Where engineered bursting discs were initially developed for relieving pressure upon an incident during functioning, a chemical reaction or the failure of a professional cooler system, new applications paths are being opened for these safety devices. FIKE has recently supplied numerous engineered bursting discs for, e.g., reverse osmosis water treatment, pneumatic and hydraulic actuators, cryogenic applications (liquefied gas bottles or cylinders), fruit juice warehousing, high pressure SF6 circuit breakers, foam injection systems (hydrocarbon reservoirs), liquid or solid fuel propulsion systems, satellite positioning machines. In the last three examples, the discs are used as a « switch », using its unique properties: speed, density and reliability.
The engineered bursting disc surpasses the usual standards in many ways: the diameter ( Fike offers a range from 3 to 1700 mm), the material of construction (SST, nickel, titanium, Hastelloy, Silver, tantalum…), burst pressure (from 0,05 bar eff. to 6500 bar eff. and even beyond that for certain sizes, materials and flow), the temperature (from -196°C to +600°C, and even more with thermic isolation).
Whatever the choice of the user might be, the engineered bursting disc offers a response time of less than 1 ms, leak-tightness of less than 10-8cc helium/sec. and a guaranteed non-fragmenting and upon rupture the disc remains in its holder.