Quote:
Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery
In a competition designed for high school students where safety is assessed by volunteers whos professional background may have no connection with pressurized gas systems, the barrier between "user error" and hazardous explosions should be pretty darn high. This isn't about getting a refund for busted tanks, it's about preventing injury. If the current scenario has resulted in repeated failures, it's obviously not adequate.
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Likely a PSA of some sort would be needed, or harsher restrictions in order to prevent future problems. Unfortunately, these tanks are probably perfectly adequate in the other environments where they see a static loading. I recollect Clippard testing tanks last year at several times their advertised maximum pressure without failure in a presumably static low load environment. The environment of FRC is typically anything but static and warrants more care.
I would argue that user error in play would be utilizing the tanks improperly in an environment that they aren't made for. The problem is, teams see other teams successfully doing it and don't take the time to fully educate themselves on the different protocols necessary to make them safe.
If you want to have tanks in an area that risks being hit or needs to be strapped down rigidly, go with metal tanks. Using plastic tanks necessitates finding a location where they will be under minimal load, mounting which will result in no damage, and ideally if one does explode shrapnel will be contained or redirected in a safer direction (i.e. at the ground).
Despite maintenance being a chore that is one of the reasons I now prefer putting plastic tanks in our 3x3 1/8" wall drive tubes. In the event of a fracture shrapnel would be stopped by the walls of the tubes and the drive modules at either end. Additionally I make a huge emphasis of informing any of our students who may work on our plastic storage tanks that if it is leaking you are better off removing the fitting and redoing the teflon tape than continuing to tighten it if it is leaking.