In this industrial era of pursuing "sealing" and "precision", airtightness testing is no longer as simple as "checking for leaks". As an engineer who has been traveling around the production line of factories for many years, I know that the quality of a product's airtightness often directly determines the product's quality fate.
How exactly do you quickly and accurately determine if a product is leaking in a busy production process? Let's talk about this seemingly simple but highly specialized topic today.
I. From the field to the laboratory: a multidimensional program for airtightness testing
Naked eye detection method
- Soapy water test: This is probably the oldest and most intuitive method. Apply soapy water to the suspected leak, and if bubbles are produced, it is undoubtedly 'running'. This method is low-cost, easy to operate, and suitable for quick on-site judgment, but has limited accuracy and can only detect more obvious leaks.
- Underwater detection method: Immerse the inflated and pressurized product in water and watch carefully for air bubbles escaping from the surface of the product. This method is more intuitive than soap and water, but the operation is relatively cumbersome, and does not apply to electronic products that can not touch water or other parts that are afraid of water.
Professional-grade precision testing
- airtightness meterTesting: Use of professionalAirtightness Test EquipmentThe test equipment, such as direct pressure, flow or differential pressure test equipment.These "pros" give quantitative leakage data with much greater accuracy and reliability. They are standard equipment on the production lines of many of our Fortune 500 customers, and they can perform highly accurate inspections in milliseconds.
- helium detectorDetection: This is considered a 'high-end player'. Helium molecules are extremely small and are able to penetrate tiny gaps that are difficult for normal gases to pass through.By using helium as a tracer gas and detecting changes in its concentration, it is possible to detect leaks at the micron level.Although more costly, this is now standard in high precision fields such as aerospace and medical devices.
II. From qualitative to quantitative: scientific judgment of airtightness
In the past, airtightness testing often relied on experienced masters to judge 'by feel'. However, in the contemporary precision manufacturing environment, this is not enough.
At Precision Engineering'sAir tightness testerWe have established a complete automated testing process by setting specific test pressure and leakage pressure criteria. The standard of judgment has also changed from the vague 'doesn't look like it's leaking' to a precise comparison of values - theIf the leakage value in the test result is below the set leakage pressure standard, then the airtightness can be considered good; if the leakage value exceeds the standard, then it indicates that there is an air leakage problem.
Precision EngineeringAirtightness Tester: Display of specific leakage values for micro, medium and large leaks
III. Controversies within and outside the industry: how strict is strict enough?
It is interesting to note that different industries have very different standards on the question of 'what level of leakage counts as an air leak':
While the appliance industry may accept leakage rates of a few milliliters per minute, in semiconductor manufacturing, leakage rates of more than 0.11 TP3T per year may be considered catastrophic failures.
Experienced engineers at Precision Engineering often say, "TheThere is no such thing as a system that absolutely does not leak, only a system that leaks acceptably."This statement speaks to the philosophy at the heart of airtightness testing - theWhat we need is not an absolute seal, but a sealing performance that meets the needs of a specific application.
IV. From problem to solution: what to do after a leak?
Finding a leak is only the first step, solving the problem is the ultimate goal. According to Precision Engineering's years of industry experience, common causes of leaks include:
- Material aging or deformation
- Uneven sealing surface
- Stress concentrations due to improper installation
- Uneven bolt torque
- Improper seal selection
The solutions to these problems vary. Sometimes a simple replacement of an O-ring will solve the problem, other times the entire sealing system needs to be redesigned.We, Jingcheng Industrial Technology, not only provide testing equipment, but also provide customers with systematic sealing solutions, from material selection to structural optimization, all-round protection of product airtight performance.
V. Back to Basics: The Future Development of Airtightness Testing
With the advancement of Industry 4.0, airtightness testing is also developing in the direction of intelligence and networking. We see more and more companies are adopting online monitoring systems to realize real-time airtightness monitoring during the production process; artificial intelligence algorithms have also been introduced into the analysis system, capable of predicting potential leakage risks.
But no matter how the technology evolves, the essence of airtightness testing remains to ensure product performance and safety.From simple soapy water tests to complex helium detection systems, we pursue the same goal - to make our products more reliable and our users more at ease.
Summarize
As an engineer, I have always believed thatThe best airtight design is the one that is just right "neither over nor under". After all, over-design means cost waste, and under-design means quality risk. In this age of excellence, finding this balance may be just what we are all striving for.
For any airtightness or watertightness testing needs, welcome to visit Jingcheng Engineering's airtightness website or feel free to contact us, we will be happy to serve you!
Original Statement: this paper was written byShenzhen Jingchenggongke Technology Co., Ltd.Written by the technical team, reproduced with attribution.Data sources:Precision Engineering internal test data and customer cases.
