What You Need To Know About Large Ducts - And The Expansion Joints That Serve Them. Why careful precision joint engineering is necessary when joining large duct systems.

Expansion joints come in all shapes and sizes, because the applications that depend on them likewise each have specialized needs that have to be carefully considered in the joint design.

However, no system in real life perfectly reflects the original technical blueprints. Small deviations will always exist between the final erected dimensions of your plant and the technical design, tiny misalignments that proportionally grow in importance with scale. Your expansion joint must be designed to bridge those erection tolerances effectively, efficiently and reliably - otherwise, a misaligned joint can result in leakage, reduced thermal/movement compensation, vibration, or even outright failure under high load conditions.

Large ducts - over 8 feet in diameter, but as wide as 30 feet - generally are subject to higher loads. They transport higher volumes of gas than their smaller counterparts. Large ducts are more difficult and costly to service. Finally, the increased scale of the ductwork can bring with it wider erection tolerances, and therefore a greater opportunity for the ducts to misalign under high load. The larger the ductwork, the more important it is that your expansion joint is properly designed to fit snugly and securely, as well as to perform reliably.

FlexCom expansion joints are designed with several features to ensure long term quality service, even in the largest and most demanding industrial ductwork applications. These include:

FlexCom expansion joints are designed from the start to meet your exacting specifications - and to bridge the gaps when blueprints don't exactly match real life dimensions under an operating load. Large or small, our joint designs are carefully engineered to hold up against thermal expansion, duct movement and stresses in the external environment, each joint custom fitted to perform reliably for years without failure even in large scale and high stress applications.

Our Products: FlexCom Special 1000-X Series Composite Belt

Special 1000-X Series Composite Belt by FlexCom

Our series of quality composite flat belt expansion joints, designed for use in low pressure and high temperature gas transfer applications, offer optimal performance even against gas streams containing high particulate contamination. One of our more popular designs, the Special 1000-X provides superior protection from movement, vibration and gas-suspended contamination in operating environments up to 1020F.

The interior flue gas side of this belt is a high performance, vermiculite-coated fiberglass cloth engineered to remain stable at 1500F, protected further by layers of silica fabric and stainless steel mesh. The outer layer is made from our own PTFE-based ChemShield 5407 gas barrier material for maximum chemical and gas resistance. The space between is occupied by two layers of needled fiberglass blanket insulation. Together, this unique combination of insulating and protective laminated fabrics lends the 1000-X superior strength and long term durability.

About FlexCom Inc.

Since 1991, Flexible Compensators (FlexCom) Inc. has dedicated itself to the ongoing task of making the finest custom designed metal, fabric and composite expansion joints available for today's most challenging industrial applications. Serving OEM accounts and end users throughout North America, Europe and Asia, FlexCom expansion joints today perform reliable service in applications ranging from large cement kilns to power generation and pollution control systems.