Recently, an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) that makes large filter units for food-grade services was reporting leaks on the cover gasket that they were using. The gasket in service was a 22” OD (outer diameter), 1/8” thick EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) rubber full-face gasket with eight ¾” studs (as shown below).
This design had two problems; not enough stud load to compress the EPDM rubber to adequate seating stress and the end surface of the filter unit was not flat. Below is a photo:
Reducing the gasket area and increase the thickness of the gasket to 1/4" was ERIKS proposed solution to address these problems. The new gasket looks like this:
This new customized gasket has 48% less material to squeeze, so we were able to increase the gasket stress by more than 50%, while also reducing the stud stress. Since the middle of the end plate looks crowned, we suggested ¼” material in order to make contact around the perimeter. In addition to changes in the design, we also wrote up a full installation procedure that included 1/4th torque increments plus a ringer pass.
This OEM customer was very happy and wrote us to say that:
“The new gaskets have been installed, and they have no experienced zero leaks.”
Since this is a versatile solution this “beaded” gasket can be applied to any lightly loaded application.
Did you know that ERIKS has also developed a sealing protocol where the expectation is a leak-free operation? The ERRIC (Evaluation, Radial Shear, Relaxation, Installation, Certification) system protocols have been used in tens of thousands of heat exchangers around the world. Click here to learn more about the ERRIC sealing system.
