Due to the geometric characteristics of the metal corrugated expansion joint, it allows for significant deformation under the action of axial force, lateral force, and bending moment. Compared with smooth light pipes, in addition to sufficient strength, it also has greater flexibility and high fatigue resistance under cyclic stress. The application of metal corrugated expansion joints in engineering technology mainly includes the following three aspects.
1. As an elastic component, it is mainly used as a sensitive element, compensating element, connecting piece, and sealing piece for various measuring, adjusting, and controlling instruments. These types of corrugated pipes are generally small in size, have good linearity, and high precision, and are often processed by electrodeposition. As an elastic component, the manufacturing method, precision control, and testing requirements of corrugated pipes are different from those of corrugated pipes used in expansion joints.
2. Language pipeline work. Metal corrugated hose is composed of three parts: corrugated pipe, mesh sleeve, and joint. Bellows are the main body of metal hoses, providing flexibility. Metal hoses can be used to meet the displacement requirements of pipeline working ends in all directions, such as steam conveying hoses on plastic hot press machines, sliding platforms for printing and dyeing dryers, infusion pipes for railway tanker loading and unloading, and oil pipelines for ships. In addition, metal hoses can compensate for positional deviations in pipelines and absorb vibrations in the piping system.
3. As a compensator for flexible expansion joints, it is mainly used to compensate for axial, lateral, and angular displacements caused by temperature differences or fluctuations in pipelines or equipment. At the same time, it can also absorb the vibration of high-frequency machines entering and exiting pipelines.
The application of corrugated expansion joints is becoming increasingly widespread:
Corrugated expansion joints can be used for flexible connections between storage tanks and pipelines. In recent years, the storage tanks in oil fields, oil depots, and chemical plants have been built larger and larger. Due to geological conditions, the natural sinking of the foundation causes changes in the position of the storage tanks and the inlet and outlet pipelines, which can easily cause damage to the connecting pipelines and tank walls. Therefore, corrugated expansion joints or metal hoses are installed in the inlet and outlet pipelines of the storage tanks to compensate for displacement.
A small pull rod type (compound universal type) corrugated expansion joint is installed in the outlet pipeline of the storage tank. It can not only absorb the axial displacement caused by thermal expansion of the pipeline, but also compensate for the lateral displacement caused by the sinking of the storage tank foundation, prevent damage to the pipeline and tank wall, and also has a certain degree of earthquake resistance and seismic resistance.
The bending force balanced corrugated expansion joint is used for connecting equipment between devices. Its function is to compensate for the thermal expansion of the pipeline between two devices, reduce the force caused by installation errors on the equipment, and facilitate installation. The use of curved pipe force balance type corrugated expansion energy saving eliminates the blind plate force generated by internal pressure on the equipment, improves the stress condition of the equipment, and makes it easy to fix.
Corrugated expansion joints are also widely used in the steel industry. In large blast furnaces and hot blast stoves, large-diameter corrugated expansion joints and rectangular corrugated expansion joints are mainly used. For example, different types of corrugated expansion joints are used in the pressure supply and discharge pipeline system, cooling pipeline system of the blast furnace body, air supply pipeline, oxygen supply pipeline and cooling water pipeline of the large converter top equipment in the blast furnace. A universal corrugated expansion joint has been installed in the air supply branch pipe of the blast furnace body, which can not only compensate for the displacement of the pipeline but also reduce installation stress.
