Request A Quote

13 Foot Universal Expansion Joint Custom Designed with Incoloy Bellows and Manufactured in the USA for Service in a Chemical Plant

June 6, 2023

Usbellows universal expansion joint 150651v2

 

 Type:  Universal Expansion Joint
 Size:  157″ Long x 28″ Diameter
 Material:  Incoloy 825 |  321 SS | 304 SS
 Design:  Operating Temp: 842°F a t 190 psig
Movement 8.875″ Lateral Deflection
 Testing:  Dye Penetrant Examined | 100% X-Rayed Bellows
Longitudinal Seams | PMI Examined | Hydro-tested

This 13′ long universal expansion joint was custom designed for a chemical plant that manufactures products such as amines, glycol, polyurethanes (isocyanates and polyol), butanols, polyethylene, and hydrogen peroxide. The bellows were fabricated from Incoloy 825, the welds and liner from 321 stainless steel, and the cover tie rods from 304 stainless steel. The 157″ long unit is 28″ in diameter. It is designed for an operating temperature of 842°F at 190 psig and 8.875″ of lateral deflection. Prior to shipment, the units were 100% dye penetrant tested, and the bellows longitudinal seams were 100% X-rayed, PMI examined, and hydro-tested.

Piping Technology and Products and its subsidiaries are the only global provider of engineered supports and expansion joints in the world. Our manufacturing facilities and processes are set up to support the manufacturing of different materials should the project need it. For this project, the client requested the bellows be made of a combination of Incoloy and stainless steel. We have the experience to work with an extraordinarily broad range of materials, including high-strength steel, a full range of stainless steel, super alloys, thermoplastics, and insulation isolation materials.

PT&P REF. ORIGINAL POST 07142020

Read More

27″ Dia. Universal Expansion Joints Designed for a Wastewater Treatment Plant

June 6, 2022


27” Dia. Universal Expansion Joints Designed for a Pipeline in Florida

U.S. Bellows designed universal expansion joints for a wastewater treatment plant in Florida. This was done for a longtime client and market leader in wastewater management, energy services, water, and wastewater treatment. The units are 60″ tall and have a 26.75″ inside diameter. The bellows, cover, liner, and weld-ends are fabricated from 304 stainless steel. They are designed for an operating temperature of 1000°F at 11 psig, with 2″ axial compression and lateral deflection. The units were pneumatically tested at 12 psig prior to shipment. The on-site inspection was done by the client and the EPC firm at our manufacturing facility with our Engineers present to provide any additional clarity that was needed.

U.S. Bellows, EJMA member, is a leader in bellows design and manufacturing. With our manufacturing and engineering both in Houston, we have over 45 years of experience and have deployed over 250k expansion joints which does not include maintenance and repairs services conducted by our highly qualified field service team.

Custom expansion joint design and manufacturing is a complex process and we execute it effectively by focusing on the approval drawings from the customer side, training on customer support with all functional teams (production, engineering, shipping, and sales), and inter-team communication. We developed and deployed digital work instructions for all key production steps and added detailing and reviewing checklists of all of the expansion joint drawings before releasing them to fabrication. These improvements have reduced considerably the number of revisions and reworks. Some insight into jobs we have conducted successfully include:

  • Refurbished 6 48″-64″ Refractory-lined Expansion Joints for a Large Houston Refinery during a 45-day turnaround
  • Completed a large ducting project for a Major Chemical facility in Texas with on-time delivery
  • In the last 6 months, 40% of our expansion joint jobs have shipped in 2 weeks

Usbellows universal expansion joint drawing 159489

 

PT&P REF. ORIGINAL POST 11122018

Read More

Universal Elbow Expansion Joints for Glycol Heat Transfer Piping

November 22, 2021

Universal Elbow Expansion Joints for Glycol Heat Transfer Piping
U.S. Bellows, a division of PT&P, custom-designed universal elbow expansion joints for glycol heat transfer piping for one of the largest chemical and refining companies in the world. Such industrial complexes produce chemicals such propylene oxide used for making plastic goods, tertiary butyl alcohol used in making flavors, perfumes, and as a solvent, ethylene oxide is used as an intermediate product in the production of fabrics and antifreeze, polypropylene is used for making consumer products such as those for automobiles, and Catalloy process resins which are used in packaging and automotive production. Glycol heat transfer enables effective process cooling. The bellows, flanges, plates, pipe, nuts, and threaded rods are all fabricated from 304 stainless steel and the units were painted for added protection. The expansion joints are designed for a 16” NPS and are 68-3/8” long. They are designed for an operating pressure of 67 psig at 378°F with 854 lb/in. axial spring rate and 0.2” of axial compression and with 205 in/lb lateral spring rate and 1.51 in lateral movements. Both expansion joints were hydro-tested at 101 psi and QC inspected before shipment. Generally, a universal expansion joint is composed of two bellows connected by a common pipe or center spool. This type of assembly allows any combination of the three basic movements: axial, lateral, and angular allowing for safe absorption of temperature-induced expansion and contraction of building materials, and vibration, or to allow movement due to ground settlement or seismic activity. In addition to expansion joints, PT&P provides a full range of engineered pipe supports, pre-insulated supports, shock control, restraint, and support devices, ASME fabricated vessels, tanks, pig launchers, and more.

