The XGD valve was not the only product launch at the Solids exhibition, though. Rota Val also announced a new Fast Clean Blowing Seal, the BSFCT. Developing existing technology found in the company’s other Fast Clean valves, the BSFCT offers significant benefits to users who need to carry out frequent internal cleaning.

Of particular interest to the food and pharmaceutical industries, the new valve features easily removable end covers and a tapered rotor supported by guide rails. These reduce manual handling effort, simplify cleaning procedures, and ensure that the rotor is accurately replaced without damage to the vanes or housing. Together, the features enable the valve to remain efficient over a long service life and preserve its certification if supplied to ATEX standards.

Significantly, the new BSFCT employs a very high quality casting which is manufactured by the investment or “lost wax” casting process. Housings made in this way possess inherently smoother surfaces and very rarely have any surface faults, allowing the contact areas to be polished more easily and effectively. This translates into lower production costs and enhanced performance with fewer crevices to trap product.

Design features include a true Blow-Through shape with no chopping point at the rotor outlet. This means that sticky or fragile products are handled more effectively, and better purging of the pockets improves performance. The body of the valve has a low profile with compact overall dimensions to allow installation where headroom is restricted. As with all Rota Val ATEX certified valves, every BSFCT for explosion containment application is individually pressure tested during manufacture.

“This development will appeal to anyone who needs valves for hygienic product handling with fast, easy strip down and cleaning. The BSFCT is suitable for any conveying system up to 2 bar g, as well as vacuum and gravity applications,” commented Simon Pantall. “It can also be fitted with our third new product, the RotaSafe RM Rotor Protection System.”

Rota Val’s new Valve Protection System is designed to detect any contact between the rotor and valve housing, instantly isolating power to the drive motor.

The RotaSafe RM Rotor Monitor will be primarily of interest to customers where product contamination is a significant issue.

Contact between the rotor and valve housing can result from rotor deflection due to product build-up (glazing) on contact surfaces, ingress of ‘tramp’ material in the working clearances, bearing failure or excessive temperature or pressure. Incorrect assembly and lack of maintenance can also cause rotor contact with the housing.

RotaSafe RM offers significant benefits to users. The system prevents valve material shedding into and therefore contaminating the product being handled and protects valve components from serious damage. Prevention of damage to the internals of ATEX Autonomous Protection valves is vitally important to avoid invalidation of ATEX certification through an increase in rotor clearances.

The detection circuit is Intrinsically Safe and therefore suitable for all Zones.

The unit can be programmed to eliminate ‘nuisance tripping’ from circuit detection due to partial conductivity through wash-down fluids or through the product being handled.

“Our new RotaSafe RM is ideal for the BSFCT and other easily removable, fast Clean or Hypergienic valves in our range. It is also suitable for retrofitting to existing rotary valves.” concluded Simon Pantall.

“Having three new products to launch at the same time illustrates very well how Rota Val earned its reputation for innovation, to react positively to customer requirements. We will still provide valves for special applications, continue to design and develop one-off or small quantity valves for unusual needs, and of course live up to our reputation. But now we can widen our market appeal and supply a new valve range which offers excellent features at highly competitive prices. We are proud that we can do all of this and still provide our well-established advice and after-sales service. Substantial technical benefits and low cost really do provide the Best of Both Worlds.”

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The XGD valve was not the only product launch at the Solids exhibition, though. Rota Val also announced a new Fast Clean Blowing Seal, the BSFCT. Developing existing technology found in the company’s other Fast Clean valves, the BSFCT offers significant benefits to users who need to carry out frequent internal cleaning.

Of particular interest to the food and pharmaceutical industries, the new valve features easily removable end covers and a tapered rotor supported by guide rails. These reduce manual handling effort, simplify cleaning procedures, and ensure that the rotor is accurately replaced without damage to the vanes or housing. Together, the features enable the valve to remain efficient over a long service life and preserve its certification if supplied to ATEX standards.

Significantly, the new BSFCT employs a very high quality casting which is manufactured by the investment or “lost wax” casting process. Housings made in this way possess inherently smoother surfaces and very rarely have any surface faults, allowing the contact areas to be polished more easily and effectively. This translates into lower production costs and enhanced performance with fewer crevices to trap product.

