Chesterton is recognized as an Innovative company, and I would like to share, my thoughts about what Chesterton developed in the past and how the company continues to develop disruptive technologies:
If we consider the Split Mechanical Seal 221, Chesterton had to develop specific resources and to create a new Sales channel with specific expertise. In the same time, Chesterton penetrated new markets such as for example the large rotary equipment, the 221 then after the 442 and other Jumbo seals can be consider as Disruptive Innovation
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| 221 - Source USA Patent_US4576384 |
In October 2017, Chesterton announces that the new mechanical seal will be equipped with an RFID tag. RFID is not a new technology, but associating this technology with a measuring sensor and a mechanical seal will give the user a new possibility in terms of traceability, maintenance and reliability of the installation
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| InView Platform |
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| S10/S20 with RFID Tag |
Market trends
If we focus on the fluid application, and particularly on the mechanical seal, the market trend moves in the same direction:1) the industrial end-user is mapping the process with interconnected networks[1]
2) the maintenance department, whit the need for reduced downtime is still the primary driver. They moved from the preventive to the predictive maintenance. This trend is relayed by electrical installers who strongly promote systems and equipment which focus on predictive maintenance. This movement began accelerating for rotating equipment by the introduction of the variable drives for the motors. The fact that we can introduce electronic sensors in the mechanical equipment created major opportunities for industry: The capacity of the sensors to communicate between themselves amplifies these opportunities.
3) for the OEMs (the pump manufacturers) the pumps are critical equipment because they are the beating heart of fluid installations. Like the heart of the man, if they stop, everything stops; for this reason, the industrial end-users that are requesting more reliabilitiy from their equipment, don’t hesitate to equip pumps with instrumentation in order to predict failure. Today, major pump manufacturers propose in their standard pump cases holes and sensor sleeve for temperature, pressure or vibration sensors. Some of them also offer boxes able to analyze these signals locally and to launch alerts.
If you want more information please contact Laurent Prunier-Duparge, email: laurent.prunier-duparge@chesterton.com.
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[1] Facilitated by the interoperability of the equipment
