While there are many companies that can offer pressure vessel draughting, mechanical design or finite element analysis services, there are far fewer that are able to offer a quality service in all these areas. The combination of services offered by FCL has proved valuable, both to engineering contractors through the pre-engineering design service, and to small companies requiring third party design approval in advance of taking on the larger financial commitments of vessel construction.

Case Study: Hyperbaric oxygen has been used for many years at hospitals in the USA, as a treatment for multiple sclerosis, AIDS and cancer. Increasing interest in the use of such treatments in the UK has led to FCL's involvement in the provision of a new compression chamber for a NHS Trust hospital.

In the absence of a specific UK design code and/or Health & Safety Executive (HSE) guidelines covering the design of pressure vessels for human occupancy, design of the chamber was carried out in accordance with the requirements of PD5500 supported as necessary by reference to ASME PVHO-1. Although the adequacy of the majority of pressure envelope components could be checked using design-by-rule methods, the requirement for a large rectangular doorway at one end of the vessel, of sufficient size to enable easy movement of hospital patients and medical staff, necessitated that a design-by-analysis approach using finite element stress analysis methods be adopted to prove this aspect of the design. Use of FCL for the production of fabrication drawings ensured the consistency of all aspects of the vessel design documentation which, in turn, assisted in the third party design approval process.