Parker expands filter media production with investment in new ultrasonic welding technology

1 min read

Parker Bioscience Filtration designs, supplies, and delivers systems for both upstream and downstream pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing from its Birtley site. To support an increase in capacity and the expansion of the company’s product range, Parker has invested in another pleat welding system from ultrasonic specialists Telsonic UK.

Parker Filtration has been using Telsonic machines over a period of some 18 years. The latest addition to Parker’s manufacturing portfolio is a Telsonic USP3000E 3.6kW 20kHz based pleat welding machine which adds further seam welding capacity for Parker’s 10-inch filter pleat range.

The new machine features Telsonic’s MAG series generator and the latest TelsoFlex platform, which boasts a colour touchscreen for both intuitive set up and the display of results. The TelsoFlex system on this new machine is PC-based, and able to store multiple weld recipes, including pressure profiling, amplitude ramping, distance-absolute, P-max plus energy and time, which can be tailored to meet each of the different Parker materials and filter requirements.

The tooling on this machine includes a QC booster mount, allowing quick changeover of the ultrasonic sonotrodes, combined with Telsonic’s quick load/unload pleat auto rise and lower fixture. This was developed by Telsonic specifically for this site to provide easy and operator-safe loading of the pre-pleated filter packs, allowing exact and repeatable presentation of the filter pleats under the ultrasonic head.

The design of the Sonotrode and Anvil configuration assures strong welds without fracturing the very delicate and layered pleat filter components. The new fixture has also been upgraded to be fully adjustable to take a greater thickness range of Parker’s pleated filters and will also weld new materials which require increased welding forces. The new machine is mounted within a stand-alone framework which incorporates both fixed guarding and Keyence light guards for operator access.

Telsonic UK was awarded this latest contract on the basis of the excellent performance of the existing machines over the last 18 years both in control and reliability. The ease of loading by the operators utilising Telsonic’s slide on fixture design is also a significant benefit with this difficult-to-handle product. In addition, laboratory trials conducted at Telsonic’s UK facility have proven the extended use of the new USP3000E machine for Parker’s new material range.