FreudenbergSealing Technologies, a leading global specialist in sealing products and theirapplication, has made its proven and successful Simmerring seals available intwo new materials to suit food industry applications. Availability for the newproducts is via Dichtomatik UK Ltd, the exclusive provider for Freudenberg’sfood and beverage related products in the UK.
The Freudenberg Simmerring has been proving itself as a successful sealing product for the past 85 years. Designed for the reliable sealing of rotating shafts, Simmerring can today be found in millions of applications and machines across a myriad of different sectors. Importantly, the product is flexible, highly loadable and very dependable. Based on this portfolio of attributes, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies has now further developed Simmerring for use in the process industry, by making it available in food-grade materials.
Conventional PTFE shaft seal rings soon reachtheir limits at high rotational speeds and pressures, which typically leads toleaks and other seal failure modes. In addition, to date it has not beenpossible to use Simmerring in the food industry as its PTFE materials have notbeen approved for food-related applications. With this challenge in mind,experts at Freudenberg Sealing Technologies set about developing two newSimmerring materials especially to meet the requirements of process industriessuch as food and beverage, and pharmaceuticals.
Simmerring products in the B2PT design are now produced from a newly developed material, Quantum® PTFE F18245, and a housing manufactured from 1.4571 (V4a) stainless steel. Here, the PTFE deployed has been created specifically for direct food contact. Approvals are anticipated shortly under FDA 21 CFR 177.1550 und EC 10/2011. The B2PT design, which is suitable for applications up to 10 bar, can also be adapted to suit specific customer requirements.
A further innovation from Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is the Hygienic BlueSeal, which is the first dead-space-free version of the Simmerring. Ideal for food and beverage industry applications, this hygienic shaft seal ring has a forward-mounted lip featuring geometry that allows no hard-to-clean areas, thus preventing any bacteria build-up and subsequent process contamination. As a point of note, the Hygienic BlueSeal can be used in low-friction and low-pressure (<1 bar) applications. The latter is made possible thanks to targeted adjustments in geometry. Hygienic BlueSeal also makes use of the newly announced Quantum® PTFE F18245 material.
The second new material development for Simmerring is 75 Fluoroprene® XP 45, which aids secure attachment to metal. This highly fluorinated material already has the required approvals and certificates under EC 1935/2004, EC 2023/2006 and FDA 21 CFR 177.2600. Any seals manufactured from Fluoroprene® XP stand out for their excellent, broad resistance. The material combines the outstanding performance characteristics of FKM and VMQ in non-polar media (greases, oils and hydrocarbons), with the qualities of EPDM materials in polar media (water, acids and lye). Thanks to the complete encasement of the Simmerring with 75 Fluoroprene® XP 45, complemented by a stainless steel spring, the product is ideal for use in a wide range of food and beverage applications
