A Tube Is A Tube Is A Tube Or What?

If your head is telling you that tubes indicate encasing something, you’d be exactly right. With many applications, there are choices to be made and none too lightly, mind. It is, in fact, a mission-critical decision when it comes to the matter of instrumentation tubing. Here’s why.

Instrumentation tubes have the lofty job of encasing high-profile players like valves on ventilation systems, flow monitors, industrial piping, and for connecting pressure gauges. The decision hangs on what media the tubing is going to be containing. Since it is used in such noble tasks as nuclear reactors, we begin to develop the necessary respect for its specificity. Instrumental tubing is what encases vital equipment within the reactor core that monitors sensitive factors such as pressure, fuel burn rates, temperature, density differentials and the like. We take our hats off to the tubing that is chosen for that demanding environment where durability and reliability are indeed crucial. Especially in the case of instrumentation systems processing harsh media, or which may be located in corrosive environments, integrity of product is non-negotiable and stainless steel becomes a strong contender.

Measured by their OD (outer diameter) instrumentation tubes vary hugely in size – it’s no mediocre one-size-fits-all and it has found purpose in many and varied industries the world over. From aviation, automotive application, chemical inhibition, hydraulics, impulse lines, military, oil and gas to power generation, process instrumentation and sensing, instrumentation tubing has many claims to fame.

Without dressing down its importance, instrumentation tubing serves in humbler industries also. Other fields making extensive use and vying for suitability, is the food & beverage industry. The dairy and pharmaceutical sectors are likewise needy for quality tubing.

The right choice for the right application with regard to instrumentation tubing plays an essential role in eliminating the risk of leakage, accidents and the unscheduled downtime inevitably caused by such. The last word must reinforce the dependability issue. It is now mandatory on any North Sea project installation of instrumentation tubing, that only certified fitters be used on installations. Suffice it to say that instrumentation tubing is a specialized product with specifics to be addressed by the professionals who manufacture them.

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