Parker Instrumentation has successfully completed tests of its innovative Phastite connector design for permanent high pressure fluid connections at the QinetiQ test facility in Scotland. This testing was instigated to prove Phastite's suitability for use in extreme conditions found in some marine and defence applications.

Phastite interconnections provide a high integrity connection that is assembled by means of a push-fit operation taking seconds, saving a very considerable installation time compared with the welded connections that are traditionally used in this application.

The connectors have been tested by QinetiQ, a leading international defence and security technology business that's also recognised as a foremost facility for shock testing in the UK, to DEF STAN 02-797 (NES 797) Part 5 - which covers high pressure fluid connectors. Among the specifications are tests of a high pressure fluid system's resistance to extreme shock conditions of up to 200 G (1961 metres /second2), and with displacement of piping assemblies by 63 mm (2.4 inches). During the testing exercise, Parker also tested the professional fittings to the much higher shock rating of 500 G (4903 metres /second2), to demonstrate the connector's integrity, and to anticipate an evolution of the standard that is currently in progress.

As part of Parker's own development tests for Phastite, a tube run was actually deformed under pressure to some five times the DEF STAN 02-797 requirements — 300 mm (11.8 inches) — without leakage. The tube run was then subjected to increasing pressure until destruction, with the tubing itself bursting before the Phastite joint (at 2200 bar / 31,908 PSI).