Three Rivers, Mich. (News release) - Kadant Johnson LLC, a subsidiary of Kadant Inc. (NYSE: KAI), announced its newest innovation, the ELSX™ rotary joint. The ELSX rotary joint is designed to transfer steam or thermal oil into and out of rotating equipment. The new design significantly increases the reliability, durability, and overall speed and pressure capability of Kadant Johnson extended life joints.

"Two key customer insights were identified in the development of the ELSX rotary joint," said Matt Beach, director of product development. "The first is that customers are increasing operating speed and pressure. The second is that customers are demanding greater uptime. The ELSX rotary joint addresses both needs."

In steam applications, the ELSX proprietary seal ring extends the life of the rotary joint by increasing the allowable seal wear while decreasing the seal wear energy. When used with thermal oil, the application-specific seal ring prevents leaks during break-in and offers high reliability. In both steam and thermal oil applications, internal support guides have been redesigned and enlarged to handle high energy, high vibration applications.

Carl Howe, vice president of sales, commented, "Our customers are increasing production rates to increase profits. To do this, they need more heat, so they are increasing operating steam pressure. They also have less maintenance staff as employees retire and budgets shrink. We developed a solution that safely handles high speed and high-pressure applications with limited maintenance."

The new ELSX rotary joint delivers safety, reliability, durability, and operating performance. Steam applications have a maximum design speed, pressure, and temperature of 300 rpm, 300 psig, and 500 F, respectively. Thermal oil applications have a maximum design speed, pressure, and temperature of 300 rpm, 150 psig, and 650 F, respectively.