The “Tube and Tube Fittings Handbook for Electrical and Instrumentation Engineers, Electricians, and Technicians” is an indispensable resource encompassing essential basic information. This comprehensive guide serves as a valuable reference for professionals in the electrical and instrumentation industry. It delves into the intricate world of tubes and fittings, elucidating their crucial role in various applications, including power distribution, industrial automation, and instrumentation.
Tube, like pipe, is a hollow structure designed to provide an enclosed pathway for fluids to flow. In the case of tubing, it is usually manufactured from rolled or extruded metal (although plastic is a common tube material for many industrial applications). T h i s section discusses some of the more common methods for joining tubes together (and joining tube ends to equipment such as pressure instruments).
One of the fundamental differences between tube and pipe is that tube is never threaded at the end to form a connection. Instead, a device called a tube fitting must be used to couple a section of tube to another tube, or to a section of pipe, or to a piece of equipment (such as an instrument). Unlike pipes which are thick-walled by nature, tubes are thin-walled structures. The wall thickness of a typical tube is simply too thin to support threads.