Grantee Research Project Results
Pressure Balanced Bellows Valve Seal, Pressure Seal Test
EPA Contract Number: 68D40045Title: Pressure Balanced Bellows Valve Seal, Pressure Seal Test
Investigators: Larsen, Richard R.
Small Business: Flexial Corporation
EPA Contact: Richards, April
Phase: I
Project Period: September 1, 1994 through March 1, 1995
Project Amount: $36,936
RFA: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) - Phase I (1994) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Air Quality and Air Toxics , SBIR - Air Pollution , Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)
Description:
New bellows seal technology to greatly reduce cost and improve seal integrity and life of zero-emission seals in rising stem valves. Bellows seals, considered zero-emission devices by the EPA, are urgently needed in larger-size valves -- 3 inches and up -- to meet pending fugitive emission requirements on a much more stringent scale. But their sensitivity to pressure makes them unpredictable in application, and their heavy-wall structure as pressure barriers makes them large, expensive and impractical in all but the most hazardous of applications. This invention pressure balances the bellows to stabilize life, reduce physical size, and significantly reduce cost. Pressure is transferred to a conventional, spring-energized seal and the bellows is used only as an impermeable barrier.This proposal is to test combinations of commercial seals and stem surfaces to find an optimum dyad for the pressure and temperature environments normally expected in process control valve environments.
Supplemental Keywords:
Bellows, Valves, Valve Seal, Fugitive Emissions, Toxic Emissions., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Air, Sustainable Industry/Business, cleaner production/pollution prevention, Sustainable Environment, Technology for Sustainable Environment, Civil/Environmental Engineering, Engineering, Chemistry, & Physics, Environmental Engineering, bellows, bellows seal technology, fugitive emissions, valves, valve seal, seal technologyProgress and Final Reports:
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.