Pressure Vessel Transition Structure for Flange Load Distribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pressure vessels face high manufacturing costs due to excessive fastening loads on corners and edges where the shell part and shell flange have different cross-sectional shapes, requiring thicker flanges to distribute the load, which increases production expenses.
Innovation Solution
A pressure vessel design featuring a connecting member with a cylindrical shape that gradually changes from a larger pressure-vessel-body connected portion to a smaller body-flange connected portion, allowing for reduced thickness of the body flange and alleviating direct mounting stress, thereby lowering manufacturing costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the shell flange is made thicker to distribute fastening load, then the structural strength is improved, but the manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
A connecting member with a tapered connecting portion is introduced as an intermediary component between the pressure vessel body and the body flange. This connecting member has a body-flange connected portion with circular cross-section connected to the body flange, and a pressure-vessel-body connected portion with rectangular cross-section connected to the pressure vessel body, with a connecting portion that gradually transitions between them. The connecting member distributes fastening loads away from the pressure vessel body corners and edges, allowing the body flange to be made thinner while maintaining structural strength.
2Ease of manufacture
If the body flange thickness is reduced to lower manufacturing cost, then the manufacturing cost decreases, but the fastening load distribution worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting member serves as a mediator that transfers fastening loads from the body flange to the pressure vessel body in a distributed manner. The tapered connecting portion with gradually changing cross-section ensures smooth stress transition and prevents stress concentration, allowing thin body flanges to achieve adequate load distribution through the connecting member's load-spreading geometry.
Solution Approach 2:
The connecting portion of the connecting member features a gradual change in cross-sectional shape from circular at the body flange end to rectangular at the pressure vessel body end. This continuous parameter change in geometry creates a smooth stress flow path that distributes fastening loads effectively, compensating for the reduced body flange thickness and maintaining structural integrity.
3Strength
If the connecting member has a gradual shape change, then the stress distribution is improved, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting portion is designed with a gradual parameter change in cross-sectional geometry from circular to rectangular. This can be manufactured using standard tapered forming processes or gradual transition machining, which are common in pressure vessel fabrication. The smooth transition geometry distributes stresses effectively while remaining manufacturable through conventional techniques.
Data Source
AI summary
A pressure vessel includes a pressure vessel body provided with a flow channel through which a fluid is caused to flow, having a rectangular cross-sectional shape, and formed to extend in a direction of flow of the fluid, a body flange provided at at least one end side of the pressure vessel body in a longitudinal direction and having a circular cross-sectional shape, and a connecting member connecting the pressure vessel body and the body flange to each other, and the connecting member has a body-flange connected portion connected to the body flange, having a circular cross-sectional shape, and formed in a cylindrical shape, a pressure-vessel-body connected portion connected to the pressure vessel body, being larger in outer shape than the body-flange connected portion, and formed in a cylindrical shape, and a connecting portion connecting the body-flange connected portion and the pressure-vessel-body connected portion to each other and formed in a cylindrical shape with a shape changing to be gradually smaller from the pressure-vessel-body connected portion toward the body-flange connected portion.