Design features include a true Blow-Through shape with no chopping point at the rotor outlet. This means that sticky or fragile products are handled more effectively, and better purging of the pockets improves performance. The body of the valve has a low profile with compact overall dimensions to allow installation where headroom is restricted. As with all Rota Val ATEX certified valves, every BSFCT for explosion containment application is individually pressure tested during manufacture.

“This development will appeal to anyone who needs valves for hygienic product handling with fast, easy strip down and cleaning. The BSFCT is suitable for any conveying system up to 2 bar g, as well as vacuum and gravity applications,” commented Simon Pantall. “It can also be fitted with our third new product, the RotaSafe RM Rotor Protection System.”

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Rota Val’s new Valve Protection System is designed to detect any contact between the rotor and valve housing, instantly isolating power to the drive motor.

The RotaSafe RM Rotor Monitor will be primarily of interest to customers where product contamination is a significant issue.

Contact between the rotor and valve housing can result from rotor deflection due to product build-up (glazing) on contact surfaces, ingress of ‘tramp’ material in the working clearances, bearing failure or excessive temperature or pressure. Incorrect assembly and lack of maintenance can also cause rotor contact with the housing.

RotaSafe RM offers significant benefits to users. The system prevents valve material shedding into and therefore contaminating the product being handled and protects valve components from serious damage. Prevention of damage to the internals of ATEX Autonomous Protection valves is vitally important to avoid invalidation of ATEX certification through an increase in rotor clearances.

The detection circuit is Intrinsically Safe and therefore suitable for all Zones.

The unit can be programmed to eliminate ‘nuisance tripping’ from circuit detection due to partial conductivity through wash-down fluids or through the product being handled.

“Our new RotaSafe RM is ideal for the BSFCT and other easily removable, fast Clean or Hypergienic valves in our range. It is also suitable for retrofitting to existing rotary valves.” concluded Simon Pantall.

“Having three new products to launch at the same time illustrates very well how Rota Val earned its reputation for innovation, to react positively to customer requirements. We will still provide valves for special applications, continue to design and develop one-off or small quantity valves for unusual needs, and of course live up to our reputation. But now we can widen our market appeal and supply a new valve range which offers excellent features at highly competitive prices. We are proud that we can do all of this and still provide our well-established advice and after-sales service. Substantial technical benefits and low cost really do provide the Best of Both Worlds.”

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ATEX-approved Diverter Valves for South America

Rota Val has won an order for seven PS Diverter Valves from a major international food manufacturer to be installed in a new production plant in Brazil.

Consisting of five PS90 and one each PS65 and PS100, the valves will be handling a variety of food products including MSK, maltodextrin, starch, lactose and sucrose. The valves are manufactured in 316 stainless steel and include FDA-approved seals, double-acting pneumatic torque actuators, solenoid valves, position switches, pressure gauges and pressure switches to warn of inflatable seal failure.

All valves and associated ancillaries are constructed to comply with the ATEX Zone 22 dust explosion prevention regulations, have a bead blast finish and smooth contact surfaces to minimise product flow disturbance. Designed to operate within a lean phase conveying system working at 0.8 barg, the valves are used in diverging mode to manage the flow of powders from storage to process plant under PLC control. Solenoid valves, pressure gauges, connections and related fittings are all installed and prewired on the PS Valve housings by Rota Val to provide fast, simple insallation and commissioning.

The PS range of Diverter Valves was designed to address the need for high quality valves which could easily be stripped down and cleaned in place with minimal downtime and operator effort. Suitable for vacuum, lean and dense phase conveying, versions are available in a choice of surface finishes. Couplings may be pipe, flanged, plain pipe or “quick-clamp” FDA-approved. Special versions can be supplied for inert or reactive gas conveying applications where the outer casing may be sealed and pressurised to eliminate any possibility of gas or dust emissions. Standard PS Valves with internal pipe diameters from 20mm to 200mm are available, but Rota Val will always consider meeting the needs of customers with unusual or new application requirements.

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World leaders in the design and manufacture of tobacco processing machinery, Dickinson Legg chose Rota Val to meet their special rotary valve needs.

