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View Philton's new Flexitank / container combination tester in action.

Philton Polythene Converters (PPC) has continued their research and development programme with the first stages of testing and commissioning of their new container based Flexitank testing rig.

The purpose of the rig is to simulate the conditions found in road, rail and sea transportation and the various methods of container handling at ports and rail depots. The rig also enables PPC to investigate the stresses various flexitanks excerpt on the container itself, such as bowing of the sidewalls.

The Flexitank and container testing rig works on similar principals to a flight or driving simulator e.g. pitching forwards and back and rolling from side to side. It is capable of sharp decelerations capable of replicating heavy braking, and rolling stock shunting forces to stress the Flexitank materials in the same manner found during normal, and even abnormal, usage.

The Flexitank and container-testing rig can be programmed to complete any number of journeys, which can be linked together, to run simultaneously. These can range in time from one minute to several months, albeit, they can be compressed down to a specified time if required. The force applied to the tank and container can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the deceleration, in relation to the speed of the load.

This is made possible by two servo-hydraulic driven axis, each axis having 90,000 kilograms of high speed, ultra controllable force at its disposal. The computer-governed rig is capable of analysing the position of the load, its acceleration and speed and use this data to calculate the necessary adjustments to accurately control the stresses exerted on the Flexitank and container 2000 times every second.