Expansion Joint or Compensator

[jackal397]

I am on project providing useful attributes (needed data) for each item on our spare parts and I encountered this two items, EXPANSION JOINT and COMPENSATOR.

Filtering all the items under this family resulted to different types and applications e.g. Fabric Expansion Joint, Rubber Expansion Joint, Metallic Expansion Joint, Fabric Compensator, Rubber Compensator and Metallic Compensator...

My concern is, What should be the most appropriate term to be use for the above items since looking through several sites and references, they gave same examples and figures..

Hope to hear from you guys..thanks

 

[MikeHalloran]

Since you didn't give us a clue about what product the spares are for, we have to guess.

One guess:
In a yacht's engine exhaust system, you might find multi-ply metallic bellows with v-band flanges, or something similar, used immediately downstream of the turbochargers. A fair number of spares would be a good thing to have, because they're easily damaged and have a limited life, given the hot gases flowing through them and the constant vibration.

Much farther downstream in the exhaust system, next to the hull stop valves, you might find rubber compensators, typically equipped with bolted flanges (and having fabric reinforcement internal to the rubber). Somewhat fewer spares would be required, because they're protected by water injected into the exhaust system for cooling, and don't usually give trouble unless the water flow stops.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[jackal397]

Hi Mike,

You mentioned multi-ply metallic Bellow and rubber compensator with internal fabric reinforcement..this two engine parts compensates for the axial and radial vibrations and expansions...My concern is, How to commonly name this two items..EXPANSION JOINT or COMPENSATOR..

Thanks

 

[MikeHalloran]

I misunderstood your question.

I have seen the the word COMPENSATOR and the phrase EXPANSION JOINT used to refer to metal bellows or to rubber objects, but differently in different industries, and sometimes in different countries.

To avoid confusion, neither term should even appear in a spares list, because they just take up space without being particularly useful in identifying what to buy.

To uniquely identify the products from each other, I'm thinking the first noun phrase in a line item description should be RUBBER COMPENSATOR or METAL BELLOWS, appropriately.






Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA