VACUUM TESTED
EXPANSION JOINTS
Oil refinery
Europe
EJMA
For an oil refinery in Europe, Belman has engineered and manufactured in total 36 Expansion Joints with different designs for installation on various locations in the piping system. As the piping system works under vacuum and up to 10 barg, all the Expansion Joints have been both pressure tested and vacuum tested.
CLIENT ISSUE
For the blowing steam lines in a green energy plant within their refinery the client needed some engineered Expansion Joints that were both vacuum tested and pressure tested. The client, and their engineering company, have already selected Belman Expansion Joints from our catalogue and now contacted us with some customization needs as well as some very specific test requirements.
BELMAN SOLUTION – Vacuum tested Expansion Joints
Belman proficiently designed the many Expansion Joints, each according to the requirements and needs of the client and the engineering company. Some Expansion Bellows are made from AISI 316 Ti, AISI 316L and AISI 316 whereas some Expansion Joints are made completely from Duplex 2205. Duplex 2205 is chosen due to its high yield strength which is double that of the standard austenitic stainless steel grades. Duplex furthermore combines many beneficial properties of ferritic and austenitic steels. Due to the high content of chromium and nickel, and often also molybdenum, Duplex offers good resistance to pitting and particularly stress corrosion cracking.
Some of the Expansion Joints were to be installed vertically in the pipeline with the media flowing from bottom to top, necessitating drain holes in the inner sleeves in these Expansion Joints. Typically drain holes in inner sleeves are applied due to (1) the Expansion Joint having double inner sleeves or (2) they allow water to access and drain from the space between the bellows and inner sleeves, preventing the formation of hazardous air pockets that could pose a risk during pressure testing. To provide protection of the bellows a 3 mm cover was applied to the Expansion joints. Furthermore, flow arrows were placed on Expansion Joints as well, as per client requirement, to ease installation.
Vacuum test of Expansion Joints
Due to the operating parameters of the pipelines being both under vaccum as well as pressure, the Expansion Joints was tested for that. The many different Expansion Joints were designed for different design pressure depending on the their installation point in the pipeline, thus they were pressure tested at 15 barg. Furthermore they were vacuum tested at 0,07 bar (absolute) equivalent to -0,93 bar (relative). Belman has its own transportable equipment for vacuum test and is able to test down to -0,97bar relativ /0,03 bar absolut.
To make the vacuum test efficient Belman expertly mounted 2-8 Expansion Joint together in line. This test method saved the client time and costs and furthermore minimised the number of blind flanges required as well as time to mount them. Mounting the Expansion Joints together does not impact the performance or accuracy of the vacuum test, as these Expansion Joints are typically integrated with piping equipment in the operational pipelines at the installation point mounted with piping equipment etc. The only potential challenge arises of the test machinery’s pump cannot handle the increased load; However Belman always analyses, evaluate and adjust the setup to ensure the most efficient test process for the client.
Aside from the tests full welding documentation was required by the client, and of course Belman could meet that as well.
Belman – experienced on Expansion Joints with special test requirements
Belman is a trusted leader in the design and manufacturing of high-performance expansion joints, renowned for expertise in testing and quality assurance. With years of experience across diverse industries, Belman understands that certain applications require Expansion Joints with stringent testing to guarantee reliability under demanding conditions. Belman conducts custom tests to meet specific project demands, including but not limited to fatigue life cycle testing, pressure testing (up to 356 barg, pressure level depends on the diameter of the Expansion Joint), vacuum testing and formiergas leak testing. For that reason, Belman is often chosen due to our unparalleled expertise in design, manufacture and test.
