Custom Hydrostatic Test Rig and Tooling For Plastics Manufacturer

Hydrotechnik worked with a company that specialises in the design and manufacture of submersible window products, used in submarines, diving equipment and related applications. Hydrotechnik were approached by the company to develop a hydrostatic test system for their ‘acrylic viewport’ products. The testing system needed to test the windows up to a pressure of 100 Bar while maintaining a consistent controlled temperature of 70°C. Each phase of testing needed to include checks for compliance against ASME PVHO-1. The project therefore aimed to provide a custom rig and test tool that would allow the end user to test multiple articles at once with full data logging for traceability.

A custom test tool was designed internally (manufactured externally) to hold a variety of test pieces. The rig design needed to be able to withstand the high pressures of the test and also be manufactured in sections so that it was possible to test two different shaped test pieces at the same time. Several revisions of the tool design were developed and tested with different components (O-Rings vs Gaskets, etc) ensuring that the final tooling was leak free and achieved everything the customer required. The rig itself needed to be easy to operate and robust, along with providing real time readings and data logs for the end user.

The finished product, allows the customer to test a variety of test pieces and increase their output as well as saving costs compared to previous testing, which was subcontracted outside of the company.