METAL EXPANSION JOINT AND VIBRATION ABSORBER APPARATUS FOR PIPE SYSTEMS

Abstract: The apparatus includes a bellows (1), a first protection sleeve element (8) having a substantially radially upturned annular end portion (13) and a second protection sleeve element (6) having also a substantially radially upturned end portion (17). The bellows (1) ends at both sides in a neck (2, 3). A cylindrically shaped portion (12) of the first protection sleeve element (8) is surrounded by an envelope part (9) having a cylindrically shaped portion (10) and a substantially radially upturned annular end portion (11). Likewise, a cylindrically shaped portion (25) of the second protection sleeve element (6) is surrounded by an envelope part (14) having a cylindrically shaped portion (15) and a substantially radially upturned annular end portion (16). The necks (2, 3) of the bellows (1) are sandwiched between the cylindrically shaped portions (10, 12; 15, 25) of the respective envelope parts (9, 14) and the first protection sleeve element (8) and the second protection sleeve element (6) are welded thereto. The upturned end portions (11, 13; 16, 17) of the respective envelope parts (9, 14) and the first (8) and second protection sleeve elements (6) contact each other and form the flanges (4, 5) of the apparatus.

Description: Metal expansion joint and vibration absorber apparatus for pipe systems The present invention relates to a metal ex¬ pansion joint and vibration absorber apparatus for pipe systems having at least one metal bellows element which has a first and a thereto opposite second neck; a first and a thereto opposite second flange structure, a first protection sleeve element, a second protection sleeve element which includes a pipe stub element located inside of and extending coaxially to the metal bellows element, in which a portion of said first protection sleeve ele¬ ment is received. Metal expansion joints and vibration absorber apparatuses in pipe systems are predominantly used in two applications. A first application is the use of such ap¬ paratuses as expansion joint and a second application is the use as vibration absorber. In both applications the basically same design of the apparatus is used, whereby in case of expansion joints the primary operation of the apparatus is taking up displacements of pipes in a pipe system whereby such apparatus absorbs due to its design comprising a metal bellows element as secondary effect also possible vibrations in the pipe system. In case of vibration absorption the primary operation of the appara¬ tus is absorbing vibrations in a pipe system whereby such apparatus takes up displacements of pipes in the pipe system as secondary effect. Also possible are applica- tions in which the apparatus is used to take up displace¬ ments and simultaneously to absorb vibrations. The basic operating member of these apparatuses is its metal bel¬ lows which is calculated and designed regarding material, dimensions, etc. depending from the prevailing object, namely to absorb pipe displacements or then to absorb vi¬ brations. When such apparatus is used as pipe displace¬ ment absorbing apparatus it is called expansion joint. Expansion joints are commonly used in pipe lines, pipe line systems and circuits in which for in- stance due to high or low temperature of the commodity flowing through the pipes the temperature of the pipes themselves increases or decreases accordingly leading to thermal expansions or contractions, resp. These expan¬ sions or contractions, resp. cause generally changes of the axial dimension of the pipes and also angular move¬ ments and lateral shifting displacements. In order to take such displacements up expansion joints are inserted between the pipe sections, whereby the metal bellows of these joints contract and expand such to take up men- tioned changes of the dimensions. The object of vibration absorbers is the ab¬ sorption of vibrations in pipe systems in that the metal bellows absorbs vibrations or oscillations, resp. caused by the commodity flowing in the pipe system (turbulence) , or vibrations stemming from a machine' to which pipes are coupled, e.g. compressors or internal combustion ma¬ chines, whereby in the latter case the exhaust pipe or manifold is coupled via such a vibration absorber to the machine. Metal expansion joint and vibration absorbing apparatuses have commonly included a single or multiple bellows element made of a thin sheet of metal and formed with convolutions, which sheet metal bellows element is mounted e.g. by welding, soldering or clamping at both its ends to respective flange elements, via which the ex¬ pansion joint or vibration absorber, resp. is coupled at both its ends e.g. via bolts or clamps to an adjacent pipe section of a pipe system or machine, resp. In order to protect the bellows from the commodity or fluid, resp. flowing through the apparatus and also to avoid turbu¬ lences in the fluid a protection sleeve can be arranged inside the bellows which extends coaxially thereto. This protection sleeve is generally mounted in one or the other way to one of the flanges. It may have an upturned end sandwiched between the flange of the expansion joint or vibration absorber, resp. and the flange of an adjoin- ing structure, e.g. pipe, or it could be welded to the flange of the expansion joint. Thus, the known expansion joints or vibration absorbers, resp. are assembled of a plurality of parts of various structural and physical properties. Accordingly, a manufacturer must keep a rather large amount of differ¬ ent articles for assembling such apparatuses in stock, the assembling of the apparatuses is time-consuming be¬ cause a plurality of individual articles must be assem¬ bled and finally, specifically due to the solid flanges, the known expansion joints and vibration absorbers, resp. have a relatively considerable weight. The invention as claimed is intended to pro¬ vide a remedy. It solves the problem of how to design a metal joint and vibration absorber apparatus for pipe systems, in which a maximum of the parts may be of an identical sheet material. The advantages offered by the invention are mainly that such apparatus is of an extremely light weight and can be produced more efficiently and, there- fore, at low costs, or alternatively can be assembled of several individual parts of differing thickness and physical properties to cope with prevailing conditions of operation. One way of carrying out the invention is de- scribed in detail below with reference to drawings, which illustrate only one specific embodiment, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a longitudinal section through the