Lokring Technology is a privately held international company headquartered in

Willoughby, Ohio Willoughby is a city in Lake County, Ohio and is a suburb of Cleveland. The population was 22,268 at the time of the 2010 census. History Willoughby's first permanent settler was David Abbott in 1798, who operated a gristmill. Abbott and his ...

that serves over 30 countries worldwide. The Chairman and President of the company is William Lennon, the grandson of Fred A. Lennon, founder of

Swagelok Swagelok Company is a $2 billion privately held developer of fluid system products, assemblies, and services for the oil and gas, chemical and petrochemical, semiconductor, and transportation industries. Headquartered in Solon, Ohio, U.S.A., Sw ...

. Lokring designs patented, weld equivalent pipe and tube fittings such as couplings, flanges, elbows, adapters, and more. The unique technology of the patented Lokring fittings utiliz
Elastic Strain Preload
(ESP), and possesses a metal to metal leak-free seal that compresses or swages the pipe/tube wall. The company is prominent in the

Shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...

Submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

(Marine),

Oil & Gas A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels may ...

(Upstream and Downstream), and

Nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: * Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

Generation Industries, but also caters to other markets such as

Steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

Pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

, Medical Gas,

Railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

, and many more.

Company history

The Lokring Joint was originally invented to replace the Apollo Joint in the Apollo I: Saturn Mission in 1968. In 1988, Robert Benson, Lucien Ruby, and Chris Dietemann formed Lokring Technology. By 1989, Lokring had completed its first full year of operations successfully. By 1994, Lokring was listed in the top 500 rising companies on

Inc.com ''Inc.'' is an American business magazine founded in 1979 and based in New York City. The magazine publishes six issues per year, along with surrounding online and social media content. The magazine also produces several live and virtual events y ...

. Wabtec Corporation (formerly a George Westinghouse company) purchased Lokring Technology in 1998 and moved the plant to

Burlington, Ontario Burlington is a city in the Regional Municipality of Halton at the northwestern end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada. Along with Milton to the north, it forms the western end of the Greater Toronto Area and is also part of the Hamilton met ...

. In 2002, Lokring Technology was purchased by William Lennon, a fluid system component entrepreneur and venture capitalist.

Technology

Lokring patented connectors do not use

elastomeric An elastomer is a polymer with viscoelasticity (i.e. both viscosity and elasticity) and with weak intermolecular forces, generally low Young's modulus and high failure strain compared with other materials. The term, a portmanteau of ''elastic p ...

or rubber seals,

O-rings An O-ring, also known as a packing or a toric joint, is a mechanical gasket in the shape of a torus; it is a loop of elastomer with a round cross-section, designed to be seated in a groove and compressed during assembly between two or more par ...

, or

gaskets image:gaskets.jpg, Some seals and gaskets A gasket is a Seal (mechanical), mechanical seal which fills the space between two or more mating surfaces, generally to prevent leakage from or into the joined objects while under compression (physical) ...

. The Lokring patented connectors create their seal by shaping the pipe wall first elastically and then plastically with the connector. The connectors, based on helium testing, have a

volatile organic compound Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds that have a high vapour pressure at room temperature. High vapor pressure correlates with a low boiling point, which relates to the number of the sample's molecules in the surrounding air, a ...

emission rate that is no greater than 2.4*10-12 kilograms per hour or 4.6*10-8 pounds per year. The technology works like this: during a piping installation, the axial movement of the Lokring driver over the fitting body swages the body onto the pipe surface, compressing the pipe wall first elastically and then plastically. When the pipe wall resists this swaging action, it generates high unit compressive loads at the contact points. These contact stresses are high enough to plastically yield the pipe surface under the multiple sealing lands, forming a 360-degree circumferential, permanent, metal-to-metal seal between the pipe and fitting body. Finally, the installation process causes the Lokring driver to grow slightly in diameter — an "elastic strain" — so that it exerts an elastic, radial preload on the metallic seals. This secures the fitting for the life of the connection.

Lokring Introduces the LTCS-333 Corrosion Resistant Process Fitting

Several years ago, Lokring saw the opportunity to better serve the marketplace by developing a product that achieves the same integrity as welding but removes many of the challenges and long-term costs of hot work. In January 2010, the company introduced a new LTCS-333 Process Fitting, based on its tested ESP technology. Using the same design, LTCS-333 Fittings incorporated a new material — low temp 4130 carbon steel — that provided a new scope of capabilities for users.

Notable Uses

ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

identified a new alternative to

hot work __NOTOC__ Hot work is a process that can be a source of ignition when flammable material is present or can be a fire hazard regardless of the presence of flammable material in the workplace. Common hot work processes involve welding, soldering, c ...

welding during their MEV (Maintenance Efficiency Venture) initiative in 2007 when they came across a pipe-fitting technology created by Lokring. At the time, Lokring was already a supplier to ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil’s MEV decision to support the use of Lokring’s pipe-fitting technology – which requires no heat, is quick to install, and can be used by properly trained technicians without any welding experience – strengthened the relationship between the two companies. The resulting gains have been tremendous: productivity and overall cost savings of about two-thirds in many settings and much improved safety due to the departure from hot work. This expanded partnership has benefited both companies: a safer, less-expensive technology for ExxonMobil and its facilities worldwide, and enhanced comprehension of and greater accessibility to foreign markets for Lokring. Indeed, ExxonMobil’s support of Lokring’s pipe-fitting technology has helped to promote the expansion of Lokring into new countries. Japan is one prominent beneficiary of the MEV partnership, prior to which Lokring had no presence. MEV worked with Lokring in order to meet Japanese piping specifications to use the Lokring product in ExxonMobil’s local facilities. In addition, ExxonMobil’s Japanese subsidiaries drove Lokring to establish in-country distribution channels to service new customers in additional industries. As Lokring President William Lennon states, "Our ExxonMobil partnership has been a catalyst for our international expansion. There is no doubt that this partnership allowed us to enter the Japanese market years earlier — and much stronger — than we would have if entering on our own. Our global expansion has created jobs in these countries and in Ohio as well."

References

External links

*{{Official, https://www.lokring.com
EIC EnergyFocus UK Publication
Companies based in Cleveland Privately held companies based in Ohio Companies established in 1988