Mooresville, NC (PRWEB) June 14, 2006
Increasing the performance of miniature pressure and vacuum diaphragm pumps has traditionally been accomplished by increasing the size and stroke of the diaphragm, increasing the volume of the pump chamber, and increasing the motor size to generate the additional required torque. Increasing the performance while shrinking the size of the miniature diaphragm pump has posed several interesting challenges. Several companies whose development engineers could not find miniature diaphragm pumps to meet their demanding performance and long life requirements challenged Hargraves Technology,http://www.hargravesfluidics.com, to think out-of-the-box to advance this critical fluidic component technology.
Miniature vacuum diaphragm pumps and micro air compressors have become popular with system engineers to provide the pressure and vacuum transport of their fluid media in a cost efficient manner. Diaphragm vacuum pumps and miniature air compressors exhibit excellent gas tightness and offer the advantage of the fluid chamber being totally sealed from the pumping mechanisms. An eccentric connecting rod mechanically flexes a diaphragm inside the closed chamber to create a pressure or vacuum. Unlike piston pumps, miniature diaphragm pumps do not require lubricants in the pumps stroking mechanism. On a similar note, rotary vane pumps are prone to the vanes wearing and spewing debris in the flow path. Therefore, miniature diaphragm vacuum pumps and compressors ensure an oil-less, contaminant free fluid pathway. This is critical for many medical device, analytical instrumentation, clinical chemistry, gas analyzer, fuel cell and other advanced technology applications.
The Hargraves product development team set out to clearly define their customers application operating parameters while benchmarking existing miniature vacuum and pressure diaphragm air pumps available in the industry to understand their limiting factors. It was found that the miniature diaphragm pump and compressor technology available were experiencing diaphragm rips and tears and motor failures that limited pump life around 3,000 hours. Diaphragm failures had become so common that replacement diaphragm kits from the manufacturer had become an accepted practice and cost.
Advanced EPDM Elastomers
To extend diaphragm life under real world operating conditions, the Hargraves engineers searched throughout the elastomer industry for a material that would endure these rigorous demands at extended life cycles. Standard EPDM elastomers are typically rated only up to 40