New bellows seal technology to greatly improve seal integrity and life of rising stem and quarter-turn valves in electronic processing, petroleum and chemical processing industries. Bellows seals, considered zero-emission devices by the EPA, are urgently needed to meet current and future more stringent fugitive emissions requirements, but their sensitivity to static pressure and pressure fluctuations make them unpredictable in application. This invention pressure-balances the bellows to stabilize life, currently measured in low-thousands of cycles, and increase it, where needed, to 10 5 or 10 6 cycles while remaining insensitive to process pressure conditions. The program will demonstrate ability of this innovation to yield constant life and near-zero leakage at any operating pressure from zero psia to thousands of pounds per square inch, and over a wide range of temperatures. The program under Phase I will build a group of axial motion bellows seals of this new concept, perform life tests on the seals under a controlled temperature and pressure environment typical of the conditions that cause ordinary bellows seals to fail unpredictably, and analyze the results. The findings will lead to a design for commercialization of the seal, and a next-generation of economical, long-life, zero-emission valves. Anticipated
Benefits: Establish a new manufacturing facility in Cookeville, TN, located midway between Nashville and Knoxville. Project $6 MM sales in five years, producing 100,000 seals annually, employing 40 hourly and 15 salaried employees. Furnish bellows seals to US and world-wide valve industry for OEM and aftermarket.