Read More

Super U-Loop Expansion Joint Designed for a Chilled Water Line

August 1, 2021

Super U-Loop Expansion Joint Designed for a Chilled Water Line for Paint and Body Shops in Automotive Manufacturing Plants

U.S. Bellows, a division of PT&P has developed its Super U-Loop and Super V-Loop product line for applications requiring accommodation of axial growth typically on longer runs of piping. The Super U-Loop and Super V-Loop designs restrain pressure thrust without any anchoring in the piping system. U.S. Bellows is the first company to bring its advanced expansion joint technology used in the world’s most challenging applications to a standard V-Loop and U-Loop product offering. U.S. Bellows expansion joints are used in key process areas in oil and gas, chemical, power, semiconductor, food, automotive, and other operating plants in extreme environments which include temperatures over 1000°F, pressure over 200 PSI, and a wide variety of highly corrosive materials. This particular U-loop shown in the picture below was designed, manufactured, and shipped in less than 9 days from our Houston-based manufacturing facility.

Us bellows universal expansion joint loop 185130 b
Super U-Loop for Automotive Plant – 14” NPS, 4” Axial Movement
Option Super U-Loop Advantages Super U-Loop Disadvantages
Pipe Loop · Super U-Loop requires far less space

· Can be designed to accommodate large amounts of axial movement

· Pipe loop is a lower cost if the space is available
Flexible Metal Hose Based U-Loop and V-Loop · Flow liner protects the interior of the bellows

· Cover on Bellows protects exterior of bellow – Flexible metal hose can be damaged easily by accidental bumping, banging, etc.

· Super U-Loop can be designed with varying thickness to optimize strength versus lower spring rate

· Super U-Loop can be made with custom metals to accommodate environmental conditions – includes Hastelloy, Inconel, Monel, …

· Designed to better withstand vibration in Piping System

· Standard designs can be delivered in as little as 1 week

· Flexible metal hose offers a very low spring rate

U.S. Bellows/PT&P’s Super U-Loop and Super V-Loop offer a breakthrough option for accommodating large amounts of axial growth in both commercial and high-temperature industrial environments. The traditional option used when space was not available for a pipe loop was a flexible metal hose which introduced the risk of failure into the piping system. U.S. Bellows design is built around minimizing the risk of failure by:

  • Flow Liner – protects the interior of the Bellows
  • Cover – protects the exterior of the Bellows for damage such as falling wrenches, accidental banging by a forklift, etc.
  • Limits Excessive Cycling – if vibration in the piping system “cycles”, a flexible metal hose may not be an adequate solution. The reason is that neither expansion joints nor flexible metal hoses are designed to support millions of cycles. The low spring rate of the flexible metal hose makes it more vulnerable to being cycled by unintended continuous vibration in the piping system. Even 1 Hz of vibration rapidly leads to excessive cycling with 86,400 cycles per day. By incorporating either a Super U-Loop or Super V-Loop with an expansion joint, we are able to accommodate a large amount of movement with the ability to dampen vibration due to the higher spring rate of the expansion joint design.

Us bellows universal expansion joint loop 185130 c

Read More

78” Dia. Universal Expansion Joint Custom-Designed for One of the Oldest Scientific Innovators in the Engineering Industry

March 29, 2021

78” Dia. Universal Expansion Joint Custom-Designed for One of the Oldest Scientific Innovators in the Engineering Industry

U.S. Bellows, Inc. custom-designed universal expansion joints for one of the oldest scientific innovators in the engineering industry. Large diameter steam pipelines are a part of almost every plant and are associated with innovations in areas like nanotechnology, fuel cells, biomaterials from renewable resources, materials for personal protections (which have been especially important in the time of COVID), emerging video display technologies, and semiconductors. These plants manufacture polymers such as neoprene, nylon, chlorofluorocarbons, synthetic pigments. In this case, the universal expansion joint bellows and liner are fabricated from A240 Gr. 321, the pipe, tie rods, and flanges are fabricated from A240 Gr. 304 stainless steel. They are designed for low pressure (8 PSI) and range from 36” pipe x 60” long up to 78” pipe x 117” long. Per our QC requirements and/or client specifications, the expansion joints were dye-penetrate examined and soap, air bubble tested prior to shipment.

