Saint-Gobain Seals has developed a new single stem sealing solution, OmniSeal®, which is targeted to lower fugitive emissions within ON/OFF valves in the oil and gas industry and create a more environmentally-friendly option.
Saint-Gobain Seals began the process quite some time ago with the development of their low fugitive emission (LFE) seals. The objective was to develop a single stem sealing solution for ON/OFF valves that passed leakage tightness of Class BH and endurance class CO1 (500 cycles) from -50°C to 160°C according to the ISO 15848 quality standard.
In order to achieve this, Saint-Gobain Seals invested in a test rig that solely operated according to the ISO 15848-1 criteria. Based on testing data and past experience and knowledge, they developed different design concepts using their well-established and proven OmniSeal® spring-energised product to pass the specification. To validate the new OmniSeal® designs, Saint-Gobain Seals Research & Development used helium as test fluid while the measurement was conducted in a close chamber under vacuum with a mass spectrometer for detection to give the highest accuracy.
They recently contributed an article in Valve World magazine (November 2014 issue) with a more in-depth discussion on their new single-stem sealing solution. They will also launching this new product at Valve World 2014, which is being held from 2 to 4 December at Düsseldorf, Germany.
