Saint-Gobain Seals provides OmniSeal® spring-energized seals to OEM’s in the medical miniature motor market

Dec 8 2014

Saint-Gobain Seals continues to provide their dynamic OmniSeal® spring-energized seals to OEM’s in the medical miniature motor market, which allows them to provide a well-balanced sealed motor and an added sense of security to their surgical tool OEM’s. The medical market has been growing quite rapidly with the need for more portable applications that are unobtrusive and efficient but still powerful.

Miniature motors are used in a number of medical device applications such as pumps and ventilation equipment, particularly minimally invasive surgical power tools. Additionally, complete customizable assemblies are manufactured in the way of encoders, gearheads and intricate shafts to reduce assembly costs while providing a precise, high-powered component. The OmniSeal® seals used in these types of motors are designed to maintain a constant seal load on the shaft at speeds in excess of 90,000 rpms, surviving over a thousand autoclave cycles without losing the ability to seal. The seal also delivers a small footprint allowing the motor designers to save precious space that is needed in minimally invasive surgical tool designs.

The benefits of OmniSeal^® spring energized seals in miniature motors include:

• Temperature cycling resistance (materials rated to 600°F [316C])
• Low friction for high speeds (90,000+ rpms), resulting in low wear and long life
• Dry Running (no lubrication required)
• FDA and USP Class VI Compliant materials

Saint-Gobain Seals offers additional value through a number of FDA compliant (Title 21 CFR §177.1550) and/or USP Class VI certified materials suited to address a variety of challenges. The business unit not only provides sealing solutions for the miniature motor market but also medical applications such as high speed surgical drills. For this particular market, their OmniSeal^®, OmniLip^™ and Meldin^® seals and bearings are ideal for high-speed, dry running, FDA compliant applications that require sterilization and long life. These requirements are accomplished by utilizing cutting edge materials, quality driven manufacturing and an engineer-to-engineer design approach.

As a trusted manufacturing partner in the Life Sciences market for over 30 years, Saint-Gobain Seals’ key elements in their sealing and polymer designs address critical sealing, friction control, chemical compatibility, material compliance and weight reduction. Their Fluoroloy® and Rulon® product lines consist of a family of proprietary materials that are composed primarily of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) based resins and developed to perform in the most diverse and extreme applications for not only the Life Sciences market but also the Aerospace, Oil & Gas and Automotive markets. There are more than 100 standard Fluoroloy® and Rulon® grades available, several of which are FDA compliant and USP Class VI certified, making them well suited for medical and analytical equipment applications such as chemical analyzers.

To learn more about Saint-Gobain Seals’ OmnSeal® product lines and its strategic business unit, visit www.seals.saint-gobain.com, follow their Twitter or connect on LinkedIn.