Bolted panel water tanks, sized in panels
A bolted panel water tank is built from standard 1080 mm panels, so designing one is mostly counting, and counting is what software should be doing.
- 1.
The problem
Every order is a different capacity on a different site, but the engineering behind it is the same each time. In most workshops the counts happen in a spreadsheet, the drawing in CAD and the quote in a third file, and the three drift apart as soon as the customer changes a dimension.
A wrong bolt count is not a rounding error. It is a lorry going back to the yard while a crew stands on site.
- 2.
Sized in panels, not millimetres
The tank is set as a number of panels along each axis, on a 1080 mm module, with halves allowed. The software works out the metres and the volume as you go, so the discussion with the customer stays in the units the customer uses.
The panel type comes from the manufacturer's own catalogue, so the bolt pattern is theirs rather than a generic one.
- Panel material: galvanised, hot dip galvanised, magnesium, SS304, SS316
- Base type and support type, including internal and external support
- Prismatic panel tanks and cylindrical tanks
- 3.
Connections belong on the model
Inlet, outlet, overflow, drain, level and manhole are placed by clicking the tank itself, each with a diameter from DN15 to DN200. Each connection gets its own reference and is booked against the face and the panel it landed on.
That is the detail that saves the argument later: the fabricator knows exactly which panel to drill, and the site knows what to expect where.
- 4.
One model, every document
Approving a job hands it to the engineering side, where the same model produces the numbers and the paperwork together.
- Full and half panel counts and the panel grid
- M10x25 bolts, split by where they go: side, base, roof, tie, external, vertical
- Side and base gasket by the metre, plus T gasket
- Volume in cubic metres and litres
- A0 technical sheet as a four page PDF, DXF, Excel analysis and the technical quote
- 5.
Under the manufacturer's own name
WaterForm is sold white label. Every drawing, report and quote carries the manufacturer's logo and title block, not ours. The customer of a tank manufacturer never sees that software was involved, which is the only arrangement a manufacturer will accept for documents that go out with their name on them.
Questions
- Does it design welded cylindrical tanks with a plate cut list?
- No. WaterForm designs bolted panel tanks, sized in 1080 mm panels. There is no plate cut list because there are no cut plates; the outputs are panel, bolt and gasket quantities.
- Do we have to install anything?
- No. It runs in the browser. Each company gets its own account, with its own catalogue, its own jobs and its own branding.
- Can we use our own panel catalogue and bolt pattern?
- Yes. The panel types, the bolt counts per edge and the materials come from the company's own catalogue, so the output matches what the workshop actually builds.
- What comes out at the end of a job?
- Panel, bolt and gasket quantities, the A0 technical sheet as a four page PDF, DXF for the drawing office, an Excel analysis and a technical quote, all from the same model.