Hinged Expansion Joints

Pliant Bellows is the leading supplier and manufacturer of hinged expansion joints using stainless steel. A hinged expansion joint is a metallic assembly, that can rotate in a single plane, used to absorb changes resulting from piping thermal expansion or contraction.

They add hinges, joined to the expansion joint edges with a pair of pins, which allow crossing movement in a single plane, restrain the pressure thrust, and prevent the expansion joint from diverting axially, either in expansion or compression.It is suggested that the hinges should be always used in sets of two or three. The expansion joint hinges provide for angular movement and will maintain pressure thrust forces.

Individual hinged expansion joints are flexible bellows used in piping systems are restricted to pure angular rotation by its flexible joint hinges. As a set, hinged expansion joints will operate together to consume parallel deflection. Advantages of hinged expansion metal joints are that they are typically compact in size and structurally rigid.

• All pressure thrust is held by the hinge pins and is not imposed on pipes work, anchors or equipment.
• Force to deflect the bellows is minimal
• On short pipe runs e.g. boiler house systems, guides are not required. On long runs, only simple pipe guides are required
• One pair of hinged joints can absorb very large amounts of expansion, offering considerable savings in guides, anchors, and actual joint cost

• Industrial piping systems
• In aerospace components