Advanced Research Manufacturing - ARM Inc.

10/08/2018

Below is the press release announcing AES's acquisition of ARM Inc. We at ARM are very pleased with this outcome, and look forward to the future with AES!

10/08/2018

Applied Energy Systems Announces Acquisition of Advanced Research Manufacturing (ARM), Inc.
AES Will Add ARM’s Gas Purification Technology to Supplement and Further Expand Its Gas Delivery Equipment Offerings
MALVERN, PA, OCTOBER 1, 2018 — Applied Energy Systems (AES), provider of high and ultra high purity gas systems, services, and solutions – including design, manufacturing, testing, installation, and expert field services – has announced the acquisition of Advanced Research Manufacturing (ARM), Inc., a specialty provider of gas purification systems based in Colorado Springs, CO. ARM, Inc. has been manufacturing high and ultra high purity gas purifiers and gas handling equipment for 20 years and boasts a worldwide installed base of point-of-use, micro-bulk and bulk gas purifiers. AES is a long-time leader in the manufacturing of high and ultra high purity gas and liquid delivery systems, and ARM’s portfolio of solutions will now be offered through AES to supplement and further expand its gas delivery equipment offerings and bring new benefits to customers seeking quality gas handling solutions.
“ARM brings getter, catalyst, and absorber purification technology to Applied Energy Systems that will complement our existing product offerings, allowing AES to provide a more complete and unique solution at a very competitive price,” said Steve Buerkel, President of Applied Energy Systems.
ARM, Inc.’s ultra high purity gas purifiers and associated gas handling equipment are used across the industrial, semiconductor, energy, medical, and pharmaceutical markets both in the U.S. and internationally – the same verticals where AES has a proven track record of enabling safe, precise gas delivery. “There is already a great deal of synergy between the AES and ARM teams in terms of our knowledge of gas handling requirements for innovative processes and applications,” said Jim Murphy, General Manager of AES. “ARM’s products are a natural extension of our equipment offerings, and together we’ll offer customers our collective expertise to benefit their projects – whether they require gas purification or gas delivery solutions, or both.”
Brian Warrick, ARM, Inc.’s Director of Technology, added: “With AES’ and ARM’s combined resources, the research of new technologies and subsequent development of new products can occur at a more rapid pace. This will enable us to efficiently add to ARM’s existing portfolio of offerings that include purifiers as well as field engineering support.”
“We are extremely pleased to become a part of AES, and look forward to growing our market share in the purification of high and ultra high purity gas,” said Dan Spohn, Director of Global Sales and Market Development at ARM.
# # #
About Applied Energy Systems
Applied Energy Systems (AES) is the premier provider of high and ultra high purity gas systems, services, and solutions. Since 1968, customers have turned to AES for high-value systems engineering – including design, manufacturing, testing, and field services. Whether equipment requirements are driven by regulation, innovation, or both, AES brings together its specialized engineering capabilities and vast
scope of product offerings to create the gas delivery solutions that meet business-critical process demands.
With two industry-leading equipment divisions, SEMI-GAS® and VERSA-GAS™, AES addresses high purity and ultra high purity gas delivery needs for a diverse range of rigorous applications, including semiconductors and electronics, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, photovoltaics, manufacturing, research laboratories, universities and more. For more information, visit https://www.appliedenergysystems.com/
About ARM, Inc.
Advanced Research Manufacturing (ARM), Inc. creates solutions for high purity, tight specification electronics grade and industrial gas purification systems for semiconductor, medical, pharmaceutical, energy, and other high technology industrial processes and applications. In addition, ARM provides analytical services for purity verification and tech refresh services of existing purifier assets, in most cases doubling the asset useful lifetime.
ARM, Inc. has been manufacturing high and ultra high purity gas purifiers and gas handling equipment for 20 years, with a worldwide installed base of point-of-use, micro-bulk, and bulk gas purifiers. For more information, visit www.arminc.com.
Media Contact (AES):
Carla Nieser
Vovéo Marketing Group
610.240.0400, ext. 108
[email protected]
Media Contact (ARM Division of AES):
Dan Spohn
Director Global Sales and Market Development
719-538-5959
719-231-3925
[email protected]

Singularly focused on excellence in gas delivery, AES is your source for premier high and ultra high purity gas delivery systems, services and solutions.

