All You Need to Know About the Types of Flanges

The primary purpose of the flanges is to help connect pipes, valves, and pumps. With a range of materials available and a variety of types and styles, you need to be aware of all the aspects and get adequate information beforehand in order to make the right choice. The most commonly available types of flanges that you can use in your industries are given below;

SLIP-ON FLANGES

Slip-n flanges are the type of flanges that are connected to the pipe or the fittings. The connections are made by getting it welded inside and outside. In other words, these flanges are ring-shaped structures placed over the pipe’s end. As the name suggests, these flanges are supposed to have a slipping property, which means they slip over a pipe. Following the same point, they are designed to have a larger bore size and the diameter of the outside pipe as well.

Benefits

• They save a lot of safe because of their compact and slim shape.
• They are the best-used options in liquid industries, with a low risk of leakage and spillage.
• They are easily affordable.
• They are used in low-pressure and temperature areas.
• They are among the most popular and frequently used flanges types.

WELD NECK FLANGES

Other names for weld neck flanges are high high-neck flanges or tapered hub flanges. These flanges systems are designed in a way that they have a well-balanced neck that helps in transferring the tension of the pipe. The channel is also beneficial in reducing the overall pressure that otherwise would accumulate at the flange button and would result in distortions. Most customers prefer them because they are capable of functioning even at high temperatures.

Benefits

• They help in distributing the mechanical stress of the pipe.
• These flanges can tolerate extremely high temperature and pressure conditions.
• You can easily connect them with either fittings or pipes.
• They are approvingly resistant to corrosion and rust.
• They reduce the overall friction and also offer minimal to no turbulence.

SOCKET WELD FLANGES

Socket weld flanges are the type of flanges that adjust the incoming pipe into the socket to great a fitting. The connections are made with the help of fillet weld on the exterior. They are mostly preferred in the situation when there is an issue with space management, as they can even fit perfectly and effortlessly and narrow spaces. They are not preferable to be used for something other than critical services.

Benefits

• Their sleek and small design makes them an ideal choice for small pipes.
• They offer double fatigue strength than the double-wedged flanges.
• The risk of leakage is shallow.
• Their static power is the same as the slip-on flanges system.
• They are commonly used in areas of high pressure.

BLIND FLANGES

Blind flanges are the type of flanges that do not have a bore at the center of the flange system. Such kinds of flanges are used to terminate or seal the ends of pressure vessel openings, valves, and pipes. In short, they are helpful in stopping the flow of liquid. Because of the simple design, these flanges can be bolted and unbolted easily compared to the other flanges types.

Benefits

• They have high mechanical stress-tolerating abilities and are known to strengthen the pipe system.
• They are capable of sustaining high-pressure areas.
• They are beneficial in sealing the opening of the nozzle effortlessly.
• They can function well, even if located at greater distances from the work site.
• They are easier to clean and inspect and thus can preserve a lot of time and money.

LAP JOINT FLANGES

Such flanges have a flat face and are always used in combination with a stub end. They are usually preferred to be used in expensive pipes and closely resemble the slip-on flanges, except for a few differences in the manufacturing design. They are highly affordable and help reduce the piping system’s overall cost as they minimize the need for expensive materials.

Benefits

• They are fortunate to use, and they do not cost much money.
• They help simplify and ease the bolting operations.
• These flanges have freedom of movement around the pipe and can move quickly without restrictions.
• They are easy to assemble, and the pipe can be removed easily at any time for cleaning purposes.

THREADED FLANGES

These flanges are also very much similar to slip-on flanges, but the only difference is that they have a tapered thread. This addition of tapered thread helps threaded flanges to get attached to the pipes without welding.

Benefits

• They are ideal be used in pipes that have a small diameter.
• They are used in low-pressure and low-temperature areas.
• They are incredibly beneficial to be used in explosive places like gas stations and power plants.
• There is no need to get the pipe welded to the flange, which saves a lot of time.
• They are designed to withstand big shocks, vibrations, and pressure changes.