When pipelines are heated or cooled it can cause them to expand or contract in length.
If this is not compensated for it can put extreme pressure on welds or pressed joints resulting in failure.
There are many different ways to allow for this expansion but the RapidPress expansion bellows create an easy and space efficient solution.
Expansion bellows have pressed connections on either end of the fitting and a convoluted stainless centre.
There is a simple formula that can be used to calculate the expansion and contraction in a certain pipe run or alternatively you can refer to the table in the RapidPress Technical guide that makes this easy.
For example, a 12 metre pipe run that has a temperature difference of 90 degrees will have linear expansion of 17.8mm. Our 15mm expansion bellows can expand up to 16mm and our 108mm can expand a further 50mm. Each diameter expansion bellow has a different length of compensation. We can advise you how many bellows your pipeline will need to sufficiently compensate for this expansion.
Our expansion bellows come with a maximum number of work cycles at maximum compression. Sizes from 15 to 54mm have a lifetime cycle of 800 before we recommend changing the fitting. From 76mm to 108mm this lifetime cycle is 500. Further expansion compensation information can be found in our RapidPress technical guide.
We stock a range of sizes from 15mm up to 108mm in both our RapidPress Inox and Extreme Ranges.
