Expansion Joints are Specialized for Your Needs
If you’re reading this, the chances are that you know fair amount about this technology already. Metal bellows and expansion joints are vital components in a number of industrial processes.
They are created from advanced alloys using cutting-edge techniques that enable them to deal with the problems often encountered with fluid piping. In particular, they can help with the issue of expansion and constriction that contact with high temperatures can produce.
Metal bellows have many different applications beyond the specific purposes you may have for them. These products are used in factories throughout the world, and as such, the technology deployed is specialized yet versatile.
Metal bellows can be found in factories and processes run for the petrochemical industry, engines or turbines, foodstuff manufacturing, waste management, and even have medical uses. They are used to deal with a variety of fluid and temperature situations, from hot oil to wood pulp to baked beans!
Each environment and application has its own unique challenges, whether dealing with the consistency of the substances going through your pipes or the pressure required to transport them. Thus, each will require a different custom-made solution, and every set of metal bellows or metal expansion joints will be a finely-engineered product, produced by experts in direct consultation with the customer.
Whether you are a civil engineering firm, a wholesale manufacturer setting up a mass production process, a research lab, or an oil refinery, you will find that your product is tailor-made for you, so to speak, and while it will conform to industry standards, it will have qualities unique to itself.
The key thing, as with any working business relationship, is getting that comfort level with a company you can trust. In the real world, the price is always important of course, but always beware a false economy.
A failure of a single section on a piping system can bring an entire production process to a halt. Considering a mishap such as failure of your coolant pumps, you aren’t just talking about the (already considerable) costs that an interruption to work will cause.
Calculating the cost of a clean-up job, factoring in revenue losses like misplaced business and expense of new materials, is something that no one wants to do. No-one wants to have to explain to a manager that a 10% saving at the outset resulted in a catastrophic problem which brought an entire factory to a halt!
And it’s not just the product that’s important: it’s the human expertise that lies behind it. Even if you have a great deal of relevant competence in your own organization of fitting and setting up expansion joints, you will find that companies who run a comprehensive after-sales and support service will be far more useful to you than those who don’t.
Expansion joints are there to take the extremes of pressure and heat in a piping system, so even with the best design, things can still go awry. If the worst happens and you do run into a problem, then it makes all the difference knowing that a skilled team of experts are just a call away.
That’s why when a factory or business starts working with one supplier, they are to an extent bound to that contractor – everything is so specialized that prior knowledge is essential, when an issue develops. In time-sensitive business operations, there simply isn’t time for a specialist to come in cold and work out what’s going on from scratch.
That’s why all businesses, and yours like the rest, need to choose very carefully what company to buy their expansion joints from. It’s not just buying a product; it’s also entering an ongoing working relationship.
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The Best in Expansion Joint Products – Help Your Business
Elaborate piping systems need to be designed with the necessary flexibility to handle movement caused by such factors as vibration, thermal changes, or the movement of equipment. This is true of virtually all industrial piping systems, whether they conduct water, gas, steam, oil or any chemical products.
Pressure and temperature may vary greatly in any given system. In order to provide this flexibility, expansion joint products are needed to protect the integrity of the system. Sometimes a piping system needs metal expansion joints and sometimes fabric expansion joints are called for.
In either case careful engineering and manufacturing ss necessary in order to get a high quality solution to the expansion joint needs of your business. While a wide variety of metal expansion joints, fabric expansion joints, and metal bellows joints are manufactured to meet most requirements, it is not uncommon to have the manufacturer specially design solutions to fit unique business needs. If your organization is in the market for any of these products you’ll want to use a top-rated company that uses the latest in technology to design expansion joints or metal bellows to your exact specifications. You also want to be assured that any product you buy meets the Expansion Joint Manufacturers Association, (EJMA) minimum requirements.
The variety of products offered on the market today is designed to meet the needs of any piping system your business may have. Unrestrained assemblies include Single Expansion Joint Assemblies, Universal Expansion Joint Assemblies, and Externally Pressurized Expansion Joints. The product line of restrained assemblies includes Tied Single Bellows Assemblies, Tied Universal Assemblies, Hinged Bellows Assemblies, and Gimbel Bellows Assemblies. Each of these products meets a specific need.
There is also a wide group of specialty expansion joint products available in today’s market including those for the aerospace industry, heat exchangers, Fluid Catalytic Cracking Units, and many more. These specialty products come in both metal and fabric designs and the pressure tolerance for these products ranges from full vacuum to 2000 psig.
Any company making these products should maintain a strong commitment to excellence and stand 100% by its products. The entire line of products is usually guaranteed to be free of any defects in both workmanship and material. In addition, the companies often guarantee that products will be repaired or replaced if any defects occur within one year of installation or eighteen months of delivery. If you’re in need of expansion joint products you can start the process by getting a quote from a good company for your products regardless of the applications you need them for. Most of these businesses are members of the EJMA and all of their products meet at least the minimum EJMA requirements.
The expansion joint industry is highly specialized and if you’re in need of any products for your piping system you want to get the best available on the market. Don’t be pressured into settling for anything less.
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How Expansion Joint Systems Work
Expansion joint systems are an innovative alternative for pipes and pipelines. These joints can be used in the oil, paper, and petrochemical industries and in many others fields.
The diversity of expansion joints available for application is great. They are usually manufactured at standard dimensions and can reach from 1 to 200 inches in diameter; can withstand temperatures from minus 300 degrees F up to 4000 degrees F and can resist at full vacuum or 2000 psig.
The introduction of fabric expansion joints on the market completely revolutionized the way that engineers solve thermal expansion, corrosive and abrasive problems. These fabric joints can be used in different applications for turbines. With different fabric membranes and designs, extensions joints can easily be used for turbine exhaust applications (GTX). GTX are rather problematic applications that pose distinctive challenges concerning performance and resistance through time but which can now be more easily solved with the help of fabric joints.
Metal bellows are generally used in pipeline systems that connect pumps and vessels. The design of the folds in the metal bellow allows for greater axial, lateral, and angular movement. To increase the angular or lateral flexibility, ties, pivots and other trimmings can be added to a metal bellow. The life span of these devices is determined by the shape, material, degree to which the junction must be able to move, and of course, forces that are greater than the designed limits.
With the help of these bellows, flanged-end and fused-end expansion joints can be quite easily and quickly fabricated. Both universal and double expansion joints use two bellows.
Metal expansion joints are crucial components for pipeline technology. They are used to counterbalance length changes, which usually occur in pipelines from temperature changes. Besides this, they are capable of absorbing vibrations developed by pumps, engines, compressors or turbines. Depending on the situation, axial and lateral movement as well as angular movement can be compensated. Metal expansion joints offer a cost effective choice and enhance the productive life cycle of a pipeline system. Designed to last as long as the system; metal bellows reduce sealing problems and the large space needed with alternative expansion equipment.
Some of the most vital and complex categories of expansion joints manufactured are those used in FCCU (fluid catalytic cracking unit). The reason for the complexity is these expansion joints have to withstand extremely high temperatures (1400 degrees F) and pressures, extreme and aggressive environments and great movement conditions.
To ensure a good function of these systems, absolute attention and skill is mandatory in designing the bellows and hardware. All FCCU joints are specially designed for every application in which they are used because any failure during installation can be hazardous to personnel and extremely expensive to users. Accepted specifications offer the basis for the design of the bellows and joint hardware of the FCCU joints.
