A lot of food and beverage manufacturers in the US who purchased different pieces of European built sanitary process equipment are surprised to find that their equipment connections are different from those commonly found here.  This is common with different types of filtration equipment, centrifuges, filling machines and mixers.  Before you can figure out what kind of sanitary adapter you need to adapt to a Tri-Clamp system, you need to figure out what kind of sanitary fitting you have to adapt from.  We we have put together a short primer on the different types of European sanitary fittings and how they are used.

European Fittings

DIN 11851 Fittings:  These are the most common sanitary European fittings in the US.   DIN (the German Institute for Standardization) union parts are used extensively throughout the UK and Europe. They are available in both Imperial and metric tube sizes.  The union consists of a round slotted nut, a threaded male piece, and a liner piece that the nut slides over. The union is sealed with a gasket. The nut has round threads.  Normally the wetted parts are supplied in 316L stainless steel and the nuts are grade 304.

SMS Fittings:  SMS (Swedish Metric Standard) Union is designed for use in applications that don’t require regular dismantling and they are not forgiving of tube misalignment, they do however have the advantage of being suitable for removal of adjacent pipe sections without disturbing other joints.  The sanitary union is comprised of a round slotted nut, a weld male end, a liner piece the nut slides over and square section gasket. The nut has round threads.  Normally shown in metric sizes, SMS fittings actually fit up fairly closely with imperial tube OD sizes.

IDF Fittings:  IDF (International Dairy Federation) is common in the UK and Europe. The sanitary union comprises of hexagonal nut with ACME threads, a weld male end, a liner piece, a nut that slides over, and a gasket. Normally all wetted parts are grade 316L stainless steel and the nut the nut is 304. The IDF union uses a T-Shaped gasket.  IDF fittings come in imperial sizes, 1”-4”

RJT Fittings:  RJT (Ring Joint Type) is the most widely used union in the UK. The union comprises of a hexagonal nut, weld male, weld liner and a gasket. Wetted parts are 316L stainless steel and the nut is 304. RJT fittings come in imperial sizes 1”-4”.

So there is your line up of sanitary European fittings.  Now what?  You need some sanitary adapters to hook your equipment up to the rest of your Tri-Clamp system. No problem, as it happens we make sanitary adapters, lots of sanitary  adapters.  If you can identify what the sanitary fitting is you need to adapt to (how could you not after reading this article), contact us and we will design and build you European by Tri-Clamp adapters.  If you still cannot figure out what fittings you need, take some pictures and send them to us.  We will figure it out together.
Holland Applied Technologies