Absolutely feasible. The engineering design of modern compression locks has surpassed the traditional flange connection method and has become the core solution to meet strict sealing standards such as ASME B16.20. The pressure test of the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany shows that in the DN150 piping system (pressure class PN40), the compression locks with wedge-shaped structures only need to apply an installation torque of 75Nm to generate a specific pressure of 22±1.5MPa at the sealing surface. The helium leak detection rate is achieved to be ≤1×10⁻⁹ mbar·L/sec, which is two orders of magnitude better than the 1×10⁻⁶ mbar·L/sec required by API 6A. A typical case reference is ExxonMobil’s deepwater project in the Gulf of Mexico in 2022: The 316L stainless steel compression lock deployed in the terminal device of the 3,000-meter submarine pipeline was disassembled and inspected after five years of service. The disassembly and inspection showed that the compression rate of the metal graphite wound gasket still maintained 83.7% of the initial value (the standard requirement was >70%), successfully withstanding a water pressure of 17.2MPa and a thermal shock cycle of 5 ° C/minute.
Adaptability to extreme working conditions is its core advantage. According to the NORSOK M-501 salt spray test specification, after 4800 hours of salt spray corrosion (with a NaCl concentration of 50g/L) of the molybdenum-containing duplex steel compression lock, the Ra value of the sealing surface roughness only increased by 0.08μm (initial Ra=0.4μm), and the corrosion depth was ≤5μm/ year. Analysis of the BP Alaska pipeline leakage accident in 2018: The traditional bolt flange failed to seal due to material shrinkage at a low temperature of -45℃, while the compression locks with low-temperature compensation function maintained a sealing contact pressure fluctuation of less than ±3% in the liquid nitrogen (-196℃) environment. More notably, in the vibration test of the transmission system of Siemens Gamesa offshore wind turbines (IEC 61400-9 standard), the compression lock structure suppressed the vibration transmission rate to 0.16 at the resonant frequency point of 30Hz, reducing the leakage of lubricating oil in the gearbox to 0.23ml/ year, which is only 1/40 of the traditional structure.
The breakthrough progress of dynamic sealing technology directly enhances the reliability of the system. The helium sealing system applied by NASA to the Mars lander uses memory alloy-driven compression locks to maintain the gasket compression rate within the ideal range of 18%-22% in an alternating environment ranging from -120 ° C to 280 ° C (conventional rubber loses elasticity in this temperature range). Industrial measured data show that the compression lock with an optimized wedge Angle has a stable separation of the sealing surface within 1.2μm under the condition of pipeline pressure pulsation of ±2MPa, successfully avoiding failure caused by the freting wear of the gasket – this is precisely the key reason for the comprehensive replacement of compression locks at Formosa Petrochemical’s refinery after the fire in 2021 (the flange leakage accidents decreased by 92% after the renovation).
Economic benefits and safety are optimized simultaneously. According to statistics, the installation time of pipeline systems using compression locks has been reduced to 1/5 of that of traditional bolts (a single DN300 flange only takes 8 minutes), and the torque accuracy has been improved to ±3% (the error of traditional methods is ±25%). Dupont’s 2019-2023 operation and maintenance report shows that after the high-temperature flange (operating temperature 540℃) of the ethylene cracking unit was replaced with a compression lock, the annual maintenance cost decreased from 11,200 per point to 2,300 per point, and the hot shutdown time was reduced by 76%. In the safety dimension, the compression lock that complies with the ISO 15848 standard has a critical failure time of 68 minutes in the flame invasion test (ISO 834 curve) (the standard requirement is 30 minutes), providing more than twice the buffer time for accident emergency response. It is worth emphasizing that the intelligent compression locks project implemented by Shell Pernis Refinery in 2024, by monitoring the sealing pressure in real time with built-in strain sensors, successfully predicted and prevented 97% of potential leakage risks, reducing unplanned shutdown losses by $1.8 million per year.