Purpose and function of expansion joints
Pipework and duct systems conveying fluids of all types represent applications for expansion compensators. Such systems are continuously subject to risk of damage and breakage owing to the mechanical stresses caused by variations in temperature, pressure, movements and vibration. Textile expansion joints are flexible connections whose purpose is to absorb the vibrations and to compensate for the movements between the sections of piping to which they are connected. Hence they are strategic components for the life of many industrial plants. The choice of the textile expansion joint is dictated by operating conditions which include resistance to temperature, pressure, chemical agents, piping movements as well as the need for heat and noise reduction.
Why "textile" expansion joints?
Textile expansion joints are used in the presence of gaseous fluids, typically air and fumes, with temperatures up to 1200 degrees centigrade. They are easy to control, they are light to transport and handle, they are easy to install, they last for a long time and, above all, they are cost-effective.
Families of joints
Each textile expansion joint is a case on its own: each individual product is created, designed and developed starting from the characteristics laid down by the installation. Hence, broadly speaking, there are no true "standard" models: there are macro-families from which the various products can be derived. The detailed choices and therefore the final configurations of the compensators, take shape starting off from the characteristics of such macro-families: