The ECLIPSE EIV replaces the traditional sliding elastomer seal with a ceramic-on-ceramic lapped interface — two precision-ground ceramic surfaces that slide against each other to open and close the flow path. No dynamic O-rings, no seal swell in aggressive media, and <0.05 sccm external leak rate. A bipolar stepper motor drives the ceramic element at 0.00006" step resolution and holds position at zero power, eliminating the coil heating and dither that plague solenoid-driven proportional valves.

Why ceramic instead of an elastomer seal?

Elastomer dynamic seals wear with every cycle. They swell in solvents, cold-flow under pressure, and introduce hysteresis as friction changes with temperature. The ECLIPSE ceramic sliding seal eliminates all of these failure modes. The trade-off is cost — ceramic lapping is more expensive than molding an O-ring groove. For applications where <0.05 sccm leak integrity, zero cross-port dead volume, or >1 million cycle life is non-negotiable (mass spectrometry sample inlet, microfluidic reagent dosing, anesthesia vaporizer flow control), the ceramic approach is the right one.

How fine is the flow resolution in practice?

At 0.19 ml/min per full step with water, the ECLIPSE can dose 1 ml of reagent across roughly 5 discrete steps — fine enough for microfluidic assay development and pharmaceutical dispensing where overdosing by a single step would stay within process tolerance. For air and inert gas service, resolution is 0.007 L/min per step. The stepper driver accepts pulse trains up to 1,000 steps/sec for a full-open time of approximately 1.1 seconds.

What driver electronics are required?

The ECLIPSE requires an external bipolar chopper drive at 20 VDC, 0.49 A per phase. Clippard recommends pairing with their Eclipse Driver or a standard off-the-shelf stepper controller that provides adjustable current limiting. The motor consumes 2.5 W during movement only — holding position draws zero current, making the valve suitable for battery-powered portable instruments where solenoid hold current would drain the battery.