Originally founded as a general engineering company in1849, Robert Legg soon specialised in the design and manufacture of tobacco processing equipment. Over the following century the company grew and developed, moved from London to Andover and ownership changed several times as the Legg family sold their interests in the business.

Meanwhile, W. H. Dickinson Engineering Ltd. was formed in 1969 and underwent many changes before acquiring the former Legg company, then known as GBE Tobacco, in 1998. The new combined company became Dickinson Legg Ltd. with design and manufacturing premises based in Winchester. In 2006, the company was acquired by Italian company European Tobacco Development, a subsidiary of Garbuio SpA, and the company became known as Garbuio Dickinson.

Throughout this long and complex history, the core business has always been the provision of advanced processing machinery to the tobacco industry. Now with customers throughout the world, Garbuio Dickinson is a major supplier with a substantial share of the worldwide market.

Years ago, tobacco was relatively inexpensive and the final products could be very variable with a high weight to volume ratio. As demand became more sophisticated and technology advanced, so processing techniques improved. Quality of the final products became more consistent, yields higher, and the pressure on suppliers of processing equipment to develop ever more efficient systems increased. Dickinson Legg responded by developing a wide range of equipment, including a new High Expansion Dryer (HXD) plant. Although principally designed for tobacco drying, the HXD system could easily be configured for alternative applications, including drying certain food products.

Essentially, the HXD system consists of a process heater which supplies hot air through a rotary valve to a cyclone. At the lower end of the cyclone is a second rotary valve and discharge chute. Cut lamina enters the HXD through the first rotary valve where it is surrounded by a hot air and water vapour mix. Rapid expansion and then drying occurs in the vertical drying column due to the loose tobacco strands immediately absorbing heat from the drying medium. Dried tobacco is separated from the drying medium by a cyclone where it is discharged to atmosphere, the whole process taking no more than 10 seconds. A range of sizes is available, with throughputs of 0.5t/hr up to 18.5t/hr or more.

Sophisticated measurement and control systems ensure that the composition of the drying medium is accurately controlled to provide an end product which precisely matches the result required.

Key to the whole process is the performance of the two rotary valves at the inlet and discharge ends of the cyclone. Tobacco is a particularly difficult product to handle as it can build up on surfaces and gradually acts like a disc brake, slowing and even stopping the valve rotor. Whilst not highly abrasive, the build-up of material can also damage the rotor blades and cause wear which significantly degrades valve performance.

Already a long-term customer, Dickinson Legg approached Rota Val at an early stage in the new HXD development process. Previous experience had shown that conventional rotary valves were badly affected by both product build-up and the extremes of temperature characteristic of the process.

Anthony Phillips, Senior Design Engineer for Dickinson Legg, explained some of the design considerations: “Typically, process temperatures can range from 215°C to 460°C, and one side of the input process can be at ambient temperature. This places considerable thermal strain on the whole plant, but the rotary valves are especially vulnerable. With cast iron bodies and stainless steel rotors, the differing expansion coefficients of valve components could present problems. In addition, the nature of the product handled introduced special constraints if long-term reliability and simple maintenance were to be achieved.”

“Our experience of working with Rota Val on previous projects had been very good,” Mr. Phillips continued, “and we had no hesitation in asking them to work with us in the development of new rotary valves for the HXD expansion system. It quickly became apparent that, although working in the same sections of plant and physically close together, the inlet and outlet valves would need different designs to meet the process demands at these points.”

Whilst both valves were designed to use cast iron bodies with stainless steel liners and stainless steel rotors, the inlet valve incorporated a scalloped rotor to eliminate tobacco build-up in the pockets. The wet and sticky product also caused problems between the rotor and the end plates, so these were redesigned to incorporate bronze plates. These reduced the amount of wear, but were also very easy to replace on site as required. Blades are chamfered on the edge to cut through tobacco deposits. Unusually, the rotor blades are not fitted with replaceable tips as the working differential pressure is around 5mb with a 60° product.

