CamLock Seals Extend Seal Life with Innovative Dual Bead Design

Cam and groove style couplings, commonly referred to as camlock fittings, are used across many industries due to their ability to quickly connect and disconnect from holding tanks, pumps, filters, or other equipment. Although the nature of the camlock design makes it economical and rather simple to use, Parker’s engineers have found a way to improve the design even further with the DB CamLockseal. 

The standard sealing element commonly used in a camlock fitting is a rectangular cross section flat gasket. Since these flat gaskets are a solid chunk of rubber, they can be extremely difficult to compress when using the cam and groove locking mechanism of the fitting. An abnormally high closure force can sometimes result in an incomplete connection which, many times, results in leakage. Also, when compressed, the flat gasket geometry provides a broad but very low seal pressure across the mating substrates.

Parker DB CamLock Seal design features:

• Dual seal bead
• Increased maximum seal pressure
• Reduction of damaging seal stresses
• Reduced compressive load
• Excellent retention fit
• Color-coded materials

Compared to the standard flat gasket, the innovative Parker DB CamLock seal offers several improved features starting with the dual bead design. The dual bead feature provides redundant seal points which can be useful if damage were to occur to the primary sealing bead during operation. Having that second sealing bead can keep the fitting leak free and operational until a replacement can be sourced. 

The DB CamLock design also increases maximum seal pressure on the fitting hardware by approximately 55%. This increase in seal pressure provides a much better barrier to potential fluid passing by the seal. Having a higher seal pressure acting on the substrates, while reducing areas of significant harmful stress, reduces the chances of seal damage, increasing your seal life. 

Upon use, one of the most evident features of Parker’s DB CamLock seal design is the reduction of clamping load required during connection of the fitting. Using state of the art Finite Element Analysis (FEA), you can expect a reduction of closure force around 40% over traditional flat gaskets. A lower clamping load helps to ensure a complete connection which is essential to preventing leaks with cam and groove couplings.  

Another necessity for eliminating leakage in camlock couplings is making sure the sealing element is present. The DB CamLock seal design provides an excellent retention fit and is available in all standard size camlock assemblies. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about the seal falling out during transport. 

Lastly, the DB CamLock seals are available in material families that are commonly used in many fluid handling applications with a color-coded format. This allows an operator to be able to easily identify the seal material being used in a coupling by simply identifying the color.  

Common seal compound offerings for the DB CamLock seals are: