ONE-TO-ONE REPLACEMENT
OF A PRESSURE BALANCED
CORNER EXPANSION JOINT

This Pressure Balanced Corner Expansion Joint is installed in the off-gas pipeline in a Northern European Chemical plant. The client required a one-to-one replacement and due to the nature of the pipeline and its operating parameters a Pressure Balanced Corner Expansion Joint of the same design was customized for this exact purpose.

Client requirement

In the off-gas pipeline of the Chemical plant an existing Pressure Balanced Corner Expansion Joint is installed. This Pressure Balanced Corner Expansion Joint was worn out and needed to be replaced. The client required a new Pressure Balanced Corner Expansion Joint with the same design and functionality as the previous Pressure Balanced Corner Expansion Joint solution. Furthermore, leak detection was very important for the client.

Belman solution

A one-to-one Pressure Balanced Corner Expansion Joint replacement unit

In addition to the provision of expert trouble shooting and optimization of Expansion Joint designs, Belman can also provide a one-to-one replacement of Expansion Joints. In general, one-to-one replacement Expansion Joints entails replicating the design and manufacture of a new unit with the same parameters as the existing worn-out Expansion Joint. An exact one-to-one replacement Expansion Joint requires Belman to design and manufacture exactly according to the existing design, which could have been originally produced from another manufacturer. Belman’s manufacturing capabilities may differ from that of its competitors, however Belman can make sure that the replacement unit we design will meet most parameters as the previous Expansion Joint, in this case the Pressure Balanced Corner Expansion Joint, such as spring rates, built in length etc. if it is not a one-to-one solution. In most cases a few minor amendments in relation to the existing design are undertaken – and these are done without any critical changes.
This Pressure Balanced Corner Expansion Joint solution only had some minor adjustments – including the adaptation of the part after the bend on the Pressure Balanced Corner Expansion Joint which was adjusted and specifically tailored to the pipeline operating data. As the Pressure Balanced Corner Expansion Joint needs to absorb both Axial and Lateral movement in combination the Pressure Balanced Corner Expansion Joint works as a Universal Expansion Joint, and the balance bellow (placed in the end after the bend) will balance the Pressure Balanced Corner Expansion Joint and ensure that forces are not transferred to the connected piping system. The advantages of the Pressure Balanced Corner Expansion Joint can be seen here

Leak-detection system requested by the client

As per the clients request the Pressure Balanced Corner Expansion Joint needed to be equipped with a leak-detection system. A system like this is often used at critical points in the plants, where the media constitutes significant risk if a leakage occurs. In this case the media is gas, which explains the need for the leak detection. The leak detector is placed on the bellow and through the use of a measuring device which is mounted on the Expansion Joint nozzle, in this case on the Pressure Balanced Corner Expansion Joint nozzle, it will show if the inner ply of the multi-ply bellow is leaking.