In the safety-driven natural gas industry, system leaks are a dangerous and costly issue. Residential gas meters and regulators, in particular, are at risk when crucial components such as diaphragms are not optimally designed and manufactured for the environment in which they will work.
An advanced polymer technology, trademarked by Freudenberg Sealing Technologies’ Metflex Precision Moulding organization, addresses these challenges with fiber-reinforced materials that improve the reliability, functionality and longevity of critical gas system components. Diaphragms made using Metflex Dispersed Fibre Technology (DFT)™ offer better sealing performance, longer flex life, improved low temperature resilience and enhanced design capabilities than standard diaphragms made from fabric coated polymers. To date, more than 40 million DFT diaphragms have been used in medium and low-pressure application, primarily in North America but also in other regions of the world.
Safety concerns and costs associated with gas leaks and equipment failures
Strict hygiene regulations in the food industry present major challenges for sealing technology. Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is enhancing its proven portfolio of hygienic sealing solutions with two products that are also designed for high-pressure applications. This was made possible thanks to special design solutions and the premium elastomer and PTFE materials developed in-house.
Food processing demands strict hygiene and cleanliness standards. It’s also important to ensure that no substances can migrate from the materials coming in contact with food, which could lead to contamination of the product. With its hygienic product line, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies has developed sealing solutions that fulfill food industry standards and are also resistant to CIP/SIP media. The Hygienic Forseal and Hygienic Pressure Seal are the newest members of this innovative product family.
One of the basic requirements for sealing solutions in accordance with the hygienic design standards is a dead-space-free construction. It prevents the collection and settling of product residues and micro-organisms in undercuts, for example. The selection of applied materials and their resistance to hot water, steam, acids, alkalis and high pressures are also relevant. Observing the deformation at the relevant temperature plays a particularly important role in detecting distortions and the associated formation of dead spaces at an early stage in the product development.
Valves are indispensable components in the hygienically sensitive systems used in the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Until now, there were no high-pressure valves available for food-product contact applications that conformed to 3-A® standards. These global hygiene standards address the design and manufacturing of components that come into contact with food.
Bardiani Valvole approached Gallagher's partner, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies, for help in developing a solution to tap into its material expertise. As a result of joint cooperation, Freudenberg engineers developed a main rod seal that was both 3-A® compliant and capable of handling high-pressure of up to 2175 psi (150 bar) that the customer’s valve required. The main rod seal incorporates proven Freudenberg technology with advanced component design in an entirely new combination that is also compatible with other industrial high-pressure valves.
Prototypes produced without any tools
The 3-A® compliant main rod seal combines a sealing lip, manufactured from EPDM 302 or Fluoroprene® XP 43, with a backup ring made of PTFE. Freudenberg’s product engineers were inspired by the design of a proven shaft seal and an O-ring with a backup ring. In order to meet development and cost deadlines, the team initially produced one-off prototypes to share with Bardiani Valvole using the unique capabilities of Freudenberg Xpress®, a fast turnaround, high-quality manufacturing service that can generate custom seals in as little as a day. It offers machined seals made of original materials and original profiles for prototypes, spare parts or economical small series.
By eliminating the need to set up manufacturing tooling to produce sample parts, this results in considerable cost and time advantages for the customer. Thanks to special turning and milling techniques, individual designs can be tuned to exact specifications. The tailor-made sealing solution for the new high-pressure valve could also be produced economically in an extremely short time. The Freudenberg Xpress® Service is represented at numerous Freudenberg sites worldwide, enabling rapid delivery of spare parts, for example.
The seal’s design is free of dead space and prevents residue infiltration from process and cleaning media. It is hygienic, easier to clean, and compliant with all relevant material specifications for food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industry applications. Both materials used have very good thermal resistance and excellent mechanical properties. They also meet the demanding requirements for use in Cleaning in Place and Sterilization in Place (CIP/SIP) processes.
In an innovative first, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies has introduced a machine component that combines a plastic rotating bearing with a seal in a single, precisely matched unit.
The design offers significant weight, cost and friction advantages over separate bearings and seals and also improves the properties of the mated bearings and seals. Freudenberg has validated the advantages of this new component through extensive testing performed in a sensor housing unit including the seal-bearing component.
While mostly hidden from view, seals and bearings are nonetheless important components in automotive and industrial applications. They are key elements in operational safety and performance and their durability must be optimized to prevent system failure. At the same time, these bearings and seals must be small, lightweight and cost efficient in keeping with manufacturers’
Freudenberg Sealing Technologies introduced several new material and sealing innovations at the 2019 International Paris Air Show.
These new products are designed to help aerospace customers address ever increasing safety and performance requirements in the industry.
During the June 17-23 event in Paris, Freudenberg showcased a new high temperature, fireproof material; an Omegat OMS-CS cap seal; and new ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) and a fluoroelastomer (FKM) developmental material.
