Do not confuse the pressure ratings between ASME and CE/PED certificates
NOT NECESSARILY, DEPENDING ON ITS CERTIFICATE!!! READ OUR ARTICLE BELOW.
Do not confuse the pressure ratings between ASME and CE/PED certificates
Every week, we receive many customers’ requests about the accumulator products. Most of them do not know much of it and just tell us ” I need a 5,000 PSI one because the label says WP 345 Bar”.
However, this is very vague and can be mistake, since the pressure rating under different certificates is different. This is because of the different design factor required on each certificate. For example, ASME design code needs the pressure vessels to have the design factor of 4:1 (except the Appendix 22, which is 3:1), whereas CE/PED certificate only needs design factor of 2.8:1. In another words, ASME certificate has the most strict design requirement.
As a result, an accumulator labelled as 5,000 PSI (345 Bar) by CE/PED actually is almost the same as an accumulator labelled as 3,000 PSI under ASME. They use the same kind of pipe (OD 229mm) in production.
So when the customer asking for a 5,000 PSI, you should know if it’s by ASME or CE/PED certificate.
But, we noticed that a lot of persons, even the technical sales didn’t know or paid enough attention on this difference. Actually, the True 5,000 PSI accumulators (under ASME certificate, pipe OD 245mm) is pretty seldom used. In some cases, the 5,000 PSI accumulators requested by the customers are made by European brands. When they seek the replacement from other US vendors, the same accumulator is only rated 3,000 PSI to be used in USA.
This also means, technically speaking, a 3000 PSI ASME accumulator can be used in 5,000 PSI hydraulic system in US without any problem, since this is the legal use in Europe, although it’s informal and not documentation supported.
Summary of this accumulator sales trick:
1) Knowing only pressure rating is not enough, need to know both pressure and certificate requirement.
2) ASME has the highest design standard.
3) 5,000 PSI (330 Bar) CE/PED accumulator is the same rating as 3,000 PSI (210 Bar) ASME accumulator.
Contact us for any accumulator technical question.
