The Packings Division is working with DHBW Mannheim University in Germany on the continuation of a test project to perform packing tests at room and elevated temperatures to compare helium and hydrogen leakage. Also, a new project has been started with Amtec to compare the leakage performance of packing sets to lengths for PTFE packing material.
The Expansion Joints Division is fine-tuning their configurator tool for the selection of standard fabric expansion joint solutions. This tool will be available on the Division website as well as in the Knowledge base when finished.
Ralf Vogel, ESA’s Technical Director
The Mechanical Seals Division is working on a document “Meeting Emission Regulations with Cost Effective, Advanced Technology Mechanical Seals Systems”. The Plan 53 B bulletin has been published.
The Flange Gasket Division has collected a wide range of emission test results comparing hydrogen to helium leakage performance. It is planned to publish technical articles for different gasket materials in cooperation with scientific member Amtec.
The Elastomeric & Polymeric Seals Division is planning a round-robin programme for emission testing of elastomer seals with hydrogen. Our scientific member Cetim is working on the continuation of the Arrhenius test program to determine the lifetime of elastomeric seals by numeric simulation. The ISO standard 5119 “Low Temperature Sealing Capability of Elastomeric Seals — Test Methods” initiated by the Division is on course to be published at the end of this year.
All divisions are actively working on additional or new training modules to be published in the ESA Knowledgebase as well as on the plastics reduction project.
Five articles have been published by ESA members in Valve World magazine. Another one about the KTW Drinking Water regulation in Germany will be published in December. The Expansion Joints Division has published one article in the June edition of Hose + Coupling World and will forward another article before the end of the year. PDF versions of all articles can be found in the Knowledgebase. The Mechanical Seals Division is working on two articles to be submitted to Pump Engineer magazine.
Ralf Vogel,
Technical Director