Us bellows universal expansion joint 137373 fab sm
78″ Universal Expansion Joint in Fabrication
Read More

Universal Expansion Joints

June 18, 2019


Learn more about the operation details of universal expansion joints, which require only light anchors and minimum guiding.

Read More

Custom Tied Universal Expansion Joints for a Chemical Plant in Texas

June 17, 2019

Custom Tied Universal Expansion Joints for a Chemical Plant in Texas

Type: Universal Expansion Joints
Size: 108″ Length | 19.5″ ID
Design: 304 Stainless Steel
Material: 550°F Operating Temperature @ 15 psig, 5″ Lateral
Testing: 100% Dye-Penetrant | Air, Soap, & Bubble

U.S. Bellows custom designed these tied universal expansion joints for a chemical plant in Texas. The units were completely fabricated from 304 stainless steel and are 108″ long with a 19.5″ ID. They are designed for an operating temperature of 550°F at 15 psig, 5″ of lateral deflection. The expansion joints were 100% dye-penetrant tested and air, soap, and bubble tested prior to shipment.

Read More

Universal Hinged Fabric Expansion Joints for a Chemical Plant in Delaware

February 29, 2016

Hinged Fabric Expansion Joints for a Chemical Plant in Delaware
U.S. Bellows designed these hinged universal fabric expansion joints for a chemical plant in Delaware. The expansion joints are 84″ in diameter and 60″ OAL. The fabric belt is made with PTFE while the rest of the components are from carbon steel. The expansion joints are designed for an operating temperature of 650°F at 1 psig and 1/2″ of angular movement. The units were 100% dye-penetrate examined was performed prior to shipment.

Read More

Custom Designed Stainless Steel Tied Universal Expansion Joints

November 16, 2015

Custon Designed Tied Universal Expansion Joints
These tied universal expansion joints were custom designed by U.S. Bellows for a pipeline in Connecticut. All components of the expansion joints were fabricated from 316 stainless steel. The job was comprised of units that were 12″ or 16″ in diameter and 60″ in OAL. They are designed for an operating pressure of 10-125 psig at 450°F and a lateral movement of +/- 1″. All of the expansion joints were 100% dye-penetrant tested and hydro-tested at 150 and 175 psig prior to shipment.

Read More

118″ Universal Expansion Joint for Steam Service

August 20, 2012

118" Universal Expansion Joint for Steam Service

This 118″ diameter tied universal expansion joint was designed for steam service in a power plant in Alaska. The expansion joint duct, tie rods and cover are fabricated from carbon steel with 304 stainless steel bellows and liner. The overall length is 225″. It was designed for 250°F at 7.25 PSIG and 3.52Pquot; of lateral movement. Dye-penetrant testing, spot x-ray and an air and soap test were performed on the universal expansion joint assembly prior to shipping.

Read More

Tied Universal Expansion Joints Designed for a Power Generation Plant in Texas

August 22, 2011

Tied Universal Expansion Joints
This week’s feature is on tied universal expansion joints designed for piping in a power generation plant in Texas. They are 6″ in diameter, 60″ in length, and will be used in a hot air application. The pipe, lugs and weld ends are fabricated from carbon steel, and the bellows are 321 stainless steel. The expansion joints are designed for 100°F at 3 psig and are capable of 6″ lateral movement. Each unit was 100% dye penetrant tested and soap and air tested prior to shipment

Read More

Metallic Universal Expansion Joints for a Wisconsin Chemical Plant’s Emergency Shut Down

September 20, 2006

Metallic Universal Expansion Joint for a Wisconsin Chemical Plant's Emergency Shut Down
A customer’s existing expansion joint failed and caused a plant to shut down. They required an immediate replacement joint. This universal expansion joint order was placed, designed, and fabricated in just one day. The order came in at 8:30 am on Saturday, Labor Day weekend, and was shipped at 4:00 pm, which minimized the time of the plant shut down. This universal expansion joint is 96″ in overall length, 20″ inside diameter, and can absorb 3.25″ lateral movement. A 100% dye-penetration test and a hydro-test were performed to ensure quality.

 Metallic Universal Expansion Joint for a Wisconsin Chemical Plant's Emergency Shut Down  Metallic Universal Expansion Joint for a Wisconsin Chemical Plant's Emergency Shut Down
Read More
Top