“Osaka Rasenkan Kogyo is a long established manufacturer of flexible tubes (FT). Since February of last year it has been marketing Clear Flow Flex, an FT which can reduce the vibration of nitrogen for cooling, which is supplied to high precision equipment such as the synchrotron radiation unit, to 1/5. It has sold a unit to SPring 8, the world’s largest third-generation synchrotron radiation facility in Hyogo Prefecture. Not just in Japan, the company has entered into business talks with accelerator manufacturers in the US and Europe.

RIKEN, the owner of Spring8, and the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI), which operates and manages Spring 8, participated in the development. Several hundred units have been sold in Japan already, including the prototype. Although the market is limited to such customers as research centers, the FTs have been shown at seminars and at exhibitions. Currently several accelerator manufacturers in several countries such as the UK and France are looking at this.

As for its special features capabilities of the conventional units such as flexibility are not lost. Vibration cause by fluids passing through and noise caused by this can be greatly reduced.

The material used in manufacturing these tubes and pipe ends is SUS316L. Fiber sleeves are made of aluminum fiber which is very resistant to radiation and extremely low temperatures. Vibration is greatly held down by using them to line the inner surface.

They are used under a wide range of temperatures, varying from minus 196℃ to plus 40℃. The specifications go respectively from a vacuum to 4MPa and from a vacuum to 0.5 MPa, depending on whether or not there are blades which play the role of preventing expansion of the FTs due to pressurization and to protect the outer surface.

The company is planning to put new products on the market in early autumn, and right now it has entered the marketing stage.”