What are pipeline expansion joints for?

Water and heat supply systems are subject to various deformations and distortions as a result of vibrations, displacement, and temperature fluctuations. In order to reduce the impact of these processes and reduce the likelihood of failure, special pipeline compensators are used.

Purpose of compensators

High pressure, extreme temperatures and other external factors, affecting pipeline systems, increase the load exerted on them, which leads to changes in the shape of the materials used for their production. They can be elongated, strongly compressed and stretched. As a result, serious damage is inevitable. That is why, when designing a future water supply system, engineers should lay down possible equipment overloads and create the most elastic structure capable of adapting to changes and independently compensating for them.

This is what the above-mentioned pipeline compensators are doing, with the help of which the two ends of the water pipe or heating mains are connected. They compensate for all the differences and changes. The devices are characterized by increased flexibility, the ability to stretch within the permissible deformation and at the same time guarantee absolute tightness of the equipment. They are used by housing and communal services, construction companies, enterprises of the oil and gas industries, shipbuilding and even nuclear energy.

Principles of selection of compensators

When choosing a pipeline compensator that protects the ZKS wedge valves and other reinforcement elements, they are guided by a number of parameters:

• working environment temperature;
• operating and maximum allowable pressure;
• the aggregate state of the medium (liquid, gas, etc.).

There are several of the most popular types of compensators:

• bellows;
• stuffing boxes;
• lens;
• anti-vibration.

The former are practical and effective small-sized products that are simply installed in pipeline systems. They are used for the transportation of liquids and steam, which occurs at elevated pressure and temperature.