Vacuum seals tested but not touched
March 1st 2007 A non-contact torque monitoring system from Sensor Technology, that guarantees lightness of touch has proven the best way to test the seals of super high performance vacuum systems. With over thirty years experience of producing seals, Ferrotec is able to optimise ferrofluid materials for the most intense performance requirements and incorporate them into bespoke vacuum systems. "About half of our work is to bespoke design," says Jeff Lewcock of Ferrotec, "and we have to test every seal to the nth degree. We build the seal, mount it on a bearing of known, and very very low drag, and use it to seal a test chamber which we fill with helium. Over the course of a prolonged test we monitor for helium loss through the seal." As part of the test the starting and running torque of the seal are measured and the power loss is calculated. These readings allow Ferrotec to troubleshoot the individual seal, analyse the design's performance and add to the ferrofluids knowledge bank. "With the sort of tolerances we work to a torques sensor that touches the seal adds far too much drag to the seal, so we were delighted to discover Sensor Technology's non-contact Torqsense," says Lewcock. More articles from Sensor Technology Ltd: When two is better than one (1st February 2008) Sensor Technology, the company that developed practical non-contact torque measurement, will once again unveil a major innovation at the MTEC Exhibition. New for 2008 is TorqSense RWT 330/340series, designed for use in applications where space is limited, and provides non-contact measurement of torque, speed, power and position of rotating shafts, such as machine drives, drive shafts for pumps, fans, mixers etc, and in the critical axes of test rigs... From Newsletter Stories | 