The discharge airlock valve, however, subject to temperature variations up to 250°C, is positioned underneath the drying cyclone, and is exposed to the process gas which is typically 80% water and hot air. To meet these conditions, the lower rotary valve was designed with adjustable bronze rotor tips to cope with the greater differential pressure across the valve of around 15 to 20mb. Bronze also assists in extending the life of the rotor, as dried tobacco contains highly abrasive silica grains and the rotor tips are easily and quickly replaceable.

Naturally, with any adjustable system, the standard and quality of maintenance is the key to long service life. The valves are fitted onto a wheeled trolley to facilitate easy removal, and it is usual for a customer to keep a serviced spare valve available in stock so that fast replacement ensures there is minimal interruption of processing times. Rota Val’s ability to manufacture large valves (typically with inlet sizes of 750mm by 500mm) to very exacting standards greatly facilitates this “plug and play” approach. As every valve manufactured by the company has an individual identity and any special features recorded, even very old valves can be provided with spare parts as and when required.

In addition, any valves specified to meet ATEX regulations are individually tested and certified to ensure conformance with their roles in explosion protection and flame containment.

“Tobacco has become an expensive commodity,” commented Anthony Phillips. “and with continuing growth in demand in certain markets, it is essential that we make the best use of all available raw materials. The HXD expansion system has proven benefits in increased product expansion, better control of quality to reduce scrap materials, a reduced reliance on expanded tobacco, excellent moisture control, high throughput and low energy consumption. Further, the HXD allows manufacturers to incorporate previously unusable parts of the tobacco leaf and stem, which again reduces manufacturing costs and improves the yield.” “All of these benefits can provide significant cost savings to manufacturers around the world, with a fast payback to justify the investment. Rota Val has consistently supported our efforts to stay at the forefront of this market, and have actively contributed to the design of the most effective rotary valves for our needs. Their willingness to work with us on new projects and the high quality of their products has made a significant contribution to our continued success worldwide.”

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Foster Yeoman Chooses Rota Val for Asphalt Plant

A market leader in the manufacture of all types of asphalt, Foster Yeoman selected Rota Val rotary valves for a key part of its plant in Somerset.

Foster Yeoman Limited was founded by Foster Yeoman, from Hartlepool, near Wells, shortly after the Great War to provide employment for ex-soldiers. The company grew rapidly and supplied materials for airfields during the next worldwide conflict. A period of recession and the death of the founder in 1949 could have ended the company’s existence, but Foster’s son, John Foster Yeoman, took over the business and revitalised it by acquiring and expanding the Merehead Quarry at East Cranmore. Renamed Torr Quarry in honour of Chief Engineer Ron Torr, the quarry became a major source of carboniferous limestone products with around 75% of its output conveyed by special trains to customers around the country. Typically, up to 70 trains per week leave Torr Works carrying an average of 1,500 tonnes each, with additional rock carried to local destinations by road.

Recognised as a leader in the use of high technology and environmentally-friendly methods of production, Foster Yeoman installed a giant walking primary crusher which weighs 1,200 tonnes. Moving at up to 45 metres per hour, this crusher discharges on to a mobile conveyor system, making the use of dump trucks largely unnecessary, with significant benefits to the local environment.

After further treatment, the rock is graded into scalpings which may be used as a filler, and into eight different sizes. Whilst most of the rock is then shipped to other sites, a proportion is used to produce asphalt at the Torr Works.

The production plant essentially consists of infeed hoppers, a drying drum, six aggregate storage bins, tanks for various grades and colours of bitumen, storage for cellulose fibres and pigments, and silos for reclaimed filler, the fine dust filtered out from earlier parts of the crushing and grading processes. Under computer control, these raw materials are weighed and blended to produce a variety of products for everything from tennis courts to motorways, and from the Thames Barrage to the Channel Tunnel.

“We chose to use pneumatic conveying for part of the process from the filler silos to the weigh fill hopper,” commented Production Manager Gary Maidment. “It is far more efficient in this application than using screw conveyors, which can flood and damage the screw. However, the material we are carrying is extremely aggressive, containing a high proportion of gritstone as a very fine powder. Rota Val Heavy Duty Rotary Valves were selected to control the flow from the silos into a 4” conveying pipe, working at around 1.5 p.s.i. Each valve operates at up to 3 tonnes per hour.”

