Why don’t my PTFE gaskets seal FRP, plastic and other light load flanges?
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Find a reliable dry gas seal system for any application.
First of Six Parts
Follow the major developments in seal technology
This month's "Sealing Sense" was prepared by FSA member Larry Sheffield.
Proper safety precautions for selecting, installing and maintaining seal systems
The conformability, flexibility and wide range of material combinations and designs enable packing to seal many difficult, unconventional applications. These capabilities, coupled with other packing systems components, can provide effective sealing solutions that reduce the consumption of valuable water and energy resources.
As we learned last month, carbon/graphite fiber packings have proven to be effective solutions to many common sealing applications. This time, we have learned that flexible graphite packings appear to have become the packings of choice when sealing fugitive emissions, high heat media, and rotating equipment with limited cooling or flush available.
These basic seal system considerations can significantly reduce the energy footprint of the seal face interaction. Their contribution to the overall sealing system energy footprint should be considered after review of all the components of the sealing system's energy footprint.
Maintaining equipment uptime in a mining operation is essential. For one of South American's largest sulfurated copper mining organizations, unreliability simply wasn't acceptable, so they turned to one seal manufacturer to develop a pump sealing system improvement program using the Six Sigma methodology.
Manufacturers of braided packings are often asked to simply supply "A PTFE packing." Though this may seem a straightforward request, it generates questions that must be answered to ensure the correct PTFE packing for the application. A clear understanding of the differences between the various forms of PTFE braided packing will enable a selection of reliable sealing for the pump or valve.
Latest Seals Articles
Why don’t my PTFE gaskets seal FRP, plastic and other light load flanges?
Find a reliable dry gas seal system for any application.
First of Six Parts
Follow the major developments in seal technology
This month's "Sealing Sense" was prepared by FSA member Larry Sheffield.
Proper safety precautions for selecting, installing and maintaining seal systems
All three API Plan 53 versions are intended to isolate the pumped product from the atmosphere and create a favorable artificial environment for the mechanical seal. Which of the three is optimal will depend on the specifics of the application. The choices of barrier fluid and maintenance capabilities are fundamentally important design considerations. Differences in the three include cooling and pressure capability as well
A discussion of current compression packing technology will help set the stage for an example of how this can be accomplished. Compression packing is still widely used to seal rotating equipment such as pumps.
New packings, as well as application methods, are continuously engineered to meet industry's increasing demands for performance and environmental compliance. Packings, fibers and lubricants will continue evolving, and proper packing selection will be an increasingly important task.
Avoiding seal leakage or failure is a complex task for pump designers and one that must be taken seriously in difficult economic times when reducing downtime is critical. New developments in elastomer materials and seal design techniques mean that pump engineers can avoid seal leakage and ensure optimum performance in demanding operating environments involving high and low pressures and temperatures.
Sulfur leakage, causing housekeeping and environmental issues in a refinery, was stopped with an innovative seal configuration.
Columns and Blogs
In this multi-part series, we will investigate several aspects of centrifugal pump efficiency.
First of Five Parts
Since the original publication of this draft standard in the January 2008 issue of Pumps & Systems, I have received feedback, encouragement, numerous questions and criticism. The draft listed three basic levels of repair.
The McGraw-Hill scientific dictionary [5] states that a volute is "a spiral casing for a centrifugal pump... designed so that speed will be converted to pressure."
