Application-wise, our goal is to highlight the continuous development of swivel joints. This persistent commitment to improving swivel fittings and assemblies through technology, manufacturing, and marketing activities is our primary interest. We desire to have an extensive line of goods and maintain a standard of high-quality swivels for our customers’ intended industrial purposes.
Its utilization in most fluid and pneumatic systems launched around torsional displacement through fluid flow lines in manufacturing operations; these swivel joints operate to achieve their purpose. They include lateral or frontal rotation in one, two, or three planes, and metal raw materials constitute them. Some swivel joints use ball bearings to spread loads equally and springs to mitigate torque. There are three different types of swivel joints: straight through (Inline variety), right angle (90º variety), and offset. Straight-through swivel joints may be used when the flow paths are of equal length. Right-angle swivel joints are used for inlets facing in a perpendicular direction. Offset swivel joints offer the advantages of straight-through designs without having to manufacture them as separate components. The available space’s size and location determine the type of swivel joint used.
How to Differentiate the 3 Various Types of Swivel Joints?
The joint bearing mechanism differentiates these three types of swivel joints. All these forms include the two main components – the stem and the barrel.
The first variety is called the 90º or the right-angle type. It has an array of fluid ports that can rotate on a curved plane. This swivel contains two distinct bearing forms which are, journal bearings. The swivel’s barrel bore features two load-bearing lands separated by a fluid passageway. The shaft’s outer diameter includes bearing lands, complementing the barrel, and providing space to allow the fluid to flow through the bearing lands to the port. Each with an equal area, the two square lands would hold the liquid. Due to equal seal size, there is no pressure effect on the bearing surface that can cause any bearing. Life is solely dependent upon external factors such as load. All angular displacement should be reduced in the piping system to ensure full bearing life.
The second variety has a typical flight tube and barrel on opposite axes, and it is called the inline or straight-through type. This inline port connection is a radial-thrust bearing, which involves a single load-bearing mechanism. The barrel’s raceway allows the raceway to be positioned further from the seal gland area. A conical swivel fit within the stem, creating an axial ball raceway and a seal groove to coincide with the bore of the barrel. In assembly, the balls are fixed to the upper half of the stem while enabling rotation around the stem axis. These qualities suggest that the bearing can withstand both the thrust of pipes and angular deflection tension. Without thrust from fluid pressure, bearing life is a function of fluid pressure.
Lastly, the third variety is known as the offset type. This variety offers the best of both worlds for the two types mentioned above: the inline and the 90º types. The offset type is the less common variety that it practically possesses a straight-through configuration with a 90° elbow necessary to both ends of the apparatus.