Helium: Anagram Technology Tackling Balloon Over-inflation

With the fragile helium supply chain never far from the headlines, Anagram International has been striving to tackle the over-inflation of balloons with the development of its helium regulator test gauge. Anagram joined with Conwin in the 1990s to develop a regulator especially designed for the metalised balloon industry. Conwin is still considered the Gold Standard for regulator performance in the industry for consistency and performance. With the development of designer films for the industry, Holographics and PET, Conwin and Anagram discovered the importance of the regulator inflation pressures. After intensive research, a standard was set and all Conwin regulators were set to 16-18 w.c.i. gasworld understands this remains the standard to this day. The company found that over-filling a metalized balloon will shorten the hang life by more than 50% – studies with balloons filled at 25+ w.c.i. validated these findings – while over-filling a balloon will also use up to 16% more helium. The Manometer is a gauge therefore designed to measure the actual delivery pressure, in water-column-inches (w.c.i), of a helium tank foil regulator. Foil balloons should be filled using regulated pressure between 16 and 18 w.c.is. Anagram developed a language-free tool to check the pressure of the helium regulators that its customers are using, offering simplicity and compact design. The company added that as many as 70% of its customers were unknowingly over-inflating their balloon.

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