Situation
Tyne Pressure Testing partnered with OsecoElfab, a global leader in pressure relief and explosion protection solutions, to conduct pressure testing on a prototype bursting disc within a controlled environment. Bursting discs are a standard safety feature designed to burst at a predetermined pressure, protecting the pressure vessel or equipment from over-pressurisation and the risk of explosion.
The discs are engineered and manufactured to a very close tolerance from material that has very stringent material properties to ensure they burst at a specific safety pressure. When a bursting disc ruptures, it immediately relieves excess pressure by releasing the contents, preventing life threatening injury to people and damage to equipment. Pressure testing took place in Environmental Chamber Test Bay 1, housed within TPT Test Bay 1. The testing of both discs was completed over two days.
Approach
To validate the components for use in safety applications, the discs were subjected to extremely low temperature conditions before applying pressure. The environmental chamber was set up to a temperature of -150°C, and each disc was left to stabilise for thirty minutes to ensure uniform temperature distribution throughout the components. The stable temperature was critical to achieving accurate and reliable pressurisation results.
This is the first time Tyne Pressure Testing has tested a bursting disc at such an extreme low temperature. The challenge was maintaining stable readings under these conditions while pressurising the 25mm disc safely and gradually, ensuring the precise burst pressure was captured to validate the design calculations.
To address these challenges, Tyne Pressure Testing set their data acquisition system sample rate to its maximum level (8hz), capturing 8 data samples per second. This enabled a detailed and precise analysis of the pressure data, revealing the actual burst pressures of the two discs.
“As a safety company, obtaining precise, detailed and reliable test results for our products are paramount for success. We chose Tyne Pressure Testing as a local company with strong accreditations and a large capacity for testing at different sizes, temperatures and pressure ranges. We were impressed by the time they took to understand our requirements, and the effort they made to rigorously create the right test conditions. The quality of the results was exactly what we needed. Tyne Pressure Testing helped us refine the details on our prototype bursting discs and gather the comprehensive data needed to secure the order from our customer.”
Result
The tests were successful and burst within OsecoElfab’s expected pressure range and the data was provided to them for further review. Tests were completed on prototypes prior to the OsecoElfab completing the full production order. The design will now be adjusted based on the results provided by Tyne Pressure Testing.
This successful test marks a significant milestone for Tyne Pressure Testing, showcasing their capability to handle technically demanding projects that require precise data capture under critical pressure and temperature conditions. The project reinforces their role in supporting the development of technologies that demand rigorous safety and performance validation.