Technology

The Best Equipment for Tanker Trucks and Railcar Tanks Manufacturing

Tanks are manufactured for both road and rail transportation. The increase in the cost of fuel, and thus the cost of moving merchandise, pushes the design teams to use metals that ensure the lightest weight possible in order to carry additional payloads.

The plates required for these tanks must be made of thin, high-quality plates of carbon steel or stainless steel that have a high tensile strength. Therefore, the production aims to:

  • reduce to the very minimum the ovality tolerance of the rolled shell and ensure the same roundness is then obtained in the heads spun on the flanging machine;
  •  decrease manual fitting;
  •  ensure the repeatability of the components.

The Ideal Tank Manufacturing Line

To obtain the above production objectives and guarantee excellent results, it is important to invest in a tank manufacturing line composed of a CNC dishing press with automated manipulator, a CNC flanging machine and CNC controlled 4-roll plate rolls. These plate rolls should be equipped with the following plate handling and support systems, key elements to improve productivity: 

  • lateral supports with multiple joints: since they hold up the plate during the beginning of the rolling step, guiding it towards the central support, they allow the main overhead crane to work on other jobs inside the workshop;
  • cross central ferrule support: it is a fundamental device to produce poli-cylindrical ferrules in an automatic single step process. It prevents the re-closing of rolled ferrules under their own weight, avoids plate-overlaps during pre-bending and it is equipped with two orthogonal controlled axis, beneficial to bear the weight of poli-cylindrical (double D), oval, elliptical and cylindrical ferrules with high diameter-thickness ratio. The CNC system manages the interpolation between the two axis to handle elliptical or poli-cylindrical ferrules.
  • modern feeding tables: they automate the plate feeding since, while on one side the machine is rolling, on the other end the feeding table is automatically placing the next metal sheet in the exact same position as the previous one. This is a smart solution to save time, ensure immediate introduction and transportation, and guarantee operators safety.

Faccin Group’s solutions for the Tanker Trucks industry

Faccin Group, the preferred supplier of forming and rolling machines for the vast majority of Truck Tanks Manufacturers, is well aware of these needs: its machines are equipped with a top of the range CNC system, that allows to obtain complex shapes, manage automated handling systems and give an answer to the most demanding challenges associated with the rolling of extra-long plates.

The CNC software’s success is linked to another innovation: the complete redesign of the hydraulic circuit, including:

  • the choice of its components: the Group uses only high-quality market-standard technical solutions, when choosing the hydraulic components, and different designs, which ensure the simultaneous operation of all the machines’ axis;
  • a brand new PLC software, ready to receive the CNC input.

Moreover, Faccin Group’s solutions always take into consideration the matter of energy and process efficiency to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions in the manufacturing processes. Thus, the Faccin CNC controlled 4-roll plate rolls have been updated with the latest components and equipped with highly precise sensors to monitor the hydraulic valves and to always provide the required amount of oil for each axis action. For all these reasons, this hydraulic pack, an exclusive development that Faccin Group has conceived in cooperation with a major German manufacturer, tested in various machines and the result of ten years of research and experimentation, is at least 20/25% more efficient than the standard hydraulic packs available in the market and it is available only upon request.

Faccin Group has also updated the design of the hydraulic system and rebuilt the PLC software in the context of the head forming line: the result is a higher level of efficiency and the complete control of the forming process. This reduces plate thinning, a key factor to keep control on the tank weight, and helps the die impact’s action on the plate targeting, resulting in better uniformity and, at the same time, in a simultaneous absolute position control.

The typical size of a dishing press to produce road tank ends is 300 ton, reaching up to 400 ton when the range is extended to railcar tanks. Should it be the case of intense production, a 600 ton press is the ideal choice to increase the number of blanks/round plates being pressed together in a single stack.

The final step is the flanging operation, that can be done in cold or warm forming (i.e. aluminum), it is important to remember that Faccin Group offers the widest range of flanging machines in the market, which includes all kinds of machine configurations to produce dished heads, with or without a center hole. The Group’s machinery is equipped with:

  • the option to have tiltable upper beams, valuable when flanging wide diameter long cones;
  • an extended height to simplify the loading and unloading of the maximum head diameter and to be able to operate on flanging cones with vertical axis on a dedicated tool;
  • an electric-powered main-rotation system, designed to minimize the energy consumption and to increase the rpms of the main shaft.

Indeed, for the final cosmetic pass is necessary to obtain the highest speed possible, which makes the dished head’s outer surface extremely smooth. This eliminates the need for the plastering process, which is not only expensive, but also bad for the environment.

Experienced manufacturers in the trailer tank industry know how important this is since after painting the surface, defects will be revealed. As previously stated, Faccin Group’s updated forming systems reduce the environmental impact of the forming process, by cutting unnecessary time and ultimately improving the product quality.

To get to know more about these innovative solutions, visit Faccin Group’s stands at Euroblech (Hall 11 Stand D07) and Fabtech (booth B8129) or send an email at info@faccingroup.com.

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