ENGINEERED HIGH PRESSURE EXPANSION JOINTS

These High Pressure Expansion Joints were designed, manufactured and tested for a Chemical Plant in the United States. The High Pressure Expansion Joints will be installed in the air separation unit.

 

Solving client challenges through enhanced design

The design of these Belman manufactured High Pressure Expansion Joints ensured the client received a technically and commercially sound Expansion Joint solution. The High Pressure Expansion Joints were manufactured as Pressure Balanced Expansion Joints with a ring reinforcement. A key factor in the design of this project was that the spring rates had to be kept at an extremely low level, which would normally entail the use of thin-walled bellows. However, the design pressure called for bellows with a higher wall thickness. Thin-walled bellows as required by the spring rate limits would be unable to withstand the design pressure. This being the case, Belman proposed High Pressure Expansion Joints with ring reinforcement. The advantage of ring reinforcement is that it gives additional stability to the High Pressure Expansion Joints.

 

Dual benefit of both ring reinforcement and pressure balanced design principles

With this solution of special High Pressure Expansion Joints the client benefits from two design principles; Pressure Balanced Expansion Joint design and Ring Reinforcement. Pressure Balanced design principles ensure a solution which does not transfer the internal pressure thrust onto the fix points or the surrounding equipment or structures. Further, the complexity and size of fix points are reduced while at the same time less space is required for structures that carry fix points. The second major benefit comes from the ring reinforced design supporting multi-layer bellows with ring reinforcement. This delivers the optimal combination of both pressure integrity and service life in high pressure installations or in designs such as this when thin-walled bellows are requested due to low spring rate requirements.

 

Adding significant value by designing special transport packaging

The client had specific requirements concerning the packaging of the High Pressure Expansion Joints, and wooden packaging could not be used due to the risk of termites. Belman therefore engineered special metal cages to replace the use of wooden sea boxes and simultaneously ensure a high level of protection for the High Pressure Expansion Joints during transport. The metal cages were made with special fixation points so the High Pressure Expansion Joints were securely fastened. These metal cages represented a sound, safe and good solution. Belman not only engineers customized Expansion Joints, but we also excel in the supply of custom designed transport packaging solutions which meet the specific needs of the project, client and application.

 

Belman is top of the table for High Pressure Expansion Joints

Having engineered and manufactured numerous High Pressure Expansion Joints through the years Belman is the go-to company for this type of Expansion Joint. The experience and know how also includes Expansion Joints for extremely high pressures such as an Expansion Joint tested at 215 barg, High Pressure Expansion Joints for Fertilizer producing company designed for 82 barg and Elbow High Pressure Expansion Joints tested at 200 barg. Some of these can be seen on our website under latest projects.