Which is the most common and frequently used method for leak testing pressure vessels?
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For the second and first categories of pressure vessels, is the airtightness test the one that marine engineers are most familiar with? Are helium and ammonia leak detection methods commonly used?
Both the helium detection equipment and the cost of gas are quite high
The cost is high, and some containers still need to be made
Another thing is, do manufacturing plants really apply soap during airtightness tests? Isn’t that dangerous? . .
The most frequent contact is with the airtightness test
For equipment maintenance, after the heat exchanger is reinstalled, blind flanges are installed at the inlet and outlet of the tube side, pressure is applied to test for leaks, and the shell side is made airtight along with the equipment. Most of them are floating-head heat exchangers.
The most common test is the airtightness test; there is also ammonia leakage testing, but ammonia is harmful to humans and has a very unpleasant smell – I really don’t want to carry out this test； For helium testing, one has to consider the hardware capabilities of their own factory.
From my experience in pressure vessel manufacturing, the common methods used for conducting leakage tests on pressure vessels are: 1. Airtightness test； 2. Ammonia leak detection.
Conduct a airtightness test, and then use soapy water to inspect the welding joints and connections other than the circumferential and longitudinal seams
We generally consider conducting airtightness tests; for containers with higher requirements, ammonia or even helium leak detection is used, but the cost is considerably higher.
The main test is airtightness testing, using a helium mass spectrometer; the equipment and costs are very high, unless it’s a special type of refrigerant (R22 or mixed refrigerants)