Gas cylinder drying optimalization
I see a solution many times at gas cylinder refurbishment: after hydrostatic pressure testing the cylinders are dried in a 80-120 pc groups on a low relatively temperature. It is happen between 30-50 celsius.
I always protest against this. Why?
80-120 pc gas cylinders consume not a huge space. The necessary space for 80-120 cylinder is around 20-30 sqm and we have to top it with the material flow paths.
- store the cylinders beside eachother, then remove them from this stock is a completely unnecessary step. We make an extra materila handling on the cylinders when we move them into a bigger separated drying area. We bypassing the close stored gas cylnders = waste of time = waste of labor time and cost
Store the gas cylinder for 6-8 hours?
- = the gas cylinders were stopped in the refurbishment process
- = the customer/filling plant will receive the gas cylinders back 6-8 hours later (practically it is one day)
- = in the production process 80-120 gas cylinders means 80-120 pc semi-product more. The customer won’t pay for semi-products. We cannot fill it. We cannot sell gas in it.
What could be a good solution?
- Produce in the rhythm of the necessity. If we have to produce 150 pc in a day in 480 minutes? For this we have a pressure testing ramp with 6 cylinder stand? In this case I have to finish a pressure testing cycle with 6 gas cylinders in every 20 minutes. I need a gas cylinder dryer what is able to dry 6 pc cylinder in 20 minutes. In the production I will have just 12 gas cylinders. The rest of the gas cylinders could go to the following processes
- Install the drying machine as close as possible to the pressure testing unit. Be aware not to block the gas cylinder movement and gas cylinder change on the pressure testing ramp. In a 20 minutes cycle 1 man could work on the pressure testing ramp and the same man could replace the dryer as well.
- Above I described the optimal usage of the old type of pressure testing ramp. Don’t forget that there are pressure testing ramps what fill up the cylinder, pressure test the gas cylinder and then dry the cylinder with dry steam in one automatic cycle. In this method there are just 6 pc gas cylinders in the production.
With any of your question please contact me. We are glad to help you in your production optimalization in a cooperation with Lean Enterprise Institute Hungary.
Mr. Lajos SZABÓ
Web: https://pwent.eu
Email: lajos@pwent.eu
GSM: +36 (20) 927-3719
Skype: lajos_szabo
Linkedin: hu.linkedin.com/in/szlajos/
