IMS Fabrication welcomes 50-foot long pressure vessel
Published 12:02 am Thursday, March 3, 2016
- Pete Woolridge, engineering sales manager with Bondtech Corp, walks past the 113,000-pound autoclave that was delivered to IMS Fabrication in Salisbury on Wednesday. IMS will add about 20,000 pounds of various devices to the carbon steel pressure vessel to make the hulk operational for a customer in the aerospace industry. This 50-foot-long autoclave with a 13 foot inside diameter will use pressure and heat to fuse materials together. Jon C. Lakey/Salisbury Post
By Amanda Raymond
amanda.raymond@salisburypost.com
Among the autoclaves scattered around the IMS Fabrication facility, there is one that towers above the rest.
IMS Fabrication, Inc. at 150 Summit Park Dr., brought in a pressure vessel that is 50 feet long on Wednesday.
IMS Fabrication manufactures and refurbishes autoclaves for different industries. Autoclaves are used to create products that need intense heat and pressure. Anything from tires that need to be retreaded to bulletproof glass can be put in an autoclave to create a rigid, finished product. They can also be used for sterilization.
Dana Ingold, an engineer at IMS Fabrication, said the carbon steel pressure vessel is 50 feet long overall, 13 feet in diameter, weighs 113,000 pounds and will weigh 20,000 pounds more when the company is finished with it. The vessel will be able to have an internal temperature of 450 degrees Fahrenheit and a pressure of 160 pounds per square inch.
Harvey Morgan, general manager, said the vessel spanned the width of the facility’s back door. They had to use a crane to get the vessel off of the truck.
In a project that will take about two months, workers at IMS Fabrication will be adding things like electrical controls, a fan motor, warm and cool air systems and plumbing to let air in and out to the vessel.
They are completing the project for the Bondtech Corporation, IMS Fabrication’s parent company.
Ingold said he prefers bigger vessels because there is “plenty of room to work.”
He said it was exciting to have such a big pressure vessel in the facility. Ingold said he likes the idea that one vessel they work on could be used for aerospace while another could be used for tires.
“Every day it seems like something different comes up,” he said.
Contact reporter Amanda Raymond at 704-797-4222.
