Alignment Guide
The following, will inform about alignment guides, also referred to as pipe alignment guides or spider alignment guides. First, installing the pipe guide is best when next to an expansion joint. Secondly, pipe alignment guides have steel pipe and copper tube that runs to maintain the centerline of the pipe/tube.
Furthermore, they help guide piping. Moreover, pipeline systems incorporating expansion joints, ball joints, or loops that can absorb expansion must include three significant elements: primary and intermediate anchors, pipe supports, and pipe guides.
Requirements follow the EJMA, Inc. standards do not include internal guides; require an alignment guide to be located four diameters from the face of the expansion joint. Additional guides are required 14 diameters from the first guide. Pipe bellows with internal guides need only one alignment guide located 10-14 diameters from the expansion joint.
The maximum alignment guide spacing in the intermediate portion of the pipeline is a function of the pipe/tube properties (modulus of elasticity and moment of inertia), the design pressure, and the expansion joint effective area and spring force.
Steel Pipe Guides
Alignment guides manufacturers and inventories standard for nominal pipe size (NPS) steel pipe from 3/4” through 14” with varying insulation thickness. Hot dipped galvanizing, or all stainless steel construction is also available.
In tight spaces, rotated housings are available. The maximum operating temperature is 500°F. All stainless steel construction is also available to provide more excellent corrosion resistance, higher temperatures, or cryogenic systems.
Copper Tube Guides
Alignment Guides manufactures and inventories standard for standard copper tubes from 3/4” through 4” with varying insulation thickness. In addition, hot-dipped galvanizing is available as an option.
In tight spaces, rotated housings are available. The maximum operating temperature is 400°F. All stainless steel construction is also available to provide more excellent corrosion resistance.
Product Selection (Part Number) & Ordering Instructions:
- Choose steel pipe or copper tube
- Select the size.
- Select insulation clearance; this is a maximum value equal to or greater than the insulation thickness to be installed.
- Verify the Alignment Guide Expansion/Travel stated is equal or greater than the motion occurring at the guide location. For additional expansion, increase the last part number indicator as needed.
- Select one of these options below in the example for Hot dipped galvanized steel or stainless steel materials.
- Confirm the guide housing “A” spacing will fit into the system. Select the “-45” degree housing and spider option and re-verify the spacing if it does not.
Pipe Alignment Guides
A pipe alignment guide is also known as a spider alignment guide. Pipe alignment guides help take care of the axial alignment of the pipe because it expands and contracts during operation.
Be sure to install expansion joints adjacently and at reasonable distances between the expansion joint and the anchor point.
We provide a variety of sizes 1″ through 24″ pipe and insulation thickness of 1″ through 4.” Also available in copper tube sizes. Spider alignment guides are usually steel.
However, any material you would like is often plain or hot-dip galvanized with zinc plated bolts & nuts to maintain piping alignment through its axial expansion and contraction cycles.
Pipe Guides
Typically, two or more pipe alignment guides are used on one piping run to avoid a pivoting effect within the piping system. We recommended that the primary guide be a maximum of 4 pipe diameters from an expansion joint.
It would help place the second guide a maximum of 18 pipe diameters from an expansion joint. It would be best if you used additional guides in accordance. Pipe supports are usually required between the intermediate guides to suit standard support practice. Maximum temperature 650°F
Installation:
1. Attach outer housing to structure by bolting or welding.
2. Remove upper section of housing to open position.
3. Attach spider clamp to a pipe and completely insulate.
4. Set pipe and spider clamp into outer housing.
5. Replace the upper section of housing to the closed position and secure.
Ordering: Specify size, pipe size, insulation, thickness, figure number, name, and finish.
Spider Alignment Guides
Proper pipe alignment is significant to maximize service from expansion joints. These spider alignment guides permit free axial movement of the pipe. Therefore, restricting lateral and angular movement. Location of pipe alignment guides.
Whenever possible, install the expansion joint on the brink of an anchor. Firstly, locate the anchor or first spider alignment guide. It should be four pipe diameters from the expansion joint. Then it would be best if you placed the second guide 14 pipe diameters from the introductory guide.
Guides for Piping
Pipe guides are guides for piping, and they work with a pipeline with metal expansion joints. Spider alignment guides help regulate the motion of the pipes and expansion joints, ensuring that the joint is subject only to the deflection designed.
Unguided piping, struggling will tend to buckle, sometimes severely. This buckling would deter the expansion joints from working correctly. Therefore, when using a pipe guide, there will be a need for a pipe seal in the same piping system.
Anchor Guides
They permit unobstructed axial movement of the pipe while restricting lateral, angular, or buckling movements. In addition, standard spider guides accommodate specific amounts of movement and insulation.
A pipe guide assembly consists of an anchored housing and a sliding spider attached to the pipe.