Advanced Design

Our design capabilities are often utilised by customers who need a completely bespoke approach, with technical CAD drawings that have to be created prior to any manufacturing takes place.

Whether it’s a small control valve built from scratch or a complex hydraulic system to fit into a specified space, our Flowtech Design Engineers are able to take on the initial required specification to design and render, so you have a workable solution for your particular requirements.

Due to our extensive experience distributing and modifying fluid power components, we’re able to offer a complete design service that is, in itself, adaptable for most key industries, including Oil & Gas, Crushing & Mining, Transport, Agriculture, Marine Construction and Food & Beverage plus many more.

Flowtech’s approach to advanced design

We aim to support customers from the very start of the application, giving them everything they need to visualise a bespoke Hydraulic, Pneumatic or Electromechanical system before giving the go ahead to start manufacturing.

Initial designs can be useful for projects that require a unique solution, and our design team are often called into action to produce technical drawings or 3D CAD designs using specialist software packages.

The process will look very different from project to project, but our design process often resembles the points below:

• Enquiry – customer makes an enquiry through to our sales team
• Feasibility study – the team will take on a study to identify any areas of concern prior to further stages
• Requirements Analysis - this includes identifying the specific requirements, the types of equipment and machinery involved, safety regulations, environmental considerations, and any specific customer or industry standards that need to be followed
• Design Specification – our design team will put together a specification that includes the outline of what has been asked, including tables describing materials, measurements, loads, pressures and environmental factors
• Quote – our sales team will produce a quote based on estimated time of delivery and components involved
• Design – once this has been agreed to, a full design is created by our team, using specialist CAD software
• Presentation – this is agreed to internally, with any adjustments made before the final design is presented to the customer
• Decision – a final decision is made on whether to move forward with manufacture and eventual installation & testing to ensure a workable solution is achieved

Specialist design areas

Due to our design capabilities being extremely versatile, we often work across a number of industries, with very different applications. However, many projects will often incorporate a few, if not all, of the following specialist design areas:

• Hydraulic Systems
• Electrical Systems
• Hydraulic Actuation / Cylinders
• Pneumatic Air Solutions
• Control Valve Builds
• PLC Controls
• Hydraulic Fluid Conveyance
• Gear Pumps & Motors

Hydraulic Systems

Our hydraulic systems will often include bespoke hydraulic cylinders and hydraulic power packs as well as integrated electrical controls, lubrication systems and even ring main systems.

If we are asked to manufacture and install a complex system into a space, a design stage is often required so that we understand the exact dimensions of the integrated components, ensuring they fit exactly into the specified space or environment.

A full hydraulic system has many elements that need to be integrated into it, so our design team often need to produce a complex design specification that needs to be signed off internally and by the customer, before the project can move forward.

Electrical Systems

Our electrical engineers design and install power and control systems for various equipment and processes within industrial settings, taking into consideration the load, power distribution and equipment selection

Industrial electrical systems often involve complex control and automation requirements. This includes designing control panels, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), human-machine interfaces (HMIs), and other devices that monitor and control the equipment and processes.

The control system design aims to provide precise and reliable control, ensure safety, and enable remote monitoring and operation when necessary

Custom control valve builds

We have the state-of-the-art equipment and technical capabilities to commission the design and build of any custom control valve, bespoke to the needs of your application.

Our hydraulic experience combined with valve engineering expertise means we’re able to design and build even the most complex valves. We take the time to understand the challenges of your application and offer design options that meet every goal.

Custom-engineered to meet and exceed your expectations, all of our custom control valves are manufactured with safety and quality assurance as standard.

PLC Controls

We have a team of highly skilled, experienced electrical engineers who complete work on PLC Controls, from simple wiring and panel builds to sophisticated control programming, customised to customer requirements.

This includes circuit design, bespoke programming, proportional controls, wiring, panel builds and a complete system integration when required. We have an excellent knowledge of all the key manufacturers including Siemens, Schneider, Alan Bradley and National Instruments.

Our customers often find that the benefits of working with our teams are the complete understanding across both the electrical and hydraulic systems and our seamless integration between the two that adds real value.

Hydraulic Fluid Conveyance

From our network of Engineering Solution Centres we produce millions of high-quality hydraulic fittings each year. KR tube couplings and adaptors have been designed, tested, and manufactured by our team and have provided leak-free solutions successfully on thousands of applications over the past 20 years.

We are now the sole manufacturer of Betabite imperial fittings, providing a full range of OD and NB tube and pipe fittings. We also manufacture our own bespoke range of FT-Pro Hydraulic Hose and Fluid Connectors.

In addition we supply and manufacture a whole range of Hydraulic Hose assemblies and work with key providers such as Parker, Manuli, Gates and Eaton for top quality Hydraulic Hose, Hose fittings and Compression tube fittings

With our highly experienced production team and state-of-the-art CNC machines, we provide customers with high-quality hydraulic fittings with pressure ratings up to 690 bar. Our extensive knowledge of hydraulic fittings and our efficient production process allow us to deliver customised bespoke fittings to customers within seven days.

KR and Betabite high-pressure rated hydraulic fittings provide solutions to many industries across the globe including Gas, Chemical, and Nuclear.

Gear, Piston, Vane Pumps & Motors

Our Design Engineers are often called into action when a customer requests a bespoke modification of a Pump or Motor, which is completed in one of our Engineering Solution Centres, including at Skelmersdale, Exeter, Liverpool, Ludlow and Gloucester.

One brand often modified in this way is Roquet, who have a range of various Gear Pumps and Motors that our engineers will look to modify in order to fulfil specific requirements from a customer.

This includes off-the-shelf modifications where engineers make changes to existing components, or a complete dismantle, where an engineer will build a new component from scratch using Roquet parts.