FR200 combination of
FR200 combination of technology and performance MACHINE ELEMENTS The company Kastas has its headquarters in Izmir, Turkey. With their location in Germany and the help of further sales and distribution partners throughout the entire world, the company is in a position to fulfill the highest requirements of quality and service. The newly-developed FR200, the product of years of research, which came about through a combination of design, development and tests, fulfills all the requirements expected of a modern rod seal. FR200 friction reduced rod seal is a new generation rod seal that combines several properties in one design without compromising on any of its beneficial features. The main goal of this rod seal is achieving low friction. With the special design and lip geometry, it achieves much lower friction values compared to other rod seals. On the other hand, FR200 does not compromise on low leakage performance. Finally, it ensures a very reliable pressure relief function. The trend, where the focus of research and design is on fluid power and power transmission technology, has been evolving for some time now. While environmentally friendly fluids and lubricants are becoming increasingly popular, designers tend to focus their initiatives on mitigating system inefficiencies and losses. Hydraulic market demands friction optimized seals with low leakage and long operating life. These demands are challenging for seal manufacturers due to the following reasons; n The sealing effect can be improved by increasing the contact force between the sealing element and piston rod/cylinder bore; an increase in the contact force however means increased wear and tear on the sealing elements and a higher energy requirement for the hydraulics system. n The friction force can be reduced by making the contact surface or About Kastas Sealing Technologies Kastas is a manufacturer and supplier of sealing technologies. The company based in Izmir, Turkey, produces advanced sealing elements for fluid power and various specific applications. Through its European distribution center in Quickborn, Germany, Kastas supports its customers in Europe. The company has more than 500 employees and has a R&D division focusing mainly on material science and design development. Apart from being the manufacturer, Kastas is also one of the largest distributors for sealing elements with an extensive distribution chain in more than 80 countries. 28 MDA Technologies 1/2016
the contact force between the seal and piston rod/cylinder bore smaller; a reduction of the contact area or the contact force however leads to a reduction in the quality of the sealing function. A team of experienced engineers worked more than two years on the development of this seal. After the marketing team determined the expectations from this design, R&D department came up with several alternative designs. At this point, by the advanced Finite Element Analysis software all alternative designs are simulated on different operating conditions. The design that exhibited the best performance on all three main targets is selected and intensive design work to boost low friction and low leakage performance with minor improvements is started. FEA software (MARC-MENTAT) used to foresee deformation behavior of design and the friction force generated by the sealing element. Comparison of deformation under “0 bar” and “100 bar” pressures for comparative U-Cup and FR200 are given in the images below. Parallel to this initiative, Design and Tool department worked on the most efficient and reliable tool design to ensure a smooth production and long-term production efficiency. In addition to several prototypes, 8 months after the start, the first test sample of FR200 is produced. Then, for more than one year, FR200 went through intensive dynamic and static tests on test rigs. The tests aimed to simulate real applications, while also determining the limits of the seal. After a total of 1600 km-long testing in our R&D Test Center and several design improvements in between, FR200 was ready for field tests. For the next four months, FR200 was tested next to two competitor friction reduced rod seals internally and externally in the field to observe friction forces, leakage values, back-pumping abilities and loss of preloads. Compared with standard single acting U-Cups, the FR200 generates up to 57 % lower friction force at different pressures while maintaining perfect sealing ability. Lower friction force leads to higher energy efficiency and longer hydraulic system life. Being a new player in this market, FR200 should improve on the existing performance. According to internal benchmark tests, FR200 provides both lower friction and lower leakage when compared with 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 50 bar / 10 km 100 bar / 10 km 50 bar / 10 km 100 bar / 10 km 150 bar / 10 km 150 bar / 10 km 100 bar 200 bar / 10 km 250 bar 200 bar / 10 km 100 bar 100 km 250 bar / 10 km 100 km 250 bar / 10 km 84 km 300 bar / 10 km 300 bar / 10 km 350 bar / 10 km 350 bar / 10 km 400 bar / 10 km 400 bar / 10 km Comparison Test Steps: (Average of 2nd and 4th steps are used for graphics.) Highest Contact Stress Comparison of Double-lip U-Cup and FR200 designs at 0 bar – 160 bar Lowest Contact Stress Icase 1 Contact Normal Stress Icase 1 Contact Normal Stress
