Sealing failures aren’t only a major headache, they can be extremely costly when you consider replacement costs, lost production time, wasted product due to the risk of contamination, and the time spent by maintenance staff to find and replace the seal. Unfortunately, this can be a very common issue when you utilize the wrong seal for your equipment. With every application having unique requirements, it can be challenging to pick the right seal to reliably perform at a high level. A large global manufacturer that specializes in health and well-being enhancement products was having just this issue with regularly facing significant challenges with the seals of their centrifugal equipment.
Used to separate partials by their density from fluids, gases, and solids, this equipment spins incredibly fast typically at 100 to 200 plus revolutions per minute (RPMs).
The O-Ring gland (also known as O-Ring groove) is a very important design feature for anufacturing both efficient and cost-effective O-Rings.
The most important consideration for gland design is that it allows for proper and complete compression between the groove and the mating surface. While the shape of the O-Ring relies and depends on the application, shape is generally unimportant. The groove can be a variety of shapes; anything from triangular, rectangular, or dovetail.
Fluroelastomers, also known as FKM are a class of synthetic rubber designed for very high temperature operation with excellent levels of chemical resistance. FKM is not a single entity but a family of fluoropolymer rubbers. FKM, sometimes referred to as Viton®, is a registered trademark for fluroelastomer by DuPont.
Fluoroelastomers differ from other elastomers in that it has fluorine linked to the polymer backbone.
In this video webinar, you can learn the differences between elastomers and fluoroelastomers, and how the amount of fluorine in an elastomer affects it's chemical resistance and properties.
0:35 Why is it Important ot Understand Elastomers?
1:43 What is an Elastomer?
2:30 What is a Fluoroelastomer
Often times people think that a seal is just a seal or that the materials don't matter, but this is far from the truth. No two sealing materials are exactly the same and have their own unique characteristics that make one material perfect for a specific application while another could completely fail. Materials are truly the foundation of every seal and can't be overlooked when you are considering what kind of seal to use. When you are working in the food and beverage industry and are exposed to challenging conditions and extremely strict purity standards the materials become even more significant. When you are working with a specialized application like a bottling line you want your seal manufacturer to be a true expert, this is where Freudenberg Sealing Technologies' long history of developing highly specialized materials sets them apart.
Seals are central parts of the design of medical equipment with moveable, interlocking parts that must be secured for sanitary, thermal, or radioactive reasons.
Designing with inflatable seals requires the inclusion of a source of compressed gas, which is used to inflate seals in the medical device industry and it is often already available on the plant floor, in a laboratory, or medical environment. It is also possible to inflate with liquids rather than gas in demanding applications, and water would be an acceptable inflation media in this sector, although not common. For some low-temperature applications, a seal may be inflated with a blend of glycerine and water.
Seals used on doors and openings should be part of the early phases of product design. In some cases, contact seals may be effective, but they often require substantial force be applied to load the seal, which impacts product design and increases manufacturing cost. Inflatable seals enable more cost-effective machinery fabrication for two reasons:
The O-Ring gland (also known as O-Ring groove) is a very important design feature for anufacturing both efficient and cost-effective O-Rings.
The most important consideration for gland design is that it allows for proper and complete compression between the groove and the mating surface. While the shape of the O-Ring relies and depends on the application, shape is generally unimportant. The groove can be a variety of shapes; anything from triangular, rectangular, or dovetail.
Gallagher Fluid Seals is a Parker Distributor is proud to be proud to be one of the few premier distributors to qualify as a “Parker Seal Technology Center (STC)”.
Article re-posted with permission from Parker Hannifin Sealing & Shielding Team.
Original content can be found on Parker’s Website and was written by Nathan Wells, application engineer, Engineered Polymer Systems Division.
Heavy duty equipment moves industry forward in all climates, from the sunny Caribbean to icy Greenland. Effective, reliable sealing is what allows hydraulic systems in heavy duty equipment to do work, no matter the temperature. Reliable sealing solutions allow cylinders on dump trucks
The world has entered a pivotal moment in water treatment, and the challenges continue to worsen as municipalities grapple with the risk of encountering premature failure in elastomeric gaskets. Such a risk brings up several problems, including reduced efficiency, sudden equipment failure, costly maintenance and downtime, and perhaps worst of all — contamination.
Prior to 2013, gasketing products were not subject to the NSF61 (Drinking Water System Components – Health Effects) standard, leaving a critical gap in the safety and compliance of materials used in contact with potable water. However, as the demand for reusing treated wastewater grows, the influx of chlorine and chloramine levels — ensuring potability — has exposed the vulnerability of elastomeric gaskets. This has emerged as a serious issue.
In the ever-changing world of water treatment, it is important to address this challenge and explore innovative solutions to safeguard the reliability and longevity of gasketing
Recently, a customer was having difficulty with a seal failure on a fluid power application. The high-pressure, high-eccentricity seal operates in conditions up to 200,000 pv at 3000 psi and could not exceed maximum shaft deflection of 0.005″.
Vanseal works with these types of seal applications frequently and used a Unitized Seal that uses several components to address each of the various sealing challenges.