Flexible Metal Hose

[iainuts]

I'm looking for an extremely flexible, 8" metal hose, stainless steel. I've tried the conventional convoluted metal hoses, but they just aren't flexible enough.

I believe there are some manufacturers that make the convoluted hose from layers instead of just a single ply of metal. Can't seem to find them on the net though.

Hose material must be non-magnetic, so 300 series stainless or possibly a copper alloy would be acceptable. Plastic (ie: Teflon) and rubber is not acceptable due to low temperature.

 

[Latexman]

What are the pressure constraints?

Good luck,
Latexman

 

[iainuts]

Pressure ~ 10 psi
Media Helium
Temp: Cryogenic

Thanks.

 

[monkeydog]

How tight of bends are you looking for?
Or is it a cyclic loading you are looking for?
Layered convolutes will make the hose stiffer.
Normally metal convolute hoses are not that flexible, and have limited cycle life.

 

[iainuts]

Hose tested had 24" bend radius. It's not the bend radius that's the problem, it's the force needed to flex this large of a hose. I'm thinking that a hose made with multi-ply convolutions would be more flexible.

 

[monkeydog]

Why do you thing adding more material will make it more flexible?

 

[iainuts]

Same material thickness, just reducing 1 ply to numerous ones. ie: no shear stress between plies.

 

[joeswoes]

You are mistaken about the low temperature capabilities of PTFE (Teflon) hose. It is much more flexible than any metal down to -300 F. We can provide a 6" convoluted PTFE hose that will be more flexible and lighter than what you're used to, but not 8".

 

[PaulDBerg]

Note that the bend radius and the stiffness are directly related.

We have a braided corrugated metal hose that is meant for low pressures like you have, with a correspondingly lower STATIC bend radius of 10.5" for 8" diameter. Rated for 15psi at ambient temperature. ("Static" bend is for just a handful of bends, not constant bending, which is called "dynamic".)

The more standard of our metal hoses are for higher pressures.

http://www.flexicraft.com