A boiler is a vessel that provides a means for combustion and transfers heat to water

until it becomes hot water or even steam, depending on the requirement and the design.
The hot water or steam under pressure is then usable for transferring the heat to other
processes. Water is the most common medium for transferring heat to a process. When
water is boiled into steam, its volume increases about 1,500 times, producing
tremendous force.

Pressure vessels, on the other hand, are defined as containers designed to hold
material at high pressures. Typically they are compressed gas storage tanks - air,
oxygen, nitrogen tanks, LPG et

A boiler is a tank to hold a liquid (often water) so that it can be boiled by a heat source. Often
the purpose is to produce steam under pressure to power something (such as a turbine to
generate electricity or to propel a steam engine train). Boilers often have to withstand high
pressure, in which case they would also be considered a pressure vessel. But it's possible that a
boiler is just there to create hot water or steam at normal atmospheric pressure and the fluid is
moved from the boiler out along some pipes by a pump. This could, for example, be part of a
heating system for a building. In most cases a boiler would be designed to withstand pressure.

A pressure vessel is a tank designed to hold fluids (gases or liquids or both) at a high pressure
without bursting.

WIKI

A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated.

The fluid does not necessarily boil. (In North America, the term "furnace" is normally used if the
purpose is not to boil the fluid.[citation needed])

The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating
applications,[1][2] including water
heating, central heating, boiler-based power
generation, cooking, and sanitation.

A pressure vessel is a container designed to hold gases or liquids at

a pressure substantially different from the ambient pressure.
n an early effort to design a tank capable of withstanding pressures up to 10,000 psi (69 MPa), a
6-inch (150 mm) diameter tank was developed in 1919 that was spirally-wound with two layers of
high tensile strength steel wire to prevent sidewall rupture, and the end caps longitudinally reinforced
with lengthwise high-tensile rods.[2]

The need for high pressure and temperature vessels for petroleum refineries and chemical plants
gave rise to vessels joined with welding instead of rivets (which were unsuitable for the pressures
and temperatures required) and in 1920s and 1930s the BPVC included welding as an acceptable
means of construction, and welding is the main means of joining metal vessels today.
 Shape of a pressure vessel[edit]
Pressure vessels can theoretically be almost any shape, but shapes made of sections of spheres,
cylinders, and cones are usually employed. A common design is a cylinder with end caps
called heads. Head shapes are frequently either hemispherical or dished (torispherical). More
complicated shapes have historically been much harder to analyze for safe operation and are
usually far more difficult to construct.

Spherical gas container.

 Cylindrical pressure vessel.

Picture of the bottom of an aerosol spray can.

Fire Extinguisher with rounded rectangle pressure vessel

Theoretically, a spherical pressure vessel has approximately twice the strength of a cylindrical
pressure vessel with the same wall thickness,[3] and is the ideal shape to hold internal pressure.[1]
However, a spherical shape is difficult to manufacture, and therefore more
expensive, so most pressure vessels are cylindrical with 2:1 semi-elliptical heads
or end caps on each end.
Smaller pressure vessels are assembled from a pipe and two covers.
For cylindrical vessels with a diameter up to 600 mm (NPS of 24 in), it is possible to use seamless
pipe for the shell, thus avoiding many inspection and testing issues, mainly the nondestructive
examination of radiography for the long seam if required.
A disadvantage of these vessels is that greater diameters are more expensive,
so that for example the most economic shape of a 1,000 litres (35 cu ft), 250 bars (3,600 psi)
pressure vessel might be a diameter of 91.44 centimetres (36 in) and a length of 1.7018 metres
(67 in) including the 2:1 semi-elliptical domed end caps.

Uses[edit]

An LNG carrier ship with four pressure vessels for liquefied natural gas.

Pressure vessels are used in a variety of applications in both industry and the private sector. They
appear in these sectors as industrial compressed air receivers and domestic hot water storage
tanks.
Other examples of pressure vessels are
diving cylinders,
recompression chambers,
distillation towers,
pressure reactors,
autoclaves, and
many other vessels in mining operations,
oil refineries and petrochemical plants,
nuclear reactor vessels, submarine and
space ship habitats,
pneumaticreservoirs,
hydraulic reservoirs under pressure,
rail vehicle airbrake reservoirs,
road vehicle airbrake reservoirs, and
storage vessels for liquified gases such as ammonia, chlorine, and LPG (propane, butane).
A unique application of a pressure vessel is the passenger cabin of an airliner: the outer skin carries
both the aircraft maneuvering loads and the cabin pressurization loads.
 

A pressure tank connected to a water well and domestic hot water system.

A few pressure tanks, here used to hold propane.

A pressure vessel used as a kier.

A pressure vessel used for The Boeing Company’s CST-100 spacecraft.