Accurate and reliable pressure measurements are crucial to maintaining the efficiency of your low-pressure applications, such as in cleanrooms and isolation rooms. For these critical applications in the health industry, inaccurate measurements could result in the contamination of your entire process. How can you ensure your pressure transducer can handle your low-pressure environment?

This article was originally published on January 31, 2022 by John Varkonda and was updated on May 8, 2024, by Todd Thomas. Keeping pressure measurement instruments from becoming damaged in harsh environments is a challenge in many industries, including water/wastewater. Diaphragm seals play a vital role in these applications by creating a leak-tight and corrosion-resistant barrier between a pressure instrument and your process. For many, a flanged diaphragm seal connection is a great choice because it provides a convenient way to attach instrumentation directly onto flanged process piping without having to use threaded connections. But proper installation of these seals is the key to getting the most protection. Ashcroft is a recognized global leader in pressure and temperature instrumentation and uses our decades of experience to educate and guide customers to the solutions that best meet the challenge at hand. In this article, you will learn a bit about flanged diaphragm seals, the basic principles of torque and best practices for installing a flanged diaphragm seal in your process. When you are done reading, we will also share additional resources that may be beneficial to you.

Industries such as food/beverage, paint applications, pharmaceutical and biotech have strict sanitary requirements to ensure that their products are manufactured in a clean and safe environment. Therefore, the pressure measuring instruments used in these applications must meet the same sanitary requirements.

When you’re working in pharmaceutical or biotech applications, whether it’s an HVAC system or an isolation or clean room, it’s vital to maintain clean, contaminant-free environments. If you don’t, you risk the safety of others and the possible contamination of your processes. You need a pressure transmitter that can reliably monitor ultra-low pressure, but the number of products available on the market can be overwhelming.

Pressure transducers can be used in many challenging environments where they may be exposed to extreme temperatures but are expected to operate reliably and predictably. These challenging temperature exposures can come from a few sources such as the surrounding environment (ambient temperature), radiation (sunlight), or the temperature of the process media being measured (media temperature).

In your most challenging applications, safety is the number-one concern. I’m sure you’re always thinking about ways to keep workers safe and equipment functioning properly because downtime is not an option.