High Pressure Clamshell for Expansion Joint Replacement


This expansion joint hardly resembles a typical expansion joint. It's heavy duty construction and hardware disguises the thin, delicate yet highly flexible bellows that allows the expansion joint to function properly within a piping system. In fact, there is a bellows in this assembly which can be seen inside the surrounding 2-1/4" thick stainless steel rings that are bolted together. This expansion joint was designed and manufactured as a clamshell assembly for installation in the heat exchanger system of a large petrochemical refinery in Belgium.

The unit only measures 37" in diameter, but it was designed to accommodate immense pressure. Hydro tested at 1,234 PSIG (85 Barg), it has a very high pressure rating with normal operating pressure at 841 PSIG at 430°F/297°C. Additionally, the expansion joint was designed and manufactured to the ASME/PED code which is a common requirement for pressure vessel equipment.

In addition to the clamshell expansion joint, EagleBurgmann EJS provided the removal of the failed existing expansion joint (shown above) and the installation of the new unit (shown on the right). Our field service team included a supervisor from EagleBurgmann EJS (USA) and 4 certified welders from EagleBurgmann Bredan (Denmark) to complete the replacement of the expansion joint on the 5th pre-heater. The installation was successfully completed within 7 days.

Proper installation of your expansion joints is key to increasing the service life and maintaining reliability. Whether an outage or turnaround is planned or forced, our field service professionals can help support your next project. Our team has extensive experience having installed and supervised constructions for power plants and refineries worldwide. Helping our customers reduce costs, decrease downtime, and eliminate installation problems, quickly and safely.

EagleBurgmann

Expansion Joint Solutions

10035 Prospect Ave. Ste. 202

Santee CA 92071 USA

Tel.: +(1) 619 563 6083

Fax: +(1) 619 562 0636

E-mail: info@keb-ejs.com

www.eb-ejs.com

All Topics