2011 ISPE Delaware Valley Chapter Vendor Night

Sharpe Mixers exhibited at the 2011 ISPE Delaware Valley Chapter Vendor Night that took place on Feb 9, 2011 at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team.

The ISPE, International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers, through its local chapters, sponsors these table top exhibits around the country. This gives local members a change to get out and meet with their peers, enjoy a drink and some excellent food, and visit with their suppliers, new and old. They are a great opportunity for us to meet local customers in the biotech and pharmaceutical markets.

Like the Boston Chapter Product Show that takes place at Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots football team, the Philadelphia show had outgrown the hotel venue and was moved to Citizens Bank Park.

And like the Boston show, this move proved to be an excellent choice. This was the 21st annual Vendor Night and, according to the ISPE-DVC, the most successful and best attended in the event’s 20 year history. Part of the success is probably due to the venue. People like visiting these sports stadiums. We hope that this is also a sign of an improving business climate.
Sharpe Mixers was supported by our local sales representative, Tom McDonough with Matak LLC. Tom worked with the ISPE DVC so that several of his suppliers were side by side at the exhibit. We called the area “McDonough Place”!

We are encouraged that business in the biotech and pharmaceutical markets will see some growth this coming year, based on conversations we had with customers and suppliers, alike.
If you are involved in the biotech – pharmaceutical industries and you would like Sharpe Mixers to participate in a local chapter Vendor night, please let us know.


Submitted by Fred DeCicco

RD Dry-Running Mechanical Seal Update

In our original post about our dry-running RD seal we mentioned that the next generation would be fully ASME BPE compliant as a standard, unlike seals from other manufacturers: http://sharpemixers.blogspot.com/2009/07/next-generation-dry-running-mechanical.html. We introduced new grades of elastomers for specific use in high end biopharm applications. These elastomers meet or exceed the requirements of USP grade materials. The seal elastomers have the following properties:

• Available in EPDM (standard), FPM (Viton®^a equivalent⁾, Silicone, & FFPM (Kalrez®^a equivalent⁾.



• Full traceability



• Properly postcured



• Contain no ingredients derived from animals



• Free from melamine and mercury



• Complies with the FDA Code of Federal Regulations for rubber and rubber-like materials under Title 21, Paragraph 177.2600.



• Complies with the 3-A Sanitary Standards for rubber and rubber-like materials used as product contact surfaces in dairy equipment, number 18-03, Class II.



• Compound has passed testing in accordance with the current USP section <87> and <88> Class VI – 121°C or ISO/AAMI/ANSI 10993-5, 6, 10 and 11.

The seal has gone through some design changes as well to better meet the requirements of BPE:

· The ID of the debris well is tapered for drainability.

· The debris well flush ports are angled for drainability.

· Debris well gasket has been replaced by an o-ring which mounts close to the flange hole.

· Heat number for wetted metal parts are etched on the parts.

· Silicone Carbide (standard) and Tungsten Carbide static faces are available, as well as Hastelloy® ^b C-276 & AL-6XN®^c metal parts.

· Various finishes, including electropolish & passivation are available.

a - Viton® & Kalrez® are the registered trademarks of DuPont Performance Elastomers.

b - Hastelloy® is a registered trademark of Haynes International, Inc.

c - AL-6XN® is a registered trademark of Allegheny Ludlum Corp.