JACKETED
EXPANSION BELLOWS
PREVENT THE MEDIA FROM SOLIDIFYING

As per client request Belman has designed, manufactured, and tested a Jacketed Expansion Bellow for a chemical plant in France. The Expansion Joint with heating jacket will be installed in the pipelines carrying polymer fluid. As this packs up at reduced temperatures the client had a special request for the design of the Expansion Joint.

 

Client issue
The client produces and provides styrenics applications, which is used in many everyday products in the global market. In part of their production process the medium is polymer fluid. The client turned to Belman for a special Piping Bellow design to avoid that the polymer fluid in their pipeline solidifies. The client needed to keep the temperature of the polymer fluid medium at a sufficient high level, so it can run smoothly through the Expansion Joint. A chamber design could solve this, and therefore the client needed an experienced manufacturer able to design and produce this very special construction.

 

Belman solution
The Expansion Joint – an Expansion Joint with heating jacket – were designed completely from stainless steel, due to the operating conditions. It was designed, as per the illustration shows, with the characteristic Expansion Joint around another Expansion Joint. Installing a Jacketed Expansion Joint instead of a normal Expansion Joint in the pipeline make it possible to maintain or increase the temperature of the media, in this case polymer fluid, and thus improve the flow through the pipeline and the Expansion Joint. In this way packing up in the Bellow convolutions is avoided, which is preferable as this will obstruct the performance of the Bellows and prevent them from absorbing the movements intended for, in the long run – with a potential breakdown as consequence. With the Jacketed design Belman provided the client a design whereby a chamber is formed between the two Expansion Joints. In this closed chamber a media (in this case, Heating oil, that is heated to a required temperature) flows into the chamber via an inlet and out again via an outlet respectively and on its way through the Expansion Joint this heating oil emits heat to the inner Expansion Joint. Hereby the media (in this case polymer fluid) that flows in the inner of the Expansion Joint is maintaining/increasing it’s temperature, which ensures optimum fluidity of the polymer fluid and thereby prevents solidification of it.

The Jacketed Expansion Bellows is equipped with tie rods to control the movements that it is designed to absorb, which in this case is lateral movements. The Expansion Joint was pressure tested at 34,66 barg.

 

Usage of Chamber Expansion Joints
Expansion Joints with heating jackets are also known as Jacketed Expansion Joints or Chamber Expansion Joints and are widely used in chemical plants as well as in many other applications. Due to the nature of the media in these industries, Chamber Expansion Joints are manufactured in all types of steel materials including high alloyed steels. Usually, the material is determined by the temperature as well as the type and consistency of the medium. The surroundings of the Expansion Joint may also influence the choice of material.

 

Belman – Experienced in Expansion Joints with heating jackets
Since 1994 Belman has customized and engineered Expansion Joints with heating jackets for clients across different industries worldwide. Throughout the years, Belman has engineered Jacketed Expansion Bellows in a numerous of different sizes, materials, and designs. Belman therefore is the go-to company for engineered Expansion Joints with heating jackets.