King of Prussia, PA. October 29, 2019 /News and Updates/ -- Gallagher Fluid Seals (GFS) is excited to announce the launch of its e-commerce store, providing a brand new experience to shop for seals.
“It’s been a complete team effort,” says Chris Gallagher, CEO. “Our team has worked diligently over the past several months to prepare and deliver a state-of-the art e-commerce store for both new and returning customers.”
As the world’s economy has evolved to an online platform, GFS felt seal buying should be easier. Gone are the days of calling in and ordering a replacement seal - or sending an RFQ. This new online experience allows greater and faster access to the seals you need to keep your facility up-and-running.
“Maximizing the ease-of-purchase and visibility of fluid sealing products is imperative to the future of seal buying, and
Internally-lubricated, the ultra-low friction Hilube polymer has no stick-slip, doesn’t swell and provides a wear life ten times that of bronze. It machines to +/-0.001″, making it ideal for applications with tight tolerances.
The team that was awarded the Guinness World Record in 2017 for the longest distance covered by a miniature steam train is setting its sights on improving its record.
Keyser Locomotive Works, together with the Pietermaritzburg Model Engineering Society was able to cover 330km (205 miles) in 24 hours in its record-breaking attempt, which outstripped the previous 1994 record of 269km covered in 24 hours.
Article re-posted with permission from Parker Hannifin Sealing & Shielding Team.
Original content can be found on Parker’s Website and was written by Nathaniel Reis, Applications Engineer for Parker O-Ring & Engineered Seals Division.
In our semiconductor entry from last month, we noted that lowering the cost of ownership is a multi-faceted goal. We discussed how one of the areas for potential improvement
As Albert Einstein once said, “The only source of knowledge is experience.” When it comes to interlocked hose, Hose Master has had a fair share of experience. While other product lines have been added and developed over the years, Hose Master has been manufacturing and continuously refining interlocked hose since the company opened its doors in 1982. During that time, they’ve seen hoses both excel in the field, as well as fail from a variety of factors. However, in their decades of experience, the majority of interlocked hose failures can be attributed to one of three failure modes: torque, abrasion, and over-bending.
Keeping aging facilities and equipment maintained is an ever-changing task that can jeopardize the goal of maximizing uptime. Years of thermal cycling, vibration or foundation settling can disorient piping or pumps. Piping engineers will use rubber expansion joints to account for these types of challenges in a rigid piping system. Permanent misalignment can set in after years of operation. The original-size expansion joint could no longer be the best fit when it comes time to replace.
Replacing a permanently misaligned expansion joint connection with the original part could lead to reduced service life and/or missed expectations of the new expansion joint. Determining the best way to accommodate this when it comes time to replace the existing expansion joint can have long-term effects on reliability. Since the original components may not fit in the newly disoriented flange connection, they are limited in their reliability.
Expansion joints are designed to withstand the pressure retention of rigid pipes, yet be flexible and absorb misalignment induced in these systems. However, there are limits to exactly how much flexibility can be absorbed before damage occurs. Using this flexibility to connect two misaligned pipe flanges will take away from how much movement can be absorbed during the actual operational period when the system is running.
Attempting to retrofit a standard-size expansion joint to connect a misaligned pipe connection can put excessive stress on the component and could lead to a shorter operational service life. For this reason, the Fluid Sealing Association (FSA) recommends no greater than ±1/8-inch misalignment of the pipe flanges during installation. Depending on the severity of misalignment, it can be advantageous to implement custom expansion joints to minimize the stresses that cause these joints to fail or become damaged during installation.
Maintenance crews can also benefit by having a component that will fit precisely. Concerns for safety are present when attempting to put enormous pressure to compress, elongate or offset the joint so it will fit in place.
Years of cycling, wear and other factors can contribute to the disorientation of a particular pipe connection. The length of an expansion joint, a dimension commonly referred to as face-to-face, bridges the gap between two parallel pipe flanges. A common industry problem is created when foundations settle and piping support structures transition lower than where it was originally constructed (Image 1). Expansion joints are designed to account for this, but choosing the correct replacement will make the difference between continued reliable service life or system failure.
Stretching an expansion joint to fit the changed flange connection often results in immediate damage that is only sometimes visual to the naked eye. A stress point on the outer cover of the expansion joint will usually become visible at the transition corner between the flat portion and the base of the arch in the form of a crack. The severity of cracking, elongation and settling will be aggravated when pressure in the pipeline is turned on.
Depending on nominal pipe size, industry standards will include standard face-to-face sizes of 6, 8, 10 or 12 inches, according to the FSA. When a standard 6-inch face-to-face joint is removed, the length between flanges could have been elongated to 7 inches or more. Many expansion joint consumers are not aware of the capability to build the expansion joint to the required nonstandard 7-inch face-to-face since it is not a standard offering. Building the replacement expansion joint to the nonstandard 7-inch face-to-face will eliminate any initial stress imposed on the joint.
Better known as Teflon in the industry, Polytetrafluoroethylene is widely used in practically every industry on and off the planet (and even beneath its surface!)
This material’s primary claim to fame is its resistance to most chemicals. It inherently has an extremely low coefficient of friction, it’s easily machined from rods, tubes, or compression-molded shapes.
It’s one of the few polymers that are approved for medical implants due to its inertness to bodily fluids — the immune system principally ignores its presence in the body.
Moving away from the body, you’ll find PTFE or Teflon products in medical
Article re-posted with permission from Parker Hannifin Sealing & Shielding Team.
Original content can be found on Parker’s Website and was written by Fred Fisher, technical sales engineer of the Engineered Materials Group.
You just spent 6 months testing, stretching, aging and exposing your new seal design to 12 different chemicals. Finally, you are done. So what does a good technical drawing for a seal include? For most companies, the drawing is simple. For an O-ring,
In many operating conditions, the shafts used in electric powertrains are electrically insulated from their housings. The insulation is created by the lubricating films in the contact zones for the bearing and the shaft seals. Lubrication is necessary to promote long-term system functionality. Alternating current and its electromagnetic fields produce changes in the electric potential between the rotor and the stator and the rotor becomes charged. The current can only be drained off through a grounded system that allows the electricity to travel from the shaft to the housing. If there is no grounded pathway, the current flows to the area of least resistance – the bearing – and produces an abrupt discharge
To football aficionados, Jay Berwanger is well-known as the winner of the first Heisman Trophy and the first player chosen during the National Football League’s first draft. Less well-known is that he achieved his athletic successes at the University of Chicago, a school now more closely associated with Nobel prizes than big-time football. Berwanger, a halfback, played for the University of Chicago Maroons at a time when Chicago was a member of the Big Ten Conference–before Robert Hutchins, the University’s president, famously abolished varsity football in 1939.
Even in an era before football teams were divided up into offensive and defensive squads, Berwanger was renowned for his versatility.
In 23 varsity games in three seasons