APPLICATION
A manufacturer of a major brand of sports nutrition products asked us if we could resolve issues they were having with Gel Pumps.
THE PROBLEM
The existing application was using a complete piston head which was a one piece, all in one arrangement – the seals being an integral part of the piston head and energised with silicone O Rings.
A major issue with this existing solution, was that the piston head was manufactured from a low quality material, and had little resistance to the cleaning process.
The customer was unable to use a cleaning process over 30° – 40° as this would damage the piston head. This was leading to ineffective cleaning, and reduced life of the Piston Head.
THE SOLUTION
The proposed solution was to replace and re-engineer the piston head, to be a direct replacement, but being designed to have separate seals fitted, rather than integral seals.
The new Piston Head was manufactured from food grade Acetal, The new seals manufactured from blue food grade Polyurethane.
OUTCOME
A replacement seal kit was manufactured and supplied, containing 2 x replacement piston heads (one for each machine) and 10 replacement seals (5 x sets) The new replacements were fully tested by the customer, who was extremely pleased and satisfied with the results.
ACHIEVEMENT
The customer now had a sealing arrangement that performed very well, he could now raise the temperature in his cleaning process to 60° – 70° and have an effective clean without the concern of damaging the seals, the seals performed for a much longer life span than previous, and when requiring change, only the seals needed changing, rather than the complete piston head, saving further costs.
