Industry News

August 17, 2018

The 5th Edition Task Force has not been meeting during the summer; however, a few individuals have been asked to collect their thoughts about pipe line seal standards.

A few scheduling announcements for the API 682 Task Force:

  • Task Force will not meet in Houston during the Pump Symposium in September 2018.
  • Task Force will meet in Orlando on November 11 prior to the API 2018 Fall Refining and Equipment Standards Meeting.
  • Task Force will present progress to the  API in Orlando on November 12.

March 21, 2018

The API 682 Task Force held a meeting via video conference on March 21.  This “Kick Off” meeting was the first one chaired by Jarrod Streets of BP.  Discussions were mostly about organization and planning although some details were mentioned.

A subcommittee was appointed to recommend assignments to task force members based on their expertise.

API 682 5th Edition is expected to include larger shaft sizes and higher pressures – especially for pipe line services.  By agreement with the API 610 committee, necessary dimensions for increased shaft sizes will be placed in a temporary annex of API 682 5th Edition.  That annex will then be moved to the next edition of API 610.  The general feeling is that a new seal category (Category 4) be developed for high pressures.  Apparently, the API Sub-Committee on Mechanical Equipment (SOME) prefers that pipeline applications be addressed in the main body of the standard and not in an annex.  However, several task force members prefer an annex for pipeline services.

Future Task Force meeting will be mostly by video conference and scheduled roughly every month.

January 24, 2018

The API 682 Task Force has been reorganized.  The new chairman is Jarrod Streets; new vice chairman is Chris Andrews.  Morg Bruck remains secretary.  A task force representative will make a presentation on progress towards 5th Edition at the API meeting in November.  In the meantime, there will be both face-to-face meetings and telephone conferences to discuss proposed changes in API 682.  New topics to be discussed include increases in shaft size, pressure and temperature.

January 22, 2018

John Crane has sold their bearings business to  an Austrian company, Miba AG for US$ 35M.   This sale is said to be part of focusing John Crane’s businesses.  Previously (2016), John Crane sold its Artificial Lift division.

December 4, 2017

The anticipated API 682 5th Edition Task Force meeting following the 33rd Pump Symposia in Houston has been cancelled.  Instead, the next Task Force meeting will be sometime during the first quarter of 2018.

November 13, 2017

The first meeting of the API 682 Task Force for 5th Edition was held in Dallas, Texas November 11 and 12, 2017.  This was a face-to-face meeting.  The focus of this meeting was previous comments submitted to the API about 4th Edition as well as some of the later comments previous set aside from 4th Edition.  These comments and the results of the discussions were incorporated into a very early draft of 5th edition which is, in fact, a “track changes” version of 4th Edition.  The next Task Force meeting will be during the 33rd Pump Symposia in December in Houston.

September 5, 2017

Due to the lingering effects of Hurricane Harvey, the 46th Turbomachinery and 33rd Pump Symposia have been rescheduled to December 12-14, 2017.    See tps.edu/updates for more information.

August 28, 2017

The first face-to-face meeting of the new API 682 Taskforce for developing API 682 5th Edition has been cancelled due to Hurricane Harvey.  This includes the telecom and video meetings.

When the Taskforce is able to reconvene, one of the first orders of business will be to discuss a list of comments previously submitted to the API.   Also, the API SOME committee has already agreed that 5th Edition should be expanded to include seals for pipeline pumps.

August 7, 2017

Flowserve has released several news items in the past few days.

With the retirement of Bill Rusnack, Flowserve Corp’s board of directors has elected Roger Fix as the company’s new chairman. Mr.  Fix has previous experience in the mechanical seal industry serving as Chief Executive of John Crane Inc. from 1998 to June 2000 and President-North America of John Crane from May 1996 to May 1998.

Mark William Welch is the new director of global systems. He has been with Flowserve for 24 years.

Flowserve has released an App for seal failure analysis. The Flowserve Seal Failure Analysis App is web-based and is designed to identify and prevent mechanical seal failures.  It is accessible via desktop, tablet and mobile devices.

May 12, 2017

Uday Karmarkar is the new vice president of engineering for AW Chesterton Company.   He comes to Chesterton from General Electric and will manage engineering, research and development activities.

April 19, 2017

Smiths Group plc announces the appointment of a new President and CEO of John Crane:  Jean Vernet.  Mr. Vernet replaces Tedd Smith who was serving as interim president.  He will join John Crane by the end of June and will be located in Chicago.  Mr. Vernet has a background in engineering and finance.

March 30, 2017

John Crane discusses best practice technologies for managing gas emissions at United Nations
A United Nations panel examining the critical role gas will play in achieving the international organisation’s Sustainable Development Goals has invited an expert from John Crane to showcase how the firm’s technology is reducing methane emissions in sectors of the natural gas industry by up to 95%.

March 9, 2017

John Crane (www.johncrane.com)  is celebrating its 100th anniversary.  For more information on John Crane’s history, see SealFAQs OEM History page.