Ametek helps meet demand for critical ventilator components
April 4, 2020
Ametek Specialty Metal Products (SMP), headquartered in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, USA, reports that through its business division, Ametek SMP Eighty Four, based in Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, USA, it is supporting the manufacture of ventilator components.
Due to the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), there has been an unprecedented ramp-up in the production of life-saving respiratory devices. One Ametek Eighty Four customer, which manufactures critical ventilator components, has been offering increased volumes and expedited support to leading ventilator manufacturers with the help of its key suppliers.
Ametek SMP Eighty Four was recently approached for an urgent delivery of high-purity filtration powders to support a customer’s mission to significantly increase manufacturing volumes of porous flow restrictors in a short period of time. These flow restrictors control the oxygen flow in ventilator units, where they need to withstand high pressures while remaining clog-free.
According to Ametek, following the urgent request, its team at Eighty Four immediately redirected capacity and started melting the required material overnight, ready for atomisation so that the tight delivery targets could be achieved. Filtration powders are manufactured in a wide range of particle size distribution by Ametek SMP at its Eighty Four facility in Pennsylvania.
Typically made from stainless steels or nickel alloys, these high-purity metal powders are specially atomised to give the highly irregular shape required for precise filtration. Pressed and sintered into porous filters, they can be used in a variety of industrial and speciality filtration systems, such as mission critical flow control and filter components in medical devices.
