Breathing Air Cylinder Filling

Our client, an International manufacturer of fire and safety respiratory and protective equipment needed to increase the levels of safety and productivity within the inhouse Breathing Air Cylinder Filling facility.

As a result, the 3 prime objectives of the project were increased;

• Safety – less operator involvement and therefore less risk of injury
• Productivity – to cater for increased demand therefore enabling the company to easily cater for demand changes
• Flexibility – to cater for a high variety, erratic demand, without causing supply chain issues or late customer deliveries.

Phase one of the project was to conduct a FEED Study (Front End Engineering Design) Study. The core objectives of this were;

• Carry out a detailed review of the existing supply system; compressors, buffer and installation pipework, identifying all areas requiring attention to ensure maximum benefit of pour filling system.
• Carry out an in-depth understanding of the current processes, objectives, targets and any other key issues experienced by the operators.
• To understand the breadth and range of cylinders to be filled.

The output of the FEED Study is a detailed process, mechanical and electrical design ensuring all customer requirements are captured, leaving no surprises or misunderstanding.

Our solution was to deliver an automatic Breathing Air  Cylinder Filling module, which delivered increased safety for all stakeholders, high levels of flexibility in terms of cylinder sizes, settled and test pressures and batch sizes.

In support of the objectives, the first and most important task was to improve the clients supply system thus ensuring maximum “up” time with improved compressor utilisation.

In addition to equipment supply, we also delivered;

• Mechanical, Electrical, Process and Instrumentation design and engineering.
• Full mechanical and electrical installation.
• HAZOP safety study (complete system).
• PFAT, FAT and SAT documentation.
• H&S File
• FDS (Functional Design Specification)