“Working closely with Rota Val’s technical team, we quickly established that we could extend the life of the valves considerably by not running them empty. We always have a head of filler above each valve, and a Bin Indicator allows the valve to reverse. The Bindex-Vega system is employed,where a low-powered motor is fitted to the drive shaft. This senses the presence of filler and allows the main drive motor to be started. As a result of these additions, valve life has been doubled. We have been using the system now for some ten years, and it works very well.”

Rota Val’s HD Series of rotary valves offers a wide range of sizes along with comprehensive optional features that can provide for the exact needs of most applications. The design and construction features ensure high sealing and filling efficiencies to provide for optimum performance and durability.

Twelve standard valve sizes are available from 50mm to 750mm to give capacities up to around 250m3/hr. The valves are produced with round or square flange options – some larger sizes also available in rectangular designs, and are manufactured in Cast Iron, SG Iron, Aluminium and Stainless Steel. Alternative materials of construction such as Monel, Inconel, Titanium, and Hastelloy are

available to special order.

“Foster Yeoman has standardised on Rota Val products for this application,” continued Mr. Maidment, “because we have always found their valves to be excellent value for money, robust and ideally suited to their purpose. If we need technical assistance it is readily available and spares can be supplied very quickly. Overall, the balance of cost, product and service is just right.”

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Performance and Reliability for Key Irish Facility

Seeking improved performance and reliability from their extensive pilot plant in Fermoy, Moorepark Technology Ltd. chose Rota Val to supply a custom-designed new rotary valve for their Spray Drier.

Moorepark Technology Ltd. (MTL) is a subsidiary of Teagasc, the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority, and jointly-owned along with a consortium of major Irish food manufacturers. This combination of private and public ownership provides financial support and research resources to maintain a highly efficient and very well-equipped pilot plant specially designed to test out new production processes for the international food industry.

The plant is large enough to accurately simulate commercial food processing. It has been designed and built specifically for research, development and pre-commercial scale manufacturing in areas such as dairy products, cultured milk products, dried food ingredients, confectionery, beverages, sauces, dressing and dips, yellow fat spreads and margarines and bioprocessing including protein separation, fermentation and enzymatic conversion.

MTL’s plant consists of six self-contained, but interlinked, operating units. These include the cheesemaking unit, a separation technology facility, a wet process unit, fat technology unit, evaporation and drying, and the food technology applications unit. Offering the highest standards of completely confidential development and research work, MTL has established a reputation for high quality procedures, excellent documentation and valuable input from experienced staff.

Reliable results and a commitment to excellence are revealed in that MTL has gained regular business from around 120 manufacturers worldwide, with a growing customer base outside Ireland. However, consistently high standards demand continuous assessment and upgrading of plant systems to meet the needs of rapidly developing new food production technologies. The MTL plant, which is located at Fermoy in Co. Cork, would normally use each of its self-contained operating units in a progressive sequence to establish the best processing technology for customer requirements, which naturally means that any key individual component becomes critical to the overall performance of the pilot plant.

One area to be considered for upgrading was the evaporation and spray drying complex. Dr. Sean Tuohy, General Manager of MTL, commented: “We became concerned that the performance of a component of our spray drying plant was deteriorating and reaching a point where it would no longer operate to an acceptable standard. A rotary valve installed in the lean phase conveying system had been subjected to unusual and extreme conditions, and was beginning to cause problems. The valve controlled material flow from the fines recovery cyclone into a 50mm pneumatic conveying pipe and had become unreliable with substantial leakage and frequent pipe blockages.”

Rotary valves are normally specified according to the type of material to be handled, their abrasive characteristics, thoughput and conveying density. In this application, MTL had no definitive data because the material to be conveyed could be anything from fine, dry powder to sticky, fatty materials and the particle size could vary considerably.

