STUDY ON

MANUFACTURING
PROCESS OF LPG
CYLINDERS

BY
M VENKATRAMANA - 12611A0334
M SIVA KUMAR - 12611A0331
J MAHESH
- 12611A0314
Y KISHORE REDDY - 12611A0363

ABSTRACT
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders plays critical role to contain

and transport hazardous LPG in its lifecycle. LPG cylinders in India

are designed, manufactured and tested as per Indian standard IS
3196 to ensure that they are safe and are compiled to minimum
required specifications.

To manufacture LPG cylinders first sheet is cut to size on cutting

machine to make blanks. These blanks are now deep drawn on deep
drawing power press to two halves of the cylinder. Other parts such
as foot ring, backing strip, top ring and turned components are
manufactured separately. Now both the halves are joined with a
backing strip prior to their welding. After welding complete cylinder
undergo stress relieving normalizing process in suitable heat
treatment furnaces.
So we have decided to study the manufacturing process of the
cylinder in large scale in a industry . We will consider all the
manufacturing details to setup a industry to manufacture in different
sizes.

INTRODUCTION
LPG Cylinder is an essential

item
for
filling
liquefied
petroleum gas used for various
purpose.
To ascertain the quality,
safety and performance certain
regulations are applicable such
as BIS standardization and
Explosive Lincence etc.

OBJECTIVE
1. To collect the press work processes and study
each of the process.
2.To collect the welding process and study each of
the process .
3.To styudy the Heat treatment process.
4.To study the each step of assembling and decide
the no of assembling fixtures .
5.To study the inspection procedure of cylinder
6.To study the painting process as per BIS code.
7.To study the steps and process of storing And
dispatching the cylinders to various places.

MANUFACTURING PROCEDURE
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

Raw material
De-coiling
Deep Drawing
Trimming
Bung hole piercing
Degreasing
Bung inspection
Bung welding
Footring welding
Joggling
C-Welding
V.P Shroud
* Stay plate
* V.P Ring
* V.P Shroud on body (Body welding)

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

Heat Treatment
Hydrostatic Testing
Grit Blasting
Metalizing
Painting
Internal Cleaning
Valve Fixing
Tare Weight And Punching
Pneumatic Testing
Screen Printing And Stenciling

RAW MATERIAL
Raw material used for manufacturing cylinder is Low
carbon steel, shall confirm to IS 6240:2008.
Coil size
: 2.9 * 1680 mm
2.9 * 1150 mm
Thickness : 2.90 0.1 mm

DE COILING
The hot rolled steel coils are cut into circles using rotary

cutters of de coiling machine.

Parameters:1.Circle Dia
: 610 1 mm
2.Thickness
:
2.9 1 mm
3.Surface defects : No surface defects like cut
marks, pit ,corrosion ,slivers ,lamination etc.

Deep Drawing

The circles are taken to deep drawing operation and

converted to halves on a deep draw press.

TRIMMING
Trimming shell be done with the help of a fixture so as to

correct height of halves is maintained across the circumference.

Parameters:
Internal diameter
Halve height
:

: 314.1 + 1%
250 1 mm
Minimum thickness
: 2.43 mm
Profile regularity
: Semi-ellipsoidal design

BUNG HOLE PIERCING

Bung hole piercing is done

with the help of a fixture

that locates halve and
ensure
non-eccentric
piercing of bung hole so
that
rejection
due
to
eccentricity is eliminated at
that process.
Parameter:
Bung hole dia
: 52 + 0.3 mm
Bung hole eccentricity :
2 mm max.

DEGREASING
Degreasing

is done with caustic soda solution at

minimum temperature of 80 c so as to make the surface
of halves free from oil ,grease ,dirt or any other deposits.
sequence of degreasing operation:
Clean with hot caustic soda solution(80 c)
Wipe and clean with cotton
Inspection.

Rinse with plain water

BUNG INSPECTION
Ram material used for bungs is Mild steel, shall

confirm to IS 9121:2005.
Bungs are checked for its thread as per the requirement ,
For which dial gauge setup shall be adapted for checking
bung internal threads.
Angle gauge is used to check the collar angle of 15

BUNG WELDING
Bung welding is carried out

with the help of automatic

MIG welding process.
Parameters:

Current
: 200-260 A
Voltage
: 28-32 V
Speed
: 13-15 sec/rev
No of round
: Two
Wire size
: 1.2 mm
Gas flow rat
: 15-20 ltrs/min
Gas composition
: 92% Argon and 8% CO2.
Acceptance criteria : No weld defects like blow hole , porosity
,under cut, crater, lack of fusion.

FOOT RING WELDING

The foot ring welding operation is carried out with the help of rotation

based automatic fixture to ensure non eccentric foot ring with

respect to body which ensuring equi spaced and equi length welds.
Foot ring joint shall be positioned at the center of any one of the foot
ring weld to body.
Parameters:
Weld length
: 45 mm
Ground clearance
: 10 mm

JOGGLING
Joggling shall be used as a method of fitment of halves for

C-welding operation.
Only upper halve shall be joggled.
Joggling joint shall halve a overlap of minimum 3 times
of agreed finished thickness.
Parameters:
Jogging height : 9 1 mm

C-WELDING
C-welding is carried out with the help of automatic

MIG welding process.

