Custom skid installed for medical application

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Oct 24, 2007

A partnership of the Richard Alan Group and process design specialist, Manrochem, has designed, manufactured and installed a bespoke skid for a UK medical device manufacturer in just 4-weeks.

Richard Alan Group and Manrochem have designed, manufactured and installed a bespoke skid for a UK medical device manufacturer in four weeks.

The GBP 300,000 skid is part of a pilot plant for the production of a new generation of specialist wound dressings.

The bespoke skid is the latest in a line of projects undertaken by Richard Alan in partnership with Manrochem.

The latter provides the process design and mechanical layout and Richard Alan, the vessel and pipework manufacture, steelwork fabrication, mechanical and electrical facilities, and installation.

"The design and manufacture of the skid was complicated from the onset by the space available and limited access - a 4m2 square hole in a wall - through which the unit had to pass before it could be installed", said Sean Wylie, Project Engineer for Richard Alan.

"This affected every area of the design, making the sizing of each component and its associated pipework critical".

"In addition, the fact that the skid had to be built quickly contributed to the challenge of getting the design right first time".

Once they received the process design and mechanical layout from Manrochem, engineers from three divisions of the Richard Alan Group began work on the skid simultaneously.

A fourth division drew up plans of how to accommodate the skid once it was built.

The steelwork and fabrication for the skid took just two weeks.

At the same time, Richard Alan's engineers had designed the four pressure vessels that make up the skid.

These were manufactured at Richard Alan's Dewsbury works and fitted into the finished steelwork.

The equipment was connected using sch10 stainless steel pipe and fittings, with X ray testing on 10% of the pipework butts.

Some of the pipework was jacketed and this involved further design work, as allowance had to be made for the expansion resulting from the temperature difference between these pipes and their jackets.

In four weeks the skid was 95% complete, including cable trays and connecting wires, ready for shipping and installation.

"We were not looking forward to the installation", said Sean Wylie Projects Manager for the Richard Alan Group.

"The skid itself was very complicated to build, with lots and lots of detail, all made more difficult by the fact that we had little or no space to work with".

"Now we had to manoeuvre the skid through a 4m2 square hole, without damaging it and install it in a very confined - and hazardous - area".

"Fortunately, we have a lot of experience of working in hazardous areas; our operatives are Comp-Ex qualified and we are also qualified to perform hazardous area inspections providing documented data in accordance with the latest ATEX regulations".

The installation is now complete and both companies are in the final stages of commissioning and handover of the unit".

"It was all a bit pressured, but we are used to designing and supplying one-off process skids to tight deadlines", said Andy Pearson of Manrochem.