- Stainless Steel Frames
Machined stainless steel frames replace the rubber ‘H’ zippered window frame. The rugged frames flatten the thin glovebox wall into a single straight plane, allowing the window glass to be held tightly in the frame seal gasket in an unstressed condition.
- Ease of Decontamination
The smooth, non-porous surface of the stainless steel frames allows a simple wipedown of the frame to decontaminate the surface. No fire shield is required to be removed and no solvents or abrasives are required to remove surface contamination.
- Ease of Installation
The hot side frame and intermediate frame bolt together with counter-sunk bolts to provide a clamped frame design over the glovebox window cavity wall. The window glass is then easily installed and the bolted cold side trim frame retains the glass in position. The struggle to install glass in a rubber “H” gasket is eliminated.
- Absolute Sealing Capability
The window design has 3 positive seals to maintain a zero leakage capability. The hot side frame and the intermediate frame each have an “O” ring seal held in a dovetail groove. The “O” rings are thus securely retained without adhesive during the installation process, and form a positive sealing surface when the frames are bolted together over the glovebox wall.
The window glass is held in a channel gasket of soft durometer synthetic rubber. The machined, flat surfaces of the hot side frame and trim frame interface with the intermediate frame surfaces. All frame components have been machined to provide a calibrated percentage compression distance on the seals, and actually, firmly touch each other when the frame bolts are properly tightened to the specified torque.
The window design has been helium leak tested at 19” WG for pressure/vacuum decay with no detectable leakage.
- Eliminates Glass Breakage
Placing the glass in the frame and installing the cold side trim frame bolts does not place an unequal compression force pattern on the glass as the trim frame bolts are torqued down. Seal compression is equalized and preset, eliminating the potential of over-torquing a frame bolt and breaking the glass. All frame bolts are torqued to the same setting and with the frame/frame interface, any over-torquing of a bolt cannot compress the window gasket seal or frame ‘O’ ring seal any further.
- Cost Effective Installation
Several DOE sites have discontinued the use of “zippered” windows in gloveboxes due to window seal leakage problems. This New Generation Window alleviates that problem for facility managers because the Bolt-In Window allows out-of-service gloveboxes to be refurbished rapidly with new leak tight windows and brought back into productive service.
The New Generation Bolt-In Window offers a proven, cost-effective window installation module for gloveboxes already designed for “zippered” windows. These windows can be installed and leak tested in a fraction of the time it takes to properly install a "zippered" window --- reducing the total cost of the project while increasing confidence in total seal integrity.
- New Construction
American Shielding also offers custom-sized New Generation Weld-In Window for new gloveboxes. The window design incorporates all of the benefits of the Bolt-In style, but the hot side trim frame is seal welded into the window opening of the glovebox inner wall. The weld is burnished to a smooth finish to provide a deconable surface.