09/26/2018

I am very pleased to announce that assets of ARM have been acquired by Applied Energy Systems (AES) of Malvern, PA. www.appliedenergysystems.com

Complete details will be coming in the form of a press release that will soon be posted on both the Applied Energy Systems website and the ARM Inc. website, as well as news wire outlets.

We at ARM see this as a very positive move. AES and ARM have a lot in common, with both companies serving high purity gas markets. The complimentary nature of our products will enhance the product lines of both companies.

Look for more announcements in the future as we meld the two operations into one cohesive group of engineers, technicians and business professionals.

At ARM our motto remains.....
..keep it simple
...keep it clean
...keep it flowing

12/20/2017

ARM has completed testing, as is readying for shipment a multi-technology Xenon purifier. Designed to meet customer supplied specifications it utilizes multiple catalyst vessels and adsorber vessels (5 vessels in all) and includes real time O2 level monitoring.

Cabinet 1 (leftmost) houses the inlet valves, Xe purge plumbing, sample points, PLC and control hardware, and the inlet O2 level real time monitoring. Cabinet 2 houses the 3 heated catalyst vessels. Cabinet 3 houses a couple of ambient temp vessels and valves for catalyst vessel regeneration.


As 2 of the 3 catalyst vessels operate at temperatures well beyond what is typical for heated catalyst purifiers, ARM used Thermco furnaces and standard Thermco controls to maintain operating temperatures. Note the cooling coils between cabinet 2 and 3, theses were highlighted in the last newsletter (test data is presented in the article below).

The purifier removes SF6, CF4, C2F6, H20, hydrocarbons, H2, and CO2 at a nominal flow of 25 CFH, up to 90 CFH max. Lifetime expectation of the non-regenerable vessel is 4 years of 24/7 operation at 90 CFH and 100 ppm inlet impurity load.

If you have need for purifying Xenon or any other Rare gas, contact ARM with your performance specifications and we will be happy to quote a solution.

08/02/2016

This month's technical article is contributed by Brian Warrick, VP of Technology at ARM Inc. Just how clean is my gas and how pure do I need it? These are questions I've been asked many times throughout the years and the simple answer is that it's better than the manufacturers specification, but it's also inconsistent purity.

Over the next few months, we'll examine how gases are made and discuss why purification is important. This article will focus on atmospheric gases, specifically, nitrogen, oxygen, argon,
and trace rare gases.

Future articles will review hydrogen, hydrocarbon gases, carbon dioxide, helium, and sub-atmospheric and other specialty gases.
The air we breathe is not one homogenous mixture, but rather varies depending on location. In urban areas, contaminates such as NOx, CO, SOx, CH4, etc. may be present in the air to such
an extent that layers of smog are visible. In rural areas, the air may be pristine. Air is comprised primarily of nitrogen gas, followed by oxygen. These two elements comprise approximately 98%
of the air we breathe. Other, trace compounds make up the remainder. In urban areas, the 3 pollutants discussed above may pass through the air separation process and end up
concentrated in your gas.

How is Air Separated?

Three common methods of air separation are membrane use, vacuum and/or pressure swing adsorption (VPSA/PSA), and cryogenically.

Membrane style generators are simple, but can only create nitrogen with purity up to 99%. Another way of thinking of this is that in every 1,000,000 molecules of nitrogen rich gas generated, 10,000 molecules will be other components. That doesn't sound like very much, but in precision device manufacturing, the presence of even a few molecules of other gas may impact performance and yield.

Figure 1 demonstrates how a membrane generator works. Think of a membrane generator as a tube packed with rigatoni. If the tube of packed rigatoni is now filled with vodka sauce, some of the sauce will move through (or permeate) to the outer pasta wall and move to the opposite side. In this example, the portion of sauce which permeates through the pasta represents pure vodka. So, we start off with sauce entering one side of the tube and have pure vodka exiting the other. It's not the most efficient method, but it's not complex and relatively low cost.

In the same manner, air enters a tube packed with hollow fibers and nitrogen and oxygen are separated by the fibers. The remaining gas is swept away to vent. While the gas exiting the
membrane contains some oxygen and other impurities, it is pure enough for applications such as: food packaging, beverage dispensing, tire filling, and general purpose inerting.

Figure 1: Membrane Separation

VPSA/PSA systems are more complex than membranes, but offer more improved pressure and purity performance. Some systems offer purity to 99.9%. Figure 2 shows us the PSA method of separation.

