Pressure Vessel Design Verification, Design Registration and Certification
Pressure equipment such as pressure vessels, heat exchangers, finned tube air coolers, boilers, autoclaves, air receivers, condensers, beer fermentation tanks, pressure vessels within air conditioning units and other pressurised systems are subject to work health and safety (WHS) laws and statutory regulations in Australia.
An owner of a pressure vessel listed in the relevant Schedule of Work Health and Safety Regulations requiring design registration must not use the pressure vessel or permit the pressure vessel use at a workplace unless the design has been registered.
According to the statutory regulations, as the first step, the design of pressure equipment must be verified by an independent design verifying body to ensure that the designs comply with the relevant pressure vessel design code (AS 1210 Pressure vessels, ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code etc) and that essential safety requirements are satisfied.
Australian Standard AS 3902.1 Assurance of product quality further details the fabrication and inspection requirements of the pressure vessels.
Pressure equipment designs, categorised as hazard level A, B, C and D as per AS 4343, must be registered with an Authority in a State or Territory in Australia. The use of an unregistered pressure equipment is illegal and may be subject to a penalty.
Pacific Engineering Pty Ltd provides pressure vessel and heat exchanger registration/certification services which involve verification of designs and registration with a regulatory authority in the relevant state or territory in Australia. Pressure vessel design verification is the process of assuring the integrity of pressure vessels, heat exchangers, finned tube air coolers, boilers, ISO tanks, air receivers etc for the stated design and operating conditions and ensuring compliance with the design code and/or relevant Australian Standards and engineering principles used in the design.
Pacific Engineering Pty Ltd is a design-verifying body complying with AS 3920. Our quality management system fully complies with AS/NZS ISO 9001 and has been certified for a scope including 'pressure vessel and heat exchanger design and design verification'.
For pressure vessel certification and design verification, Pacific Engineering Pty Ltd uses AS1210+ Pressure Vessel Design Software, a software exclusively designed for the design and design verification of pressure vessels and shell and tube heat exchangers. AS1210+, designed and developed by Pacific Engineering Pty Ltd, runs under Windows 11 and performs design verification calculations of pressure vessels and heat exchangers in accordance with AS 1210 and ASME including wind and seismic analysis to relevant Australian standards AS 1170.2 & AS 1170.4.
Pacific Engineering Pty Ltd verifies and registers pressure vessel designs in any state or territory in Australia. According to regulations in Australia, high-risk pressure vessels require registration with a Statutory Authority before they can be used in a plant. As part of the registration process, a pressure vessel design must be checked to verify that it complies with the relevant design code or Australian Standards (AS1210, AS4343). We can verify AS 1210, AS 2809.1 to 6 (road tankers for liquefied gases, flammable, toxic, cryogenic liquids), ASME VIII, API 660, API 661, API 662, PD/BS 5500, EN 13445, DIN/AD 2000 and GB 150 designs and get pressure vessel design registration numbers from Statutory Authorities in Australia.
Furthermore, we provide design verifications for New Zealand. Our verifiers, registered in New Zealand, verify the design calculations/drawings and certify the pressure vessels for use in New Zealand.
Our recent verification, registration and fabrication clients include:
Breakdown of Responsibilities During Pressure Vessel Design Registration
Manufacturer/Supplier/Importer
The Work Health and Safety Regulations in Australia state that a manufacturer, an importer and a supplier must not supply pressure vessels unless the design is registered with a WHS Regulator. The pressure vessel design registration holder must keep the registration document available for inspection under this Act.
The design registration number given by the authority must be stamped on each vessel or etched on a nameplate that is permanently attached to the vessel.
Design Verifier
The application for design registration must include a statement written and signed by a design verifier who has verified that the pressure vessel design was produced in accordance with a pressure vessel design code, such as AS1210 or ASME, or engineering principles specified in the designer’s statement. As per the regulations, the design verifier must document the design verification process that they have carried out as well as the results of that process.
Plant Owner
At the workplace, plant owners must ensure that the pressure vessel design registration number is readily accessible and within the vicinity of the plant at all times.
Types of Pressure Equipment Verified by Pacific Engineering
Design Registration of High-Temperature High-Pressure Vessels - Pacific Engineering verified and registered designs of High- Temperature/High-Pressure Vessels developed specifically for laboratory use for organic chemistry reactions. Vessels that are rated for use at 6000 psi [41369 kPa] at temperatures of 350°C are equipped with a split ring cover clamp in which the head of the vessel is clamped to the cylinder, and have recently been registered in South Australia (SafeWork-SA).
In another case, a pressure vessel design, rated for 5000 psi [34474kPa] and 500°C has been verified and registered in Victoria (WorkSafe-VIC).
Boilers - Pacific Engineering has verified various boiler designs for AS 1228 Pressure Equipment – Boilers including locomotive boilers.
Autoclaves - Designs of autoclaves with hazard levels of A, B, C or D also require design registration. A titanium laboratory autoclave with a design pressure of 6 MPa at 300 °C was registered in Western Australia (WorkSafe-WA).
Transportable Vessels - Pacific Engineering has verified designs of 11000L nominal capacity liquid nitrogen vessels based on ASME, AS 1210, AS 2809.1 and AS 2809.6. The vessels mounted on trailers are for use on petroleum wells in Queensland (registration with WorkSafe-QLD).
Plate Exchangers - More than 15 different types of brazed plate exchangers have been registered in New South Wales (SafeWork-NSW).
Condensers, Evaporators - Water-cooled and air-cooled evaporators and condensers designed under DIN standards have been registered in New South Wales (SafeWork-NSW) and South Australia (SafeWork-SA).
LNG Vessels - Pacific Engineering verified various LNG Vessel ASME designs and registered them in Northern Territory (WorkSafe-NT).
Refrigeration Vessel - Pacific Engineering has verified a refrigeration vessel design and has been registered in Tasmania (WorkSafe-TAS). The vessel which is part of a water-ice refrigeration system was designed according to PD 5500 and redesigned to AS 1210.
Road Tankers - Pacific Engineering has verified designs of 10kL, 17kL & 25kL nominal capacity one, two and three compartments Waste Tankers and LPG Tankers.
Structural Design Review - Pacific Engineering completed a structural design review of five LNG/LPG Flares for ICYTHYS LNG JV under a range of operating conditions, gravity, wind, seismic loads and load combinations per AS 1170.2 & 1170.4. A full independent structural analysis was performed by an engineer registered with RPEQ (Registered Professional Engineer in Queensland) and the review included modelling in Microstran, manual checks for connections, etc of the flare structures.
Pacific Engineering operates under a certified Quality Management System (AS/NZS ISO 9001:2008) and the scope of the certification includes ‘pressure vessel design and design verification’. The certified quality management system, which is a requirement of Australian Standard AS 3920.1 for design verification, ensures that all aspects of pressure vessel certification are performed in accordance with Australian codes and regulations.
To request a quote and send files, please send an email to the email address provided below.
Pacific Engineering's quality management system has been certified to AS/NZS ISO 9001 for a scope including design, design verification, fabrication and inspection of pressure vessels, shell and tube heat exchangers, air coolers, pressure piping, atmospheric storage tanks, silos and steel structures.
