Bursting disc

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different pressure loads on a rupture disc

Rupture discs are pressure protection devices that protect a container or system from damaging overpressure or underpressure by bursting a disposable membrane . Rupture discs are a kind of predetermined breaking point .

Layout and function

The membrane is usually a thin film made of steel , stainless steel or graphite ; other materials can also be used to adapt the rupture disc to a particular application. Rupture discs offer a quick response to a change in system pressure. Once the membrane has been destroyed, it cannot be closed again.

Rupture discs are primarily manufactured in a circular shape, but there are also systems that require a rectangular rupture plate. The size varies depending on the application, as does the bursting pressure , i.e. the pressure that has to be applied to destroy the membrane. This pressure is usually 80% of the design pressure of the pressure device, but national and European directives and standards for pressure vessels may have to be used for correct design .
A distinction is also made between tensile and reverse bursting discs. Tensile rupture discs are aligned with the concave side of the rupture disc to the process medium pressure. As soon as the process pressure rises above the permitted operating pressure, the tensile strength of the material is reached and it bursts. Reversing rupture discs are aligned with the convex side to the system pressure and, thanks to special manufacturing processes, have a narrow tolerance range in which they react. The different bursting discs are adapted to the corresponding pressure conditions and requirements.

Rupture discs are often coupled with alarm systems, such as B. the BDI alarm system (burst disc indicator), which was specially developed for bursting discs. If the window bursts, a signal cable is damaged and the flow of electrical current is interrupted, whereby the associated warning device then transmits a warning or a corresponding device is activated.

commitment

Rupture discs are usually used in the aerospace industry , as pressure protection in chemical and procedural processes , in medical technology, in the nuclear and petrochemical industries, and on oil fields. Rupture discs can be used as individual protective devices or as a backup device for a conventional safety valve when there is a pressure change and the actual safety valves do not work. They are also suitable for tertiary explosion protection , where the large pressure relief areas that are possible with these components, e.g. B. safely prevent the bursting of a pressure vessel .

Rupture discs are now widely used in industry and are standard equipment in pressurized systems. Rupture discs can be used to protect certain systems against extremely high pressures, or they can be designed to function as a single-use valve with high reliability and thus protect industrial systems.

In several episodes of the series MythBusters - Die Wissensjäger , bursting discs are used to determine the pressure conditions in explosions depending on the distance to the explosion location in order to determine the load on the human body.

literature

swell

Web links

Commons : Rupture Discs  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Design Engineering: Oseco's discs tests myth on MythBusters. Retrieved May 2, 2018 .