the impact of a bundle falling from the vehicle that's transporting it and a vertical drop test to simulate it being dropped by a forklift.
This entire process must be witnessed by a competent body such as Lloyds, DNV or similar.
"The rule of thumb is that if a gas bundle has to be transported on the road network anywhere in the European Union it must comply with TPED," continued Robertson: "The only exception is that an offshore pack can be driven directly to the dockside for offshore use without TPED certification.
However, if it is stored elsewhere on route or diverted, it has to comply.
This means the most practical thing to do is to ensure compliance in the first instance.
If they do go offshore, the bundles must, of course, also be compliant with the appropriate standard - DNV 2.7-1:2006.".
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