Innovations – Leak-Free Gas Containment
Every product or solution begins with a dilemma, challenge, question or harebrained idea. Get to know the inspiration that drove our Team…
Challenge: Creating a cylinder that doesn’t leak over time.
innovation overview
Our Pico-cylinders have been meticulously designed from the ground up to create a truly leak-free, gas-powered cylinder for highly specialized markets that demand superior quality.
Functionality
The core focus of Picocyl’s business is filling cylinders with gas and welding the patented cap to the cylinder to create a leak-free Pico-Cylinder. Perfect Gas Containment is essential for customers that are concerned about shelf life, critical lifesaving functionality and other “must-work” requirements. To this end, a tremendous amount of effort and capital has been invested into world class facilities, equipment, automation, processes, supply chain partnerships, and quality controls. We hold ourselves to the highest medical, aerospace, and equivalent standards. Our manufacturing processes have validated multi-stage quality checks to ensure that our Pico-cylinders are leak-free when shipped to our customers. Simply put, your device will work when you need it to work, exactly how you need it to work.
benefits
- Gas containment until intended use
- High reliability, quality and safety
- Assured Shelf Life
- Traceability and gas mass verification
- Low opening force
Unique Design
- Cap incorporates patented breakaway septum design and ensures burst pressure integrity while maintaining reliable low opening forces
- Extended neck length provides multiple external sealing options including those requiring axial translation
- Stainless steel construction maintains excellent corrosion protection while enabling downstream mass verification for the life of the product by eliminating secondary plating operations
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
- Robust validated and verified manufacturing, cleaning, and testing processes consistent with FDA QSR, EU MDR, and ISO 13485 medical device manufacturing practices
- State of the art automation equipment for filling, welding, and verifying gas containment
- Forming process creates metal flow across the thin perimeter to provide improved grain structure that reduces inclusions and grain irregularities that would promote leakage
- Proprietary welding process allows a 360-degree weld ring for a repeatable and robust hermetic, leak-free weld seal
Our 5-Step Process for 100% Reliability
FILL WEIGHT VERIFICATION
We ensure that each Pico-Cylinder meets the correct gas-fill specifications during the automated gas-filling and welding process through proprietary weight verification systems.
GROSS MASS AND PART IDENTIFICATION
Each Pico-Cylinder is permanently laser-marked with its gross mass for downstream quality checks. Custom QR codes and human readable text are easily implemented based on customer needs and can include lot number, part number, gas type, mass, and any other information necessary to ensure component lifecycle traceability and in-process verification for each cylinder.
HEAT CONDITIONING
Next we heat stress the Pico-Cylinders to increase the cylinder’s internal pressure to accelerate any potential leaks, ensure welding integrity, and prepare the component for step #4.
LEAK-FREE VERIFICATION
Through our proprietary validated gas analysis equipment and engineering expertise, Pico-Cylinders are 100% verified to ensure that each Pico-cylinder maintains required gas-fill levels throughout its intended shelf life.
EMPTY CANISTER DETECTION SYSTEM
A final quality inspection step, prior to packaging & shipping, is performed through an automated proprietary ECDS process.