Sterling Technologies

Company: Sterling Technologies
Product: Water Tank
Number of Employees: 5
Year Founded: 1997
Location: Erie, PA

Situation:

A Sterling client wanted to know if a welded steel water tank could be made instead from plastic to reduce weight and cost. The project required engineering capabilities beyond what Sterling is able to provide in-house.

Project:

Using ANSYS computer software, PTDC senior engineer Marty Dropik modeled the deflection of the proposed plastic tank to evaluate if it would successfully hold 20,000 pounds of water. ANSYS allows an engineer to assess designs to verify that they will perform as expected in their end use, using selected materials, under load.

Result:

Dropik discovered that the tank could indeed be made out of plastic, provided a built-in base was added to the tank's design for extra support.

Company Comments from Greg Cronkhite, President:

"I can't imagine not having the PTDC. It gives Sterling access to millions of dollars worth of state-of-the-art technology to complement what we provide in-house. Our customers love that."