Two or more packed beds are filled with a zeolite and operated in parallel. Air flows through one bed and oxygen or nitrogen is held-up or adsorbed within the zeolite. As the zeolite becomes full, gas flow shifts to another packed bed, while the first bed is regenerated. Regeneration is accomplished by rapidly reducing pressure and possibly introducing a vacuum within the bed. This
style of separation uses alternating beds in which one or more are on-line while others are being regenerated.

Figure 2: PSA Separation

A third method of air separation is cryogenics. Figure 3 is shows the inner working of a cryogenic plant in which feed air is sufficiently chilled to liquefy oxygen, nitrogen, as well as argon. Liquid gases are typically 99.9% and higher purity. This style of separation relies on the boiling point, which is the temperature at which a gas changes phase to a liquid. Within a cryogenic separator, liquid nitrogen flows down a tall packed column while air passes up through the column.

Figure 3: Cryogenic Separation

Since air is comprised of many gases, it stands to reason that the gases which makeup air will liquefy at different points along the column. Industrial gas suppliers use this principle to separate nitrogen, oxygen, and argon from air and store these in large containers (see Figure 4). The cryogen is then delivered to end users.

Your industrial gas supplier likely has many air separation plants throughout the country. Some plants are located in heavy industrial areas and others in rural locations.

We opened this article by asking "how pure is your gas". We now know that there are varying separation methods for nitrogen, oxygen, and argon and that purity may vary from method to method. Purity will also vary from cryogenic plant to plant. Nitrogen from plants in highly urban areas will have higher levels of carbon monoxide than rural areas and oxygen levels will vary with plant
efficiency. Therefore, the purity of product delivered to your tank may vary with every delivery. While product delivered will meet your specifications, the product in your tank will likely have
inconsistent purity over time.

Laboratory, pharmaceutical, and electronic manufacturers typically require 99.999% purity or higher and many of these applications use liquid gases. In many of these applications, product consistency is the key to ensuring their manufactured product or report is accurate. Inconsistencies in gas can impact device performance and yield, which directly impacts profit margins and shareholder expectations.

Figure 4: Merchant Style Plant

Purification is a solution for inconsistent gases. ARM offers a wide range of media specifically selected for your applications. From reducing moisture in a gas stream to trapping krypton ang xenon in argon, ARM has a product to fit your needs.

Tune in next month as we'll dig deeper into cryogenic separation and focus on the boiling point of individual gases as opposed to this month high level view.

Questions/Comments? Contact Brian at 719-538-5959 or [email protected]

08/02/2016

How pure is your gas

02/08/2016

ARM Inc. is represented in Korea by ATC who participated in the recent Semicon Korea featuring their principles products, including ARM's point of use purifiers.

11/19/2015

A purifier with every component and all plumbing sections welded together would provide the best assurance of purity from the supplier's factory to the end use, but it would dramatically increase the cost of maintenance such as replacing a failed component or spent purifier vessel. To accommodate servicing the various components in high purity applications face seal fittings are used with any component that may for whatever reason need to be removed for service or replacement.

A face seal connection consists of two fittings with toroidal seal rings machined into the face of the fittings, and male and female nuts that provide the sealing force between the toroidal seal rings and the flat metal gasket positioned between them. Unlike typical elastomeric O-ring seals that rely on the softness of the o-ring to fill scratches in the sealing surfaces, the face seal design works because of the precision machining used to fabricate the fittings and the surface roughness of the toroidal seal rings in the face of the fittings.

The roughness of a surface is typically defined by the term Ra. As described in ASME B46.1, Ra is the arithmetic average of the absolute values of the profile height deviations from the mean line, recorded within the evaluation length. Simply put, Ra is the average of a set of individual measurements of a surface's peaks and valleys.

A face seal fittings' toroidal seal ring is machined and electro-polished to a surface roughness Ra of 0.25 micrometers. So how deep is a .25 micrometer "scratch" in the sealing surface? An average human hair is ~90 micrometers in diameter. A 0.25 micrometer "scratch" in the surface is ~1/360th the diameter of a human hair! You would not be able to detect a "scratch" that shallow with the naked eye, let alone by running your fingernail across it. A molecule of N2 is slightly larger than O2 but both are close to 0.0003 micrometers in diameter. This means that the diameter of a N2 or O2 gas molecule is only ~1/1000 the depth of an average acceptable "scratch" in a 0.25 micrometer Ra finish.

