Flange
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flange
For other uses, see Flange (disambiguation).
A flange is a protruded ridge, lip or rim, either external or internal, that serves to
increase strength (as the flange of an iron beam such as an I-beam or a T-beam); for easy
attachment/transfer of contact force with another object (as the flange on the end of a
pipe, steam cylinder, etc., or on the lens mount of a camera); or for stabilizing and guiding
the movements of a machine or its parts (as the inside flange of a rail car or tram wheel,
which keep the wheels from running off the rails). Flanges are often attached using bolts
in the pattern of a bolt circle. The term "flange" is also used for a kind of tool used to form
flanges.
Plumbing or piping
Main articles: Plumbing and Piping
A flange can also be a plate or ring to form a rim at the
end of a pipe when fastened to the pipe (for example, a
closet flange). A blind flange is a plate for covering or
closing the end of a pipe. A flange joint is a connection
of pipes, where the connecting pieces have flanges by
which the parts are bolted together.
Although the word 'flange' generally refers to the actual
raised rim or lip of a fitting, many flanged plumbing
Surrey flange
fittings are themselves known as flanges.
Common flanges used in plumbing are the Surrey flange or Danzey flange, York flange,
Sussex flange and Essex flange.
Surrey and York flanges fit to the top of the hot water tank
allowing all the water to be taken without disturbance to the tank. They are often used to
ensure an even flow of water to showers. An Essex flange requires a hole to be drilled in
the side of the tank.
There is also a Warix flange which is the same as a York flange but the shower output is
on the top of the flange and the vent on the side. The York and Warix flange have female
adapters so that they fit onto a male tank, whereas the Surrey flange connects to a female
tank.
A closet flange provides the mount for a toilet.
Pipe flanges
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Piping components can be bolted together between flanges. Flanges are used to connect
pipes with each other, to valves, to fittings, and to specialty items such as strainers and
pressure vessels. A cover plate can be connected to create a "blind flange".[1] Flanges are
joined by bolting, and sealing is often completed with the use of gaskets or other methods.
Mechanical means to mitigate effects of leaks, like spray guards or specific spray flanges,
may be included. Industries where flammable, volatile, toxic or corrosive substances are
being processed have greater need of special protection at flanged connections.
Flange
guards can provide that added level of protection to ensure safety.[2]
There are many different flange standards to be found worldwide. To allow easy
functionality and interchangeability, these are designed to have standardised dimensions.
Common world standards include ASA/ASME (USA), PN/DIN (European), BS10
(British/Australian), and JIS/KS (Japanese/Korean). In the USA, the standard is ASME
B16.5 (ANSI stopped publishing B16.5 in 1996). ASME B16.5 covers flanges up to 24
inches size and up to pressure rating of Class 2500. Flanges larger than 24 inches are
covered in ASME B16.47.
In most cases, standards are interchangeable, as most local standards have been aligned
to ISO standards; however, some local standards still differ. For example, an ASME flange
will not mate against an ISO flange. Further, many of the flanges in each standard are
divided into "pressure classes", allowing flanges to be capable of taking different pressure
ratings. Again these are not generally interchangeable (e.g. an ASME 150 will not mate
with an ASME 300).[3]
These pressure classes also have differing pressure and temperature ratings for different
materials. Unique pressure classes for piping can also be developed for a process plant or
power generating station; these may be specific to the corporation, engineering
procurement and construction (EPC) contractor, or the process plant owner. The ASME
pressure classes for flat-face flanges are Class 125 and Class 250. The classes for ring-
joint, tongue and groove, and raised-face flanges are Class 150, Class 300, Class 400
(unusual), Class 600, Class 900, Class 1500, and Class 2500.[3]
The flange faces are also made to standardized dimensions and are typically "flat face",
"raised face", "tongue and groove", or "ring joint" styles, although other obscure styles are
possible.
Flange designs are available as "weld neck", "slip-on", "lap joint", "socket weld",
"threaded", and also "blind".[3]
ASME standards (U.S.)
Pipe flanges that are made to standards called out by ASME B16.5 or ASME B16.47, and
MSS SP-44. They are typically made from forged materials and have machined surfaces.
ASME B16.5 refers to nominal pipe sizes (NPS) from 1⁄2" to 24". B16.47 covers NPSs from
26" to 60". Each specification further delineates flanges into pressure classes: 150, 300,
400, 600, 900, 1500 and 2500 for B16.5, and B16.47 delineates its flanges into pressure
classes 75, 150, 300, 400, 600, 900. However these classes do not correspond to
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maximum pressures in psi. Instead, the
maximum pressure depends on the
material of the flange and the
temperature. For example, the maximum
pressure for a Class 150 flange is 285 psi,
and for a Class 300 flange it is 740 psi
(both are for ASTM a105 carbon steel and
temperatures below 100°F).
The gasket type and bolt type are generally
specified by the standard(s); however,
Two ASME type flanges, bolted together on a gas
sometimes the standards refer to the
pipeline
ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code
(B&PVC) for details (see ASME Code
Section VIII Division 1 – Appendix 2). These flanges are recognized by ASME Pipe Codes
such as ASME B31.1 Power Piping, and ASME B31.3 Process Piping.
Materials for flanges are usually under ASME designation: SA-105 (Specification for
Carbon Steel Forgings for Piping Applications), SA-266 (Specification for Carbon Steel
Forgings for Pressure Vessel Components), or SA-182 (Specification for Forged or Rolled
Alloy-Steel Pipe Flanges, Forged Fittings, and Valves and Parts for High-Temperature
Service). In addition, there are many "industry standard" flanges that in some
circumstance may be used on ASME work.