“Our aerospace customers strive continuously to be faster, safer and more efficient, which in turn requires us to innovate to help them reach those goals – a challenge we enthusiastically embrace,” said Vinay Nilkanth, vice president, Global Mobility Sector, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies. “The launch of several new products aimed at improved performance underscores Freudenberg’s commitment to being a global
Gallagher Fluid Seals is a long-time partner of Freudenberg Sealing Technologies. From their classic Simmerring® radial shaft seal, to V-rings, to guide rings, to u-cups, Freudenberg is an innovative seal manufacturer that solves problems. Check out the video below to see the many sealing elements developed for machine tools, specifically hammer drills and demolition hammers.
Overcoming the toughest resistance with full penetrating power, whether against concrete or stone: hammer drills and demolition hammers literally have a huge impact. Sealing solutions and rubber molded parts from Freudenberg Sealing Technologies are meanwhile essential to them. They robustly and reliably guarantee the machine’s power output and a long lifetime of drilling, chiseling, demolishing
The right mixture does the trick – even for seals used in hydraulic cylinders. But the optimal interplay of the individual seals is a delicate matter. To save its customers a great deal of time and effort, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST) has developed five preassembled sealing systems. They contain all the components needed for specific customer applications.
Until now, it took extensive experience and even more stamina to assemble a sealing package for hydraulic cylinders. To start with, the selection is huge: The FST catalog offers well more than 100 different rod and piston seals as well as wipers. Moreover, the individual seals have to function in combination, ideally supporting and complementing one another. Due to this mutual influence, every change has an effect on the functionality and performance of neighboring components. The approach to the result is gradual and cautious.
SIMPLER, FASTER, INTEGRATED...
An Entire Solution in a Single Package
Freudenberg takes the customer out of the complex, tedious process of selection, adjustment and modification, providing integral sealing systems. The company has developed so-called ‘application cards’ that specific dedicated sealing systems for selected market segments and their applications. Here FST has gone beyond what is normal among its competitors. It doesn’t merely provide a fraction of all the components needed for hydraulic cylinders – it delivers all of them, from piston guides and seals, to primary and secondary rod seals, all the way to rod guides and wipers – and considers all their interactions in the process. As a result, a specialized knowledge of individual sealing elements is no longer needed.
Seals are increasingly being asked to do more than just seal. In the future, they should be able to forecast when they will break down and perform condition monitoring in real time – all on their own. As a technology specialist, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is not just anticipating the steadily rising demands on seals but on future sealing materials as well. At Drinktec 2017 in Munich (Germany), the company presented a new generation of smart seals that is becoming possible for the food and process industries, thanks to a combination of various material characteristics.
Seals primarily consist of materials that cannot process signals in their pure form. That’s why Freudenberg Sealing Technologies’ material developers are investigating materials that seals can employ to become sensors or even actuators, for example, without impairing their original mission.
What do you do when you need an urgent spare part for a made-to-order seal? What do you do when special seals are required for a short production run of 400 machines? It’s hard to know. Here’s where the Freudenberg Xpress® experts come into play.
Timo Furrer oversees Freudenberg Xpress, which now includes 12 facilities worldwide. He and his team are in demand whenever time is pressing or the manufacture of prototypes or short production runs is required. “Customers traditionally turn to us when they need a specific sealing solution fast for maintenance and repair work,” Furrer said. But there are other occasions as well. Freudenberg Xpress experts are also called on when a manufacturer develops new equipment and has to find the best possible sealing systems for it. To avoid costly field tests, the manufacturer tests the limits of various prototypes that Freudenberg Xpress can provide on short notice.
From Tiny to Huge
To these sealing specialists, it doesn’t matter whether their customers need seals with diameters of just two millimeters or a full twenty meters – a size that can be found in wind turbines or hydro-electric plants. Nor does it matter whether the order is for a standard seal or a customer-specific product. “Within 24 hours of the incoming order’s arrival, we can produce and deliver up to 50 units,” Furrer said.
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Lightweight design has recently become a much more significant trend in the auto industry. Even with small components like seals, a great deal of weight can be saved. From Freudenberg’s standpoint, several forward-looking issues come together in these approaches.
In his office, Dr. Ted Duclos, the CTO of Freudenberg Sealing Technologies, is holding up a palm-sized plastic ring. “I know that it seems very small and insignificant,” he said. “But components like this quickly add up to several kilograms of weight in an engine.” And weight is one of the factors getting special attention from the auto industry – for a range of very different reasons.
Duclos has just returned from the Lightweight Summit in Würzburg, an international gathering of more than 300 experts from industry and research. Specialized lectures, discussion panels and presentations focus on lightweight design in the auto industry and especially in electric mobility. “Lightweight design is a trend,” Duclos said. In the design of classic internal combustion engines because low weight reduces emissions. And for the future of the electric car because reduced weight increases the vehicle’s range. Or to put it another way, lightweight design is one of several trends that are now logically tied to one another.
