We at ‘Fourwents’ offers a vast range of engineered, standard & customized Flexi-ball & Rotary-ball type Ball Joints, Swivel Joints & Loading-Unloading Arms for a broad range of uses in industries and applications.
Our design efforts are supported by a State–of–The-Art Cad System for faster, more accurate response to your technical request. ‘Fourwents’ Flexi-ball, Rotary-ball type Ball Joints, Swivel Joints & Loading-Unloading Arms are durable, reliable, easy to operate & maintain & we meet your most demanding specifications.
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The exible joint method and the pipe loop method are the two main methods for providing piping exibility.
This paper investigates how exible joint methods, particularly the
As shown in above diagram, the most common type of ball joint (also known as a ball-and-socket joint) is made up of three main pieces. It has an inner ball-shaped adapter that is surrounded by a two-piece dome-shaped casing and retainer. The sealing mass is placed in the seal groove, and the adjacent surfaces completely enclose the seal cavity. The sealing mass is placed in the seal groove, and the adjacent surfaces completely enclose the seal cavity. The sealing material completely lls the seal cavity in which it is placed. The compressive loading applied by the screws and during the installation phase is sufcient to cause the sealing material to flow into the casing wall irregularities and against the ball, resulting in a tight seal. The joint can rock within the range specied by the opening of the outer housing or retainer. It can also rotate 360° degrees axially. Both Rotary axial swivel joints (hereafter referred to as Rota joints) and multi axial flexible joints ( hereafter referred to as Flex joints) are ball joint design variants that provide rotation only and flex and rotation movements, respectively. The break-off moment is the moment required to rotate the joint, and its magnitude is available from the joint's manufacturer. This break-off moment can have a signicant impact on the piping system's flexibility.
Traditionally, vertical wellhead thermal growth or reduction has been accommodated by two Rota joints and one Flex joint arranged in series with their axes nominally parallel, arranged at the three points of an inverted "V" .
This structure is known as an “AFRAME”.The “A-FRAME” solution with the traditional conguration generally works well enough once installed; however, this approach has some notable shortcomings : it is time consuming to install (which adds to expense) because precise alignment is required, and if precise alignment in the eld is not achieved, it creates additional bending moments on the bottom Rota joints may cause an increase in the nominal break-off moment, pipe overstress, and long-term joint quality problems. It should be noted that the above ball joint conguration concept allows for the ability to fold or unfold the spool by releasing the screws of one or all of the ball joints during the installation and erection of an “A-FRAME”. The break-off moment of the connection can be considerably reduced by loosening the screws, and once the installation process is complete, they can be retorqued using the appropriate torqueing equipment.
The new “A- FRAME ” design is straightforward, as illustrated in diagram. The new “A-FRAME” design includes two Flex and one Rota joint ( Flexi Ball Joint+Flexi Ball Joint+Rota Ball Joint ), which can accommodate misalignment or installation tolerances without requiring precise alignment.
Individual Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) or Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS) wellheads undergo thermally induced growth on the order of 0.5 m to 1 m, resulting in a bending moment or side loading due to thermal expansion. This wellhead thermal growth is signicant enough that ball joints are typically installed in the piping system adjacent to the well head to accommodate the required growth, reduce stress on wellhead connections, and improve long-term pipe sealing. The new A-frame design has one uniaxial Swivel joint at one bottom end of the “A-FRAME” (piping side) and two multiaxial exible joints at the other points of the “A-FRAME”.
This conguration provides the full three degrees of freedom required to accommodate vertical and horizontal misalignment of the wellhead and adjacent piping. However, pipe stress analysis must be used to assess the stability of the new “A-FRAME” design with different nominal pipe sizes under sustained load cases. According to the endings of the analysis, the new “A-FRAME” design will be stable under Sustained load cases with no risk of sagging in the eld. Furthermore, the industry has begun to implement the new “A-FRAME” design, which has been validated under realistic eld conditions.
'Fourwents' Flexible piping ball joint connectors have been developed to meet industry's need for high quality, cost effective flexible piping connectors with enhanced mechanical and sealing properties. 'Fourwents' flexible piping connectors have been designed to provide reliable service in the most severe applications.
‘Fourwents' Flexiball and Roto-ball Ball Joints exible connectors are an effective solution to provide piping systems with the exibility required to compensate for thermal growth, vibration or motion of equipment in the piping system.
Depending on the requirements of the specic application, 'Fourwents' exible piping connectors can be outtted with a variety of options. Contact 'Fourwents' for additional information or technical support for your application. Available design options include: Purging, Injectable Packing, Enhanced live loaded seal packing design, Seal monitoring ports.
Factory engineered, manufactured and tested with in ISO 9001-2015
quality standard registered program.
Fourwents Considerable experience and background, enables our customers to get the best and most reliable
equipments for their application. Pre-assembled and shop tasted Ball Joints and Swivel
Joints.
Provides maximum capability to accommodate signicant piping system movements.
Universal ball joints accommodate wellhead movement in enhanced oil recovery processes such as steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), cyclic steam stimulation
Flexi-ball and Rota-balls can be used to accommodate linear or rotational movement to ensure potential damage as a result of reactive forces imposed on the system is eliminated.
Universal ball joints are appropriate for use in solar thermal energy systems where pipe spools must be fexible for solar tracking movement and thermal expansion.
Flexi-balls can provide effective joining of improperly aligned or offset piping system.
When a hose is not suitable due to size, pressure, or temperature constraints, a pipe spool with Universal ball joints is the solution. The universal ball joint is appropriate for both low and high-cycle applications
Flexi-ball is an effective way of accommodating expansion and control in the amount of piping systems. Thermal expansion in elevated operating temperatures
The universal ball joint is a one-of-a-kind solution for subsea applications because it can accommodate static misalignment and pipe movement while also reducing stress at ow line connectors.
Flexi-balls can be used to accommodate equipment settlement during loading or over time to eliminate the potential of piping or equipment nozzles damage.
Universal ball joints can compensate for piping system joining leg misalignment. Whether the two lines are parallel and oset or come together at an acute angle over a short piping distance, the ball joint provides an eective seal.
Universal ball joints can compensate for piping system joining leg misalignment. Whether the two lines are parallel and oset or come together at an acute angle over a short piping distance, the ball joint provides an eective seal.
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