As a trusted supplier of high-performance sealing solutions to the pharmaceutical industry, the Garlock family of companies knows that gaskets can make or break a sanitary process. But how has material technology been evolving? This blog will discuss how material technologies are meeting manufacturing challenges to help pharmaceutical companies adapt to smaller batch sizes, frequent changeovers, leaner operations, vendor consolidation and stricter regulations.
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.
A wastewater plant operator was being called in every couple of weeks to remove, disassemble, and clean wastewater pumps at one or other of the facilities that the company maintains.
Aeration pumps float on wastewater treatment dams and ensure that chemical decomposition of the dirty water occurs before the wastewater gets treated further. The pumps ensure that the water remains oxygenated and that there is aerobic decomposition rather than anaerobic decomposition, which usually results in volatile and poisonous gases such as methane.
The pump design that was in place was a standard vertical shaft pump design with an output of between 5 kW and 10 kW.
However, the bearing design was complex and prone to failure before the introduction of Vesconite materials.
O-rings are the most common sealing product in the world; utilized across all types of sealing applications and industries. At its core, an O-ring is a circular sealing element with a circular cross section. Used effectively, an O-ring can seal practically all fluid, both liquid and gas. The wide range of potential liquids and gases that need to be sealed has necessitated the development of a wide range of materials.
GFS O-rings are manufactured in accordance with metric and imperial standards, such as: AS568, DIN, ISO 3601 and JIS. Additionally, O-rings can be manufactured to custom sizes upon request. Below are some of the most popular metric O-ring materials and durometers.
Tadpole tapes are resilient and nonabsorbent, flame-resistant gasketing materials. They are especially suited for applications requiring sealing under light pressure where bolting force is limited, such as doors, aircraft mounting rings, turbine flanges and combustion chamber inlets.
Thanks to the combination of elastomers capable of withstanding extraordinarily high thermal loads and a friction-optimized sealing lip, the energy-saving seal (ESS) enables the power loss in drive assemblies to be greatly reduced.
The radial shaft seal ESS improves sealing performance by reducing friction between the seal lip and crankshaft through a reduction in radial load of 50% when compared to sprung rubber lip seals and 75% when compared to PTFE lip seals.
Not only does the
You've probably seen the video. A Minnesota brewery worker had an unexpected surprise when a stream of beer exploded out of a brewery container, sending him flying backwards. Brendan Babcock, a brewer at Back Channel Brewing Co., was checking a brewery container in January when ale suddenly shot out of a tank valve.
The stream pushed him backwards, sending him barrelling to the floor, where he landed on his back. Babcock leapt
Gallagher Fluid Seals partners with the world's top gasket suppliers. Our strong partnerships allow us to provide you with the best gasketing options, from PTFE, Metallic, and Compressed Non-Asbestos
There are many variations of semi-metallic gasket available in today's market. The combination of metal and a soft gasket material merges the sealing ability of the soft material with the structural integrity of the metal.
The most common styles of semi-metallic gasket include spiral wound gaskets, corrugated, jacketed, and kammprofile gaskets.
Pumps & Systems magazine outlined the proper way to select a semi-metallic gasket.
Gasket selection suggestions
Choosing a gasket depends on a few different factors: operating conditions, fluid compatibility, mechanical features of the joint
Clean-in-place seals, or CIP seals, were developed to allow a seal to remain in place. This is especially important when the seal gland is partially open, allowing the seal to be flushed of debris.
In a food application, the same chemicals used to clean or flush the system would be used to clean the seal gland. Similarly, when other products such as pharmaceutical or adverse chemicals needed to be flushed, the CIP seal does an excellent job being open to flushing.
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