Single piece sealing enclosure for inertial measurement unit (IMU) electronics used in aircraft and spacecraft flight, GPS, manned and unmanned guidance and control instruments.

Application

Inertial Measurement Units or IMU’s are used in most aircraft and spacecraft to calculate velocity, orientation and gravitational force during flight. In a sense this device works as a GPS when GPS signals are unavailable.

With such highly tuned instruments any unwanted moisture or debris can cause miscalculations or system failure. Additionally, the device required calibration prior to use which called for opening and closing of the unit multiple times. When ready for shipment each enclosure must pass a helium leak test.

FEATURED PRODUCT: Custom bonded Gask-O-Seal® enclosure solution for highly sensitive electronic instruments

Challenge

Our customer came to us with multiple pains related to the incumbent sealing method which utilized an O-ring. Due to failed leak tests each enclosure had to be re-inspected which included checking for proper surface finish of mating hardware as well as O-ring installation. The resulting down time led to increased cost and delayed shipments. Once in the field, further issues were experienced when pressure washers used for cleaning were blowing through the seal, causing it to fail, and damaging the electronics.

Parker Solution

Utilizing Gask-O-Seal® rubber-to-metal bonding technology, we designed a one piece overmolded sealing solution that resolved their pain. The new seal design also eliminated need for a machined groove in the mating hardware resulting in a reduction in leak paths. The one-piece bonded enclosure solution resulted in the following savings for the customer:

Decreased installation and re-work time
Reduced customer machining time due to relaxed surface finish, simplified groove design, and elimination of a mating hardware groove
Reduction in tangential and permeation leakage through and around the rubber
Reduction of foreign object defects (FOD)
Inventory reduction due to multiple components combined into a single complete part
Elimination of need to use grease in assembly process

Gask-O-Seal® overmolded enclosure

FEA design validation

Not sure how to choose an elastomer or have questions on utiilizing bonded sealing and integrated overmolding technology for your application?

Contact

Parker Hannifin

Composite Sealing Systems Division

7664 Panasonic Way

San Diego, CA 92154

(619) 661-7000

www.parker.com/css

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Engineered Materials Group

Composite Sealing Systems Division