upper half of a ' preferred embodiment of the invention; and Fig. 2 is a schematic sectional view on a somewhat enlarged scale of the left hand flange area of the embodiment shown in Fig. 1. The apparatus shown includes a metal bellows element 1 made of a thin flexible sheet metal which has been formed to have the illustrated convolutions. The metal selected can be any kind of metal. having the pre- requisite flexibility when deformed and possibly selected to withstand the pressure, temperature and also possible chemical attacks of the fluid it comes in contact with. The bellows element 1 illustrated in the drawings is of a single-ply design. Obviously, this bel- lows element 1 could be of a multi-ply design as also commonly known in the prevailing art. The bellows element 1 ends at its left end in a first neck 2 and at its right end in a second neck 3 according to commonly known de¬ signs of bellows. A first protection sleeve element 8 includes also a cylinder shaped portion 12 which is followed by a further substantially radially upturned annular end por¬ tion 13. A second protection sleeve element 6 is lo- cated based on Fig. 1 at the right side of the apparatus, which sleeve element 6 includes a pipe stub element 7 ex¬ tending inside the bellows 1 and coaxially thereto. This pipe stub element 7 is followed by a cylinder shaped por¬ tion 25 of the sleeve element 6, which cylinder shaped portion 25 ends at a substantially radially upturned an¬ nular end portion 17, i.e. this upturned end portion 17 has roughly the shape of circular ring positioned perpen¬ dicularly to the longitudinal axis of the apparatus. The first protection sleeve element 8 proj- ects at one end coaxially into the pipe stub element 7. An annular envelope part 9 includes a cylin¬ der shaped portion 10 which surrounds the cylinder shaped portion 12 of the first protection sleeve element 8. The cylinder shaped portion 10 ends also at a substantially radially upturned annular end portion 11 which will be described in detail further below. A further annular envelope part 14 includes a further cylinder shaped portion 15. This cylinder shaped portion 15 surrounds the cylinder shaped portion 25 of the second protection sleeve element 6 and ends at a sub- stantially radially upturned annular end portion 17. As can be seen, the neck 2 of the bellows 1 is sandwiched between the cylinder shaped portion 10 of the envelope part 9 and the cylinder shaped portion 12 of the first protection sleeve element 8. In this embodiment these three parts are interconnected by a welding 18. Ob¬ viously, various kinds of weldings, e.g. spot welding, elongate welding seams, or other kinds of techniques such as riveting can be chosen for accomplishing this connec¬ tion. Likewise, the neck 3 at the opposite end of the bellows 1 is sandwiched between the cylinder shaped portion 15 of the envelope part 14 and the cylinder shaped portion 25 of the second protection sleeve element 6. Again, the interconnection of this embodiment is made by a welding 19. Attention is now drawn to the left side of Fig. 1 and to Fig. 2. The upturned annular end portion 11 of the first envelope part 9 contacts the upturned annu¬ lar end portion 13 of the first protection sleeve element 8. These end portions 11 and 13 form now together a flange structure 4 of the apparatus, i.e. one of its two flanges. The portions 11 and 13 can, but must not neces¬ sarily, be interconnected by a welding 20. In use, the apparatus will be coupled via this flange, i.e. flange structure 4, to a (not illustrated) adjoining pipe or other part of a plant, such as a pump. This coupling can be achieved by a variety of techniques. Here it shall be assumed that the coupling is made (according to a well- known technique) by a ring of a U-shaped cross section which is clamped over the flange structure 4 and the flange of an adjoining e.g. pipe, such that the flange structure 4 and the adjacent flange are inserted between the two legs of the U-shape. At its surface facing away from the bellows 1 the upturned annular end portion 13 which may be planar or may be deformed such to include as shown in this embodiment an annular recess 22. A sealing ring (not illustrated) can be placed into this recess 22. The upturned annular end portion 11 of the left envelope part 9 extends at an acute angle relative to the upturned end portion 13 of the first protection sleeve element 8. This end portion has thus generally the shape of a truncated cone. It includes several recessed areas 24. Therefore, at its side facing away from the bellows 1 it is at the recessed areas 24 in surface con¬ tact with the upturned end portion 13 of the first pro¬ tection sleeve element 8. These recessed areas 24 serve as abutment and as reinforcement of the upturned end por¬ tion 11. It should be noted that the two upturned por¬ tions 11 and 13 contact each other additionally along their circumference where they may possibly be welded to¬ gether such as shown by the welding 20. At its right side (according to Fig. 1) the apparatus, i.e. its components are of the same design as exemplified above regarding' the left side. Thus, the up¬ turned annular end portion 16 of the second envelope part 14 contacts the upturned annular end portion 17 of the second protection sleeve element 6. These end portions 16 and 17 form together the flange structure 5 of the appa¬ ratus and can, but must not necessarily, be intercon¬ nected by a welding 21. The recess in the upturned annu¬ lar end portion 17 is identified by the reference numeral 23. The upturned annular end portion 16 of the second en¬ velope part 14 extends at an acute angle relative to the upturned end portion 17 of the second protection sleeve element 6 and has again the shape of a truncated cone and includes recessed areas 26 forming abutments and rein- forcements and being in a surface contact with the up¬ turned end portion 17 of the second protection sleeve element 6. In this embodiment, these two end portions 16 and 17 are interconnected by a welding 21. Thus, it can be seen from the above detailed description of the preferred embodiment that the metal expansion joint and vibration absorber apparatus consists of thin walled interchangeable parts which are intercon¬ nected by weldings. Specifically to be noted is that the first protection sleeve element 8 and the second protec¬ tion sleeve element 6 can be made of materials which dif- fer from the materials of which the two envelope parts 9 and 14 which increases the versatility regarding a selec¬ tion of materials. Therefore, the described apparatus is not only of an extreme light weight design but can be produced at low cost.

