Detailed Program of the 22nd ISC 2024
Optimized rubber gasket with internal force shunt
Summary
With the introduction of TA Luft 2021, plant manufacturers and operators have to carry out flange connection calculations according to DIN EN 1591-1, including gasket parameters DIN EN 13555. This will lead to enhanced plant safety and less emissions, however, this also implies the development of optimized gasket materials and design.
According to the design-rule “for every functionality, implement a specific feature”, a well-known gasket principle is to put the sealing material in force shunt. This way, the load transfer element and the sealing element are in separate locations, leading to the possibility to optimize them independently. This works already very well for O-Ring seals, spiral-wound gaskets and as well, rubber gaskets with an external force shunt. Due to high manufacturing cost and high mounting effort, these solutions are not widespread in use in the field.
A solution to the discussed aspects is the design of a rubber gasket with an internal force shunt. The design* implements a spiral wound metal-wire with indentations. It lies inside the rubber material and thus is enclosed, held by the rubber and is easily and efficiently to produce.
The design leads to a unique sealing performance with a very high tightness (L < 10-3 mg/(sm)) even at very low gasket pressures below 2,5 MPa **, no creep relaxation ** (PQR > 0.99) and very high load bearing capacity ** (Qmax > 150 MPa). This enables plant manufacturers and operators to effortlessly
• meet the tightness-requirements according to TA-Luft
• successfully carry out flange connection calculations for almost any flange type
• find suitable mounting torques for the mounting process
• minimize leakage due to mounting errors
• choose the right gasket material (according to temperature and medium specs)
• generally enhance plant safety
• and reduce overall in-situ emissions of the plant
* design will be shown in detail in full-text
** evidence will be provided in full-text