DIY: Pressure Chamber

I want to build a pressure chamber to test equipment down to 2000m. I figured it would be cheaper than buyer a boat.

Has anyone done this before that can provide recommendations for stuff i can find off-the-shelf? 

 

Thanks : ) 




That is easy:

- get yourself a pressure container that holds 200, better 300 bar, which is large enough to hold your equipment.

- you need also a compressor of 200 to 300 bar.

- construct a reinforced building around it (for safety, in case it explodes)

Well, I get it is cheaper and safer to rent a deep-sea fishing vessel for a day and lower the equipment to 2000 m

The chambers I saw in the Hydraulics Laboratory at Scripps had a few key features you might consider:

  1. Very thick metal walls and two giant o-rings/glands
  2. Filled mostly with water and only a small headspace filled with air if I remember correctly. This allows you to test your devices at high pressure and in water but takes advantage of the fact that water is almost incompressible and if something in the chamber fails, the small amount of compressed air won't expand into as large a volume. An all-air chamber pressurized to 2,000 dbar could expand tremendously (explosively). 

Good luck and stay safe!

Remember Oceangate Titan? Not pretty! Rating equipment for EXTERNAL pressure is a different ballgame to rating it for internal pressure, if you are wanting to send it to that depth. Neither is a trivial design nor construction, even if you are wanting to test the equipment inside a vessel. So unless you, personally, have the necessary qualifications and skill to design such a unit, may I suggest that you try to find someone who can. Depending on equipment size and your country, there will be regulatory authorities that will require inspections and certifications before it is commissioned. Stay safe!