What are the advantages of using stainless steel corrugated pipes?

Release time:

2021-06-18

What are the advantages of using stainless steel corrugated pipes?

　Bellows tubes are a commonly used type of heat-exchange tube in heat-transfer equipment. Stainless steel bellows tubes are increasingly being adopted due to their exceptional performance characteristics. So let’s take a closer look at the features of stainless steel bellows tubes—what exactly makes them so widely applicable!

The enhanced heat transfer in bellows-type heat exchangers is achieved through their unique ultra-thin-walled corrugated tubes. The tangents of the large and small arcs are continuous, and the internal shape of the thin-walled tube resembles that of a bellows. The height difference between the crests and troughs of the bellows causes intense fluid disturbance. This disturbance within the bellows is influenced by the motion of fluids both inside and outside the tube, resulting in an even more pronounced level of turbulence. Even at low fluid velocities, the flow can transition into a turbulent state. Moreover, the thin-walled tubes of bellows-type heat exchangers exhibit a small temperature gradient across the tube wall, which reduces the thermal resistance of the tube wall and increases both the inner- and outer-side heat transfer coefficients, thereby enhancing the overall heat transfer coefficient.

The wall thickness of bellows tubes is only 0.5 to 0.8 millimeters—remarkably thin, indeed. Thanks to their unique arc-shaped design and specialized forming process, these bellows tubes exhibit significantly enhanced load-bearing capacity. Laboratory tests typically show that the one-way burst pressure of bellows tubes hovers around 20 MPa; in practical applications, it’s safe to keep the operating pressure below 6.4 MPa. The bellows tube heat exchangers commonly used by us are made of stainless steel, enabling them to withstand relatively high operating temperatures (up to 450℃). Moreover, bellows tubes are flexible components with a certain degree of thermal compensation capability, making them well-suited to accommodate large temperature differences and low thermal stresses in equipment. Compared to conventional pipes, they offer distinct advantages.

The stainless steel corrugated tubes used in bellows heat exchangers are made of corrosion-resistant stainless steel. More importantly, the unique inner and outer wave patterns of the bellows are continuously swept clean by turbulent media, making it difficult for dust to accumulate on the inner and outer surfaces of the heat exchange tubes. The curvature of each part of the bellows is constantly changing, resulting in a significant difference in linear thermal expansion coefficients between the metal bellows and any accumulated fouling. When contaminants form, tension develops between the fouling and the surface of the bellows, causing the fouling to fall off—a self-cleaning and descaling effect that no other type of heat exchange tube can match.

During the forming process, since the metal undergoes forced flow within the mold, no deformation occurs. This is a “soft forming” process characterized by free-flow behavior. Because there is no forced deformation during this forming process, stress concentrations are avoided, stress distribution is uniform, and intergranular issues do not arise. Consequently, the material exhibits excellent resistance to stress corrosion.

Jiangsu Yaxing Bellows Co., Ltd. is a specialized enterprise engaged in the design and manufacture of stainless steel metal hoses, bellows, silencers, desulfurization dampers, expansion joints, compensators, conveyors, dust collectors, non-metallic compensators, and dampers. Our products are widely used in industries such as petrochemicals, power generation and heating, iron and steel metallurgy, cement, and construction. The company boasts a variety of advanced production, processing, and testing equipment, strong technical expertise, rigorous scientific management, superior product quality, and excellent after-sales service, earning the trust of our customers. We enjoy a high reputation in the cement and power sectors; projects such as Yanshan Petrochemical, Qilu Petrochemical, Gezhouba Hydropower Project, Three Gorges Xiaolangdi Project, Zhejiang San Shi, and Hubei Xinhua have all successively chosen our products.

Jiangsu Yaxing

Address: Qingdun Industrial Park, Hai'an City, Jiangsu Province

Phone: 86-513-88483622 ，86-513-88480666,

86-513-88480999

Fax: 86-513-88482423

Email: yx@ntyxbwg.com