Carrying out testing on newly manufactured products is one of the many services offered by SWL, and a very important one at that.
We were approached by one of our long-standing customers to carry out some testing on one of their newly fabricated products, but not your standard proof load testing. They required stability testing to establish how stable the product was at a given incline.
Testing can pose many challenges.
It requires knowledge and expertise to know how to correctly and safely test a product, and when the test is a little out of the ordinary, to have the knowledge to design a test method that satisfies the customer’s test requirements.
Our customer manufactures pump enclosures, which are mobile units that can be transported and stored when not in use. The enclosures may be stacked two high, and the customer wanted to establish at what angle the enclosures became unstable, with the potential to topple.
The weight of a single enclosure fitted with the pump units was approximately 780kg. We had to design a method to enable a single enclosure, and then two stacked enclosures, to be raised to a maximum 10-degree incline, all whilst ensuring that should the enclosures begin to topple, they were unable to freely fall.
We designed and built a skid on which the enclosures would sit. The skid was approximately 3 metres long, with several welded pad eyes at one end and a steel channel ‘stop’ at the other.
Two of the pad eyes were used to carry out the raising of the skid, whilst another two sets were designed to take support lashings, which were loosely secured to the enclosures to ensure there was no possible way they could fall should the degree of incline cause them to topple.
Using a lorry-mounted HIAB, with the enclosures secured with support lashings, and with restraints fitted to the frame and floor anchors for good measure, we gradually raised one end of the skid so the incline could be measured incrementally up to the required 10 degrees.
The above was carried out on both single and double-stacked units, with a digital incline meter used to accurately measure the level of incline during the test.
The test was very successful and achieved the desired result for the customer, who was extremely happy with how we carried out the testing and ensured a safe and controlled test procedure.
This couldn’t have been achieved without good communication and forward planning from all parties involved: the customer, the HIAB operator, and SWL.
With expert knowledge, ongoing communication between all parties, and the right tools, no matter how challenging the task, there is always an answer.
From inspection and testing to supply and bespoke engineering, our specialists keep operations lifting safely, nationwide across the UK.
