October 17, 2011
A custom spring support was designed using a metal bellows instead of a spring coil. The bellows were fabricated from stainless steel because it will be used in a highly corrosive, off-shore environment. By utilizing the metallic bellows, it was much easier to customize for short-run production, produce variations of spring rate, and develop a high load-carrying capacity. An added benefit of using the bellows instead of a custom coil was that it reduced fabrication time by half. The rolled plate shown on the left is welded to the structural pipe on the platform and a riser clamp was attached on the right
