Saint-Gobain Seals’ Meldin® 5330 Gerotors Race Along with Formula 1 and MotoGP in Motorsport Applications

Garden Grove, CA, May 30, 2015 --(PR.com)-- Saint-Gobain Seals becomes involved in motorsport season with its Meldin® 5330 gerotors, which are used in oil and scavaging pumps on Formula 1 racing vehicles and MotoGP motorbikes. In this type of motorsport application, typical working conditions include temperature level of around 150°C, low pressure (a few bar) but high speed (20,000 RPM or more). Lubrication is provided through oil and the counter surface is aluminium.

The gerotor (a combination of the “generated” and “rotor” words) is a positive displacement pumping unit that consists of two elements: an inner rotor and an outer rotor. The outer rotor has an additional tooth compared to the inner rotor and its central axis is positioned at a fixed eccentricity from the one of the inner rotor and the shaft. Therefore, the rotation of the two elements, one against the other, allows the fluid to be pumped in a smooth movement. Metals are traditionally used to manufacture gerotor elements, either sintered metals or stainless steel or aluminum.

Saint-Gobain Seals developed and tested their Meldin® 5330 material (a filled PEEK compound) for this gerotor application for about a year, collaborating with a customer whose functional expectations included weight saving and long wear. This polymer material was recommended as a precise fit due to its excellent mechanical properties (valid also at high temperature) and balance between being wear resistance and compatibile with the counter surface (aluminum). By using a high-performance plastic instead of metal, weight saving became an automatic positive effect.

Additional key properties included minimal chemical absorption and deformation as well as low coefficient of thermal expansion. Since the polymer material minimizes the wear of the gerotor material, sealing capability of the gerotors and finally pump efficiency are greatly improved. All of these properties make a critical difference in the life cycle of motorsport oil and scavaging pumps (which operate at extreme speeds) due to the importance of the gerotors regulating the fluid intake that results from thermal expansion and chemical absorption as this could have an effect on the amount of contact stress and result in localized tooth wear. By using the Meldin® 5330 plastic, motorsport companies have the confidence that their pumps are protected against pump inefficiency and low wear losses and also benefit from the following:

• Low wear and long lifetime for the component
• Low weight with savings up to 80%
• Improves pump efficiency
• Material is forgiving when metal particles are present
• Excellent vibration dampening properties

The Meldin® 5330 material is part of Saint-Gobain Seals’ Meldin® HT product line, which are high-performance thermoplastics developed for different applications and markets: automotive (braking system components); industrial (piston rings in refrigeration compressors and bearings in appliance motors); and oil and gas (bushings and back-up rings on high-pressure ball valves and swivels for FPSO: floating production, storage and offloading). The product line includes compounds based on:

• Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) – Meldin® 1000 series;
• Polyamide-imide (PAI) – Meldin® 4000 series;
• Polyaryletherketone (PAEK) and its variant Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) – Meldin® 5000 series

About Saint-Gobain Seals (www.seals.saint-gobain.com)
Saint-Gobain Seals is a strategic business unit under Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics’ Engineered Components SOA (sector of activity); our parent company, Saint-Gobain, is one of the world’s top 100 industrial groups and is celebrating its 350th Anniversary in 2015. With more than 50 years of manufacturing experience and an established global presence (with strategic sites in Garden Grove, California, USA; Kontich, Belgium; and Shanghai, China), we offer a diverse range of innovative sealing and polymer solutions:

• OmniSeal® Spring–Energized Seals
• OmniLip™ PTFE Rotary Shaft Seals
• Rulon® High-Performance Fluoropolymer Compounds
• Meldin® 7000 Thermoset Polyimide Materials
• Meldin® HT High-Performance Thermoplastic Materials

Other products include Fluoroloy® (high-performance custom-formulated compounds), cup seals, hydraulic seals, metal seals, v-packings, piston rings) Rulon® (high-performance fluoropolymer compounds) custom parts, polymer bearings and stock shapes. The majority of seals and polymer components manufactured are custom designed and matched with the best materials to optimize their performance in various applications and markets.