The product range includes SORF, SOFF, BLRF, BLFF, WNRF (XS, XXS, STD and
Schedule 20, 40, 80), WNFF (XS, XXS, STD and Schedule 20, 40, 80), SWRF (XS and
STD), SWFF (XS and STD), Threaded RF, Threaded FF and LJ, with sizes from 1/2" to
16". The bolting material used for flange connection is stud bolts mated with two nut
(washer when required). In petrochemical industries, ASTM A193 B7 STUD and ASTM
A193 B16 stud bolts are used as these have high tensile strength.
European dimensions (EN / DIN)
Most countries in Europe mainly install flanges according to standard DIN EN 1092-1
(forged stainless or steel flanges). Similar to the ASME flange standard, the EN 1092-1
standard has the basic flange forms, such as weld neck flange, blind flange, lapped flange,
threaded flange (thread ISO7-1 instead of NPT), weld on collar, pressed collars, and
adapter flange such as flange coupling GD press fittings. The different forms of flanges
within the EN 1092-1 (European Norm/Euronorm) is indicated within the flange name
through the type.
Design According to EN type According to DIN
Weld-neck flange Type 11 DIN 2627 – DIN 2638
Blind flange Type 05 DIN 2527
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Threaded flange Type 12 DIN 2558, DIN 2565 – DIN 2569
Flat flange Type 01 DIN 2573, DIN 2576
Lapped flange Type 02 and Type 04 DIN 2641, DIN 2642, DIN 2655, DIN 2656
Similar to ASME flanges, EN1092-1 steel and stainless flanges, have several different
versions of raised or none raised faces. According to the European form the seals are
indicated by different form:
Form: types of contact faces DIN EN 1092-1
Without raised face Form A
Raised face (Rz = 160 mechanical turned) Form B1
Raised race (Rz = 40 mechanical turned) Form B1
Raised face (Rz = 16 mechanical turned) Form B2
Tongue according to DIN2512 Form C
Groove according to DIN 2512 Form D
Male according to DIN 2513 Form E
Female according to DIN 2513 Form F
Female according to DIN 2514 Form G
Male according to DIN 2514 Form H
Other countries
Flanges in the rest of the world are manufactured according to the ISO standards for
materials, pressure ratings, etc. to which local standards including DIN, BS, and others,
have been aligned.
Compact flanges
As the size of a compact flange increases it becomes relatively increasingly heavy and
complex resulting in high procurement, installation and maintenance costs.
Large flange
diameters in particular are difficult to work with, and inevitably require more space and
have a more challenging handling and installation procedure, particularly on remote
installations such as oil rigs.
The design of the flange face includes two independent seals. The first seal is created by
application of seal seating stress at the flange heel, but it is not straight forward to ensure
the function of this seal.[4]
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Theoretically, the heel contact will be maintained for pressure values up to 1.8 times the
flange rating at room temperature.
Theoretically, the flange also remains in contact along its outer circumference at the
flange faces for all allowable load levels that it is designed for.
The main seal is the IX seal ring. The seal ring force is provided by the elastic stored
energy in the stressed seal ring. Any heel leakage will give internal pressure acting on the
seal ring inside intensifying the sealing action. This however requires the IX ring to be
retained in the theoretical location in the ring groove which is difficult to ensure and
verify during installation.
The design aims at preventing exposure to oxygen and other corrosive agents. Thus, this
prevents corrosion of the flange faces, the stressed length of the bolts and the seal ring.
This however depends on the outer dust rim to remain in satisfactory contact and that the
inside fluid is not corrosive in case of leaking into the bolt circle void.
Applications of compact flanges
The initial cost of the theoretical higher performance compact flange is inevitably higher
than a regular flange due to the closer tolerances and significantly more sophisticated
design and installation requirements.
By way of example, compact flanges are often used
across the following applications: subsea oil and gas or riser, cold work and cryogenics,
gas injection, high temperature, and nuclear applications.
Train wheels
Main article: train wheel
Trains and trams stay on their tracks primarily due to
the conical geometry of their wheels. They also have a
flange on one side to keep the wheels, and hence the
train, running on the rails, when the limits of the
geometry based alignment are reached, e.g. due to
some emergency or defect.
Railway wheel flange (left)
Tram wheel flange (right)
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Flanged railway wheel
Vacuum flanges
Main article: vacuum flange
A vacuum flange is a flange at the end of a tube used to connect vacuum chambers, tubing
and vacuum pumps to each other.
Form factor of
PDR and CBR
flanges.
Microwave
Main article: Waveguide flange
In microwave telecommunications, a flange is a type of cable joint which allows different
types of waveguide to connect.
Several different microwave RF flange types exist, such as CAR, CBR, OPC, PAR, PBJ,
PBR, PDR, UAR, UBR, UDR, icp and UPX.
Ski boots
Ski boots use flanges at the toe or heel to connect to the binding of the ski. The size and
shape for flanges on alpine skiing boots is standardized in ISO 5355. Traditional telemark
and cross country boots use the 75 mm Nordic Norm, but the toe flange is informally
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known as the "duckbill". New cross country bindings
eliminate the flange entirely and use a steel bar
embedded within the sole instead.
The extensions at the toe and heel
of this ski boot produce flanges
used to clip into the ski bindings.
See also
Look up flange in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
References
1. ^ "Piping Flanges – Types of Flanges in Piping Systems". www.piping-world.com.
2. ^ Jump up to: a b c ASME B16.5
Further reading
ASME B16.5: Standard Pipe Flanges up to and including 24 inches nominal
ASME B16.47: Standard Pipe Flanges above 24 inches
ASME Section II (Materials), Part A – Ferrous Material Specifications
Nayyar, Mohinder (1999). Piping Handbook, Seventh Edition. New York:
McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-047106-1.
ASME B16.47 Standard Pipe Flanges Yaang Pipe Industry
ANSI Flange Torque Lookup Tool
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