The ratio of width of weld to the height of weld shell
be .
Weld surface shall have smooth contour and shall be
free from under cuts.
Parameters :
Current
Volts
Speed
No of rounds
Wire size
Gas flow rate

:
:
:
:

350-450 A
32-38 V
80-85 sec/rev
:
One
1.2 mm
:
15-20 ltrs/min

 Gas composition : 92% Argon and 8%

Acceptance criteria : No weld defects like blow

hole, porosity, under cut, lack of

fusion.
Qualified welders are employed for C-welding operation.

STAY PLATE
The sequence of stay plate up to marking and forming is:
The raw material Low carbon steel is used, shall confirm to IS 6240:2008.
The marking on the stay plate is done as per approved drawing using

mechanical stay stamping machine with proper fixture to ensure equispaced marking in a straight line .
Stay plate dimensions :
52*120 mm 2 No's
91*120 mm 1 No's

V.P. RING
The

pipe/tube
used
for
making
of
V.P(Valve
protecting).Ring shall be Medium carbon steel, shall
confirm to IS 1239:2004.
Dimensions:

VP Ring dia :
Pipe/tube dia :
Weep hole dia:

220 3 mm
21 mm
2 mm

V.P.SHROUD
This is done with the help of a fixture that ensures

non-eccentric, equi-spaced and vertical stay plates

on V.P.Ring.
V.P.Ring joint is positioned approximately at the
centre of one of the stay plate and welding is done
manually on both sides of the stay plate to ring joint.

V.P.SHROUD ON BODY
Fixture is used so that V.P. Shroud is properly located

with respect to bung hole to

ensure non-eccentric
welding.
Parameters:
Overall height
:
625 5 mm
V.P.Ring eccentricity
:
3 mm, max .
Verticality of cylinder :
10 mm/1000 mm, max.

HEAT TREATMENT

After completion of all welding operations, cylinders are

subjected to heat treatment that to relive the residual
stresses without altering the metallurgical structure of
steel.
Continuous furnace is used for heat treatment process.
Parameters:
Temperature
Soaking time
Cycle time
:
No of burners
No of thermocouples
Door opening duration
No of rows
:
Capacity/hour
:

:
:
25
:

650 670 c
12 minutes
minutes
4 nos
: 2 nos
: 60 sec.

2
60cyl * 2 rows =120 cylinders.

HYDROSTATIC TESTING
After heat treatment of cylinders , the cylinders shall be

subjected to hydrostatic testing as per IS 3196:2012.

GIRT BLASTING
The external surface of cylinder including V.P.Ring

assembly and inside bottom of foot ring shall be grit

blasted after heat treatment and HST by using airless grit
blasting machine.
The quality of grit blasting in shadow zone of foot ring and
V.P.Ring to stay plate assembly shall be checked for
complete satisfaction.

METALIZING
The entire surface of cylinder including V.P.Ring assembly

and inside bottom of foot ring shall be metalized

immediately after grit blasting.
Uniform coating of minimum 40 micron shall be applied
on cylinder.
The zinc wire used for metalizing shall confirm to IS
12447:1998.

PAINTING
After metalizing, the cylinders are applied for one coat of zinc chromate

red oxide primer and one coat of signal red of synthetic enamel each of
minimum 15 micron thickness uniformly all over the body and bottom
of foot ring and inside portion of V.P.Shround assembly.

INTERNAL CLEANING
Cylinder internal are to be cleaned thoroughly by using

air, magnet, cotton cloth and light etc. so as to clean the

internal surface of the cylinder and remove all the foreign
material, rust and water traces.

The air used for internal cleaning shall be completely

dried enough using refrigeration based air drier.

VALVE FIXING
1.The LPG valve is made of
brass metal, shall confirm to
IS 8737:1995.
2.Apply minimum Two rounds
of Teflon tape on the valves
before fitment.
3.Valves are then fitted on the
cylinder bung thread. Valve
torque shall be 145 15 lbft.

TARE WEIGHT AND PUNCHING

The tare weight of cylinder includes weight of valve and

safety cap.

The weighing scale shall be of 50/60 kg capacity

electronic type with least count not more than 10 grams.

Tare weight shall be punched on bung as well as stay

plate .

Gross weight of cylinder (14.2 + actual weight of cylinder)

also to be punched on stay plate.

SCREEN PRINTING AND STENCILING

Screen printing shall be done for tare weight, slogans

and logo as per the requirement of the customer and

as per approved drawing.
The letters with shabby/blurred edges shall be
avoided during screen printing.

PNEUMATIC TESTING
The cylinder filled with air to 1.18Mpa pressure and immersed in the

tank for testing. The duration of testing is 60 sec.

Proper provision to be made for rotating the cylinder during the test
to detect leakage . Testing shall be carried out after fixing the safety
cap on the valve .
Air filling/remove adapter shall be of the design approved by the
customer and should not damage the valve pin.

CONCLUSION
By

this project we have studied the entire

manufacturing process of the cylinder from the raw
material to quality cylinder product output.