Leak-Proof, Blowout-Proof Gaskets Provide Major Savings For Utilities And Industrial Powerhouses
Major utilities and industrial power plants are adopting blowout-proof, leak-free mechanical gaskets to improve productivity while minimizing maintenance requirements
In the face of spiraling fuel costs as well as safety, regulatory and green issues, the power industry naturally looks to new technologies and systems integration for solutions. While utilities and industrial powerhouse engineers and maintenance supervisors focus on major power generation systems, they may overlook subassemblies, where improved technologies and products can have a substantial impact on operations.
Once such subassembly is gaskets, where failures can have expensive and even hazardous consequences. In fact, the "science" of gasket sealing is a popular subject of trade association conferences. Yet blowouts and chronic failures continue to plague utilities and industrial power plants.
Such failures give rise to a litany of related problems, ranging from loss of productivity, untimely shutdowns and dangerous leakage problems, to tedious, repetitive replacement and costly inventory of a wide variety of replacement gaskets.
"For a power utility or industrial power plant to be able to install flange gaskets and not worry about blowouts and leakage would represent a major savings of time and money," says Wayne Boyd, a field specialist with A.W. Chesterton Company. "However, using gasket systems of the latest mechanical design, it is possible to achieve very substantial savings on maintenance and also reduce inventory investments."
Because gasket applications involve many complex factors - application conditions, friction, materials, mechanical design, fluid mechanics, heat transfer and so on - one might suppose that a huge range of materials and configurations are necessary. However, technological advances made in the development of fighter aircraft for the U.S. Air Force have led to the design of a leak-proof mechanical gasket system that can be used with a wide thermal cycle and control range.
Using this technology to develop a leak- and blowout-proof gasket "system," the Selco Seal produced by Sealing Corporation (www.selcoseal.com) offers inherent advantages over the traditional spiral-wound type of gasket for critical power plant applications. These include heat exchangers, steam crossovers, manways, soot blowers and many types of flanges, applications found in many utilities and industrial power systems.
"Up to 70 percent of gasket cost is in installation," says Mel Lowry, Sealing Corporation General Manager. "By using gaskets that create leak-proof flanges and will last for years, users will enjoy very substantial gains on maintenance cost as well as productivity while eliminating potentially hazardous emissions. Plus, the 'one-size fits all' design also means sizable savings on inventory costs."
OEM suppliers can realize substantial manufacturing savings and added sales by purchasing components or subassemblies based on orders for their own products. "For our operation that means very quick turnaround with a well-engineered product that can be used reliable in applications with working pressures up to 6,000 PSI," says Robert Davenport, Vice President of Cornerstone Valve. Cornerstone Valve produces control valves for the power, oil & gas, and petrochemical sectors as well as various NASA- and Navy-related services.
"We use Selco seals in our bonnet-to-valve body seals because we can get very fast turnaround on orders," says Davenport. "Plus, the seal design provides multiple sealing along potential leak paths, so it is very efficient and very reliable."
Source: Sealing Corporation