In designing a system, engineers have the option to choose any type of industrial pipe fittings needed to both work with the configuration of the system and to control the direction of flow of the media through the system.
The choice of pipe, industrial pipe fittings, and the valves are essential in setting up the system to manage pressure, volume of flow, and even the speed of the media through the system. Fittings, which can also be used to reduce the flow or to increase the flow by moving from a large diameter pipe to a smaller diameter pipe and vice versa, must be carefully selected to accomplish the desired end results.
There are several common types of industrial pipe fittings that are used in most systems. These fittings are available to correspond to different pipe and tubing sizes.
- Elbow – as the name implies, this type of fitting is used to create either a 45 or a 90-degree turn in the pipe system. The 90-degree elbow can further be divided into those that are long radius (curvature) and those that have a short radius.
- 180 ° bends – providing a smooth and continuous curvature, either a long or short radius bend is often custom made for a specific system.
- Tees – this is a T-shaped fitting with each opening at 90 degrees to the other. It is used to divide the flow from one pipe into the two other pipes. They can also be used to mix two flows.
- Crosses – these are similar to a tee, but they have four possible outlet/inlet combinations. When used, they have to be carefully planned in the design as they often allow mixtures of different temperatures and chemical compositions to come into contact.
- Couplers – a short length of pipe or tube that is used to connect two straight runs of pipe.
- Reducers – this is a type of coupler with a larger interior diameter side and a smaller interior diameter side. They are used in areas to adjust the flow requirements or to connect two different pipe sizes.
There are other specialized types of fittings in use. Working with a top supplier ensures the correct match for your system requirements.