So what does all this mean? A typical manufacturer's spec for leak rate of properly assembled metal gasket face seal fitting is 4 x 10-11 standard cc/sec of Helium, the smallest gas molecule. Leak rates for N2 and O2 would certainly be less due to being larger molecules. The typical recommended tightening for face seal fittings using stainless steel or nickel gaskets is to tighten the nut to finger tight, then with wrenches tighten an additional 45 degrees or 1/8 a full turn. The surface roughness (or smoothness might be a better way to describe it) of the sealing surfaces of face seal fittings and gaskets is paramount to making a leak tight seal. Care must be exercised to protect the sealing surfaces (both the fittings and gasket) from damage. When installing gaskets and making face seal connections, take care to avoid particulate contamination on the sealing surfaces. Particulate during gasket installation can make an indentation in the sealing surface, and can lead to failing a pressure decay test, which could lead to over tightening the nuts causing yet further damage. Particulate present may not cause a leak initially, but if the gasket is ever replaced, any indentation it leaves in the sealing surface may prevent a leak tight seal with a new gasket. If removing a component it is best practice to protect any exposed face seal fitting with a new gasket and mating blank fitting tightened per the manufacturer's recommendation. If that is not possible, using aluminum foil and/or a plastic dust cap will afford some protection.

08/31/2015

Getter technology is well known for gas purification. Getter purifiers can be operated heated or unheated based on the gas being purified and the impurities being removed. Getter purifiers all have a finite life, essentially a limit to the amount of impurities they can remove from the gas stream.

Lifetime is typically derived from a calculation based on the input impurity level and flow rate of the gas being purified. Purifiers are typically designed and sized to provide 1 year of operation based on these parameters before needing replacement or regeneration.

But what happens if the flow rate was unknowingly more than average causing a shorter than calculated lifetime? The logical assumption would be premature impurity breakthrough, which
in the best case would be identified by decreasing process performance, and in the worst case, damage to products/equipment. There is anecdotal evidence that other things could happen. From breakdown of the gettered impurities and subsequent release into the gas stream, to cyclic burst releases of larger quantities of specific impurities.

ARM Inc. is investigating! We are scheduling end of life testing of specific purifiers and will be writing and releasing a paper on the results, these results will also be reported here.

08/18/2015

Contact: Steve Wright
North America Sales Manager
ARM, Inc.
Colorado Springs, CO USA
Office 719/538-5959, Fax 719/538-5960, Cell 613/852-1874
[email protected] www.arminc.com

ARM, INC. ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT WITH FULCRUM TECHNOLOGIES, INC

ARM, Inc. is pleased to announce the appointment of Fulcrum Technologies as its Eastern US Distributor for its point-of-use purifier product line, including the popular Nova and Pro-Panel series purifiers. Fulcrum Technologies, Inc. is a stocking distributor company serving the microelectronics, nanotechnology, bio-pharmaceutical industries since 1986.

"Fulcrum Technologies, Inc. has extensive sale experience and technical knowledge in high purity gas purification equipment and processes. We are very pleased to be working with Fulcrum in the eastern US, and are looking forward to sustained growth in both sales and brand recognition in their territory" said Steve Wright, North American Sales Manager for ARM, Inc.

ARM Inc. designs and manufactures high purity gas purifiers and associated gas handling equipment for the semiconductor, energy, medical and pharmaceutical markets in the US and around the world.

ARM, Inc. [email protected]
View web page www.arminc.com
View Fulcrum web page www.fulcrumtechinc.com

ARM Inc is a US manufacturer of gas purification and gas handling equipment for high purity and ultra high purity gas users in the aerospace, semiconductor, medical, pharmaceutical, and analytical industries.

07/02/2015

ARM recently completed installation of a high purity nitrogen supply system at an electronics manufacturer in the southwest United States. The gas supplier provided the liquid storage tank and vaporizers and ARM designed and built the all stainless steel vaporizer switching module, pressure control and filtration modules, nitrogen purifier, and a dedicated fill hose purge assembly for the liquid storage tank. ARM not only provide equipment, we project managed the entire installation effort, from sourcing local contractors to complete the on-site installation of all high purity stainless steel components and piping, to certifying purity of the overall installation using state of the art gas analyzers.



ARM provides services and equipment for both industrial gas suppliers and end users who have purity requirements that require special grade stainless steel throughout. For gas suppliers or end users who do not have experience with high purity stainless steel orbital weld capabilities, ARM is your ideal solution. Our combination of in-house module fabrication, on-site installation services, and project management makes us the industry leading "high tech" integrator.

06/29/2015