New Seals Rise to the Challenge of Churning Heavy Dough

WEINHEIM, Germany and MUNICH, July 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Commercial mixers can make easy work of producing huge quantities of bread dough and batters. But the mechanical forces created by the those mixers as they churn through heavy, sticky, voluminous ingredients can cause agitator and motor stress, seal failures and even shaft leakages – unacceptable risks in the highly regulated food and beverage industry.

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies Process Seals (FST) today introduced a new family of Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) radial shaft seals designed to withstand high temperatures, high speeds and increased shaft runout. The seals, part of the Simmerring® Radiamatic HTS II EWS family of products, offer industrial users an alternative to mechanical face seals by combining a PTFE shaft sealing ring and flexible bellows element in one application.

FST will display its Radiamatic HTS II EWS products – and others – at drinktec 2013, a food and beverage trade fair in Munich, Germany Sept. 16-20. 

PTFE shaft sealing rings have established themselves as reliable sealing elements over decades of use in the process and food industries. Their nearly ubiquitous chemical resistance to a multitude of industrial fluids and cleaning agents and their ability to withstand high temperatures makes them an irreplaceable product solution.

When strong mechanical forces produce increased shaft runout, however, conventional PTFE shaft seals can demonstrate poor recovery behavior. The resulting lift produced in the lip seal of a conventional PTFE shaft seal ring can cause leakage, especially at low rotation speeds. FST's unique Radiamatic HTS II EWS products are made to withstand increased shaft runout by combining PTFE shaft sealing rings with PTFE bellows to prevent runout separation and leakage.

The Simmerring Radiamatic HTS II EWS – for increased shaft runout – was developed to offset the poor resilience of PTFE shaft sealing rings. The EWS combines lip seal and ferrule technology of the Radiamatic HTS II with bellow elements and a slide bearing. The arrayed folds provide the shaft sealing ring with greater flexibility to absorb the kinetic energy transferred by the slide surface. The novel design thus offers an efficient solution for the application in mixing systems.

Additionally, Simmerring Radiamatic HTS II EWS products withstand high temperatures and speeds – "HTS" – with six different configurations that offer reliable seal applications in a variety of industrial applications. Based on a modular principle, both the type and alignment of the lip seals as well as the PTFE material can be adapted to the individual use. This flexibility offers customers tremendous advantages when fabricating their own components and products. And the Simmerring Radiamatic HTS II products offer customers access to fast, off-the-shelf solutions to special, high performance seal requirements.

The Simmerring Radiamatic HTS II products have unrivaled low friction coefficients. The lip seal is designed in such a way that a precisely defined contact surface remains virtually constant under all operating conditions. A design with almost no dead spots makes it the first choice for manufacturers of mixers and kneaders in the food and beverage and pharmaceutical industries. The HTS II also features a homogeneous PTFE surface which cannot be harmed by aggressive fluids and cleaning agents.

drinktec 2013, which takes place at the Messe Munchen exhibition center in Munich, is expected to attract over 1,400 exhibitors from more than 70 countries. FST products, including the Simmerring Radiamatic HTS II EWS products will be on display at the company's booth in Hall A4, booth 441. For more information about the Simmerring Radiamatic HTS II, please click here.

About Freudenberg Sealing Technologies

The technology specialist Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is a supplier, development and service partner for customers from a variety of market segments, such as the automotive industry, civil aviation, mechanical engineering and shipbuilding, food processing and pharmaceuticals, or the agricultural and construction machinery industry. On the basis of the Simmerring® developed by Freudenberg in 1929, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies now has a broad and continuously customer-oriented product portfolio of seals. Based on detailed process knowledge, innovative development methods and selected materials, the range includes both customized individual solutions as well as complete seal packages.

Together with its partners NOK Corporation, Japan, Sigma Freudenberg NOK, India, and NOK-Freudenberg Group China, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies forms a global network which aims to supply its customers all over the world with products of the same high quality.

In fiscal 2012, the largest business group of Freudenberg generated sales of more than 1.68 billion euros and had a workforce of about 12,000 employees. The company is part of the Freudenberg Group whose business areas Nonwovens, Seals and Vibration Control Technology, Household Products and Specialties and Others generated sales of more than 6.3 billion euros in 2012 with a workforce of 37,453 in 57 countries.

www.fst.com

SOURCE Freudenberg Sealing Technologies Process Seals