Claims: Patent Claims 1. Metal expansion joint and vibration ab- sorber apparatus, including - at least one metal bellows element (1) with a first neck (2) extending axially from one end and a second neck (3) extending from the other end of said bel¬ lows element (1) ; - a first (4) and a second flange structure (5); - a first protection sleeve element (8) com¬ prising a cylindrically shaped portion (12) and a further continuous and substantially radially upturned annular end portion (13) ; - a second protection sleeve element (6) which includes a pipe stub element (7) located inside of and extending coaxially to said metal bellows element (1), in which a portion of said first protection sleeve element (8) is received, said expansion joint and vibration absorber apparatus characterized by - a first envelope part (9) having a cylin¬ drically shaped portion (10) and a thereto continuous and substantially radially upturned annular end portion (11); - which upturned annular end portion (11) of said first envelope part (9) abuts the upturned annular end portion (13) of said first protection sleeve element, (8), whereby said two end portions (11, 13) form said first flange structure (4) ; - and which first neck (2) of said metal bel¬ lows (1) is sandwiched between and mounted to the cylin¬ drically shaped portions (10, 12) of the first envelope part (9) and the first protection sleeve element (8) . 2. Metal expansion joint and vibration ab¬ sorber apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by - a second envelope part (14) having a cylin¬ drically shaped portion (15) and a thereto continuous and substantially radially upturned annular end portion (16), which - second protection sleeve element (6) com¬ prises further a cylindrically shaped portion (25) and a further continuous and substantially radially upturned annular end portion (17) ; - which upturned annular end portion (16) of the second envelope part (14) abuts the upturned annular end portion (17) of the second protection sleeve element (6), whereby these two end portions (16, 17) form said second flange structure (5) ; - and which second neck (3) of said bellows (1) is sandwiched between and mounted to the cylindri¬ cally shaped portions (15, 25) of the second envelope part (14) and the second protection sleeve element (6) . 3. Metal expansion joint and vibration ab¬ sorber apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the first and second necks (2, 3) of said bellows (1) are welded to the respective cylindrically shaped portions (10, 12; 15, 25) . 4. Metal expansion joint and vibration ab¬ sorber apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the substantially radially upturned annular end portion (11) of said first envelope part (9) is welded to the second substantially radially upturned annular end portion (13) of said first protec¬ tion sleeve element (8), and the substantially radially upturned annular end portion (15) of said second envelope part (14) is welded to the substantially radially up¬ turned annular end portion (17) of said second protection sleeve element (6) . 5. Metal expansion joint and vibration ab- sorber apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the substantially radially upturned annular end portions (13, 17) of both said first and second protection sleeve elements (6, 8) comprise an annular recess (22, 23) at radially extending surfaces which face away from the bellows element (1) . 6. Metal expansion joint and vibration ab- sorber apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the substantially radially upturned end portions (11, 16) of said first envelope part (9) and said second envelope part (14) extend at an acute angle relative to the respective substantially ra- dially upturned end portions (13, 17) of the first pro¬ tection sleeve element (8) and the second protection sleeve element (6), and include a plurality of recessed areas (24, 26) and wherein the surfaces facing away the bellows (1) are in surface contact with the surfaces of the substantially radially upturned end portions (13, 17) of the first and second protective sleeve elements (8, 6) facing the bellows (1) .

Inventors: MANTOAN SILVANO, PETERMANN WERNER, MANTOAN, SILVANO, PETERMANN, WERNER
Applicants: BOA AG
Application year: 1996
Main classification: F16L51
IPC codes: F16L27, F16L51