“Our need was for a valve that could handle an unusually wide range of materials,” commented Dr. Tuohy. “In a normal production environment, the valve would be handling a consistent range of materials with well-defined characteristics. It would be cleaned down at regular, but not necessarily frequent, intervals, and would be subject to standard maintenance procedures. In our case, none of this applied. The need to supply a reliable service to our business partners, to provide a wide range of pilot plant facilities, and to meet modern commercial pressures imposed a regime of frequent product changes, consequent clean in place procedures, and also full strip down and clean “out of place” activities at frequent intervals. Compared to the stresses imposed upon a commercial rotary valve, our processes must represent a significant acceleration of normal industrial wear characteristics.”

“When considering the need to replace the original rotary valve, we looked at the problems we had with the existing installation. These included excessive product escape through worn seals, and a build up of material and blockages in a diverter valve about 3 metres downline from the rotary valve. Our key requirements were for greater reliability, enhanced performance, fast Clean-In-Place features, wider product handling capabilities, longer service life and better product containment to meet environmental regulations. All of this, however, had to be achieved in an environment where the valve would be cleaned frequently, potentially leading to excessive wear, and the materials handled would exhibit a very wide range of flow and bulk density characteristics”

“We prepared an outline specification for the replacement valve and asked a number of suppliers to quote for the work,” said Dr. Tuohy. “However, only one company was able to guarantee the design, development and performance of a suitable CIP-able rotary valve which would meet our unusual requirements. That company, Rota Val Ltd., demonstrated considerable previous experience in the production of customised rotary valves using existing products as a base.”

Rota Val Managing Director, Ian Blackmore, takes up the story. “When we examined the system, we discovered that the throughput required was very small, consequently the system had been designed around a conveying line of only two inches diameter whereas the outlet of the cyclone and therefore the inlet of the rotary valve needed to be 250 mm diameter to prevent bridging when handling the more difficult products.”

“Originally it was expected that, as the throughput was to be controlled by the feed into the cyclone, the only function of the rotary valve was to act as an airlock. Consequently a standard blowing seal valve supplied by others had been incorporated: this had a discharge port size of 100 mm requiring a taper adaptor to reduce down to the 50 millimetre conveying line. The blowing seal configuration was out of balance for the needs of the system as a whole; principally the large rotor (300mm dia) and 100mm entrainment trough presented such a large cross sectional area that the 50mm conveying line velocity was well below that needed to ensure good and consistent product entrainment. There was a tendency for high-fat products to stick within the rotor and not be swept clear by the conveying air until such time as the air velocity had increased to a point where pick-up occurred, when the product tended to break away in lumps giving rise to the blockages experienced.”

Having identified the principle cause of the conveying problem, Rota Val then considered the additional features required by MTL. Although several standard types of rotary valve offered partial solutions, discussions between Rota Val and MTL quickly established that a customised valve would give the best results.

Accordingly, Rota Val developed a hybrid valve incorporating the best features of the established ‘Fast-Clean’ valve design along with some of the unique features of the ‘Hypergienic’ range normally supplied to the pharmaceutical industry.

The final result was a wholly fabricated stainless steel assembly incorporating a reduced capacity 250mm rotor with scalloped pockets; the overall design reducing the entrainment cross sectional area by some 75%. The valve included 50mm pipe connections providing direct purging of the rotor pockets. These features ensured that the pick-up velocity is always sufficient and directed to provide reliable and uniform entrainment with even product distribution in the valve and pipe system. Rota Val designed and manufactured the new valve specifically to replace the original unit without modification to existing plant.

Now installed and working hard for two years, the valve has earned respect for its ability to cope with continuous operation, frequent strip-downs and conveying an unusually wide range of products. “Rota Val worked closely with us over a period of some three months to develop this valve,” commented Dr. Tuohy. “We found them to be eager and enthusiastic to find the best solution to our needs, with a considerable body of experience in their specialist field. The end result is a rotary valve that has met our performance requirements. The clean-in-place features save a great deal of time, while the valve is also easy to fully strip down when that is required. If we did the exercise again, I don’t think I would make any significant design changes or improvements. Rota Val has designed and manufactured an excellent solution to our needs which met all of our original objectives.”

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Diverting Experience for Rota Val

Leading valve manufacturer, Rota Val Ltd., has designed and produced a unique new range of Diverter Valves for the pharmaceutical and chemical industries.

Based upon the patented features of the established PS range, the new Diverter Valves were developed to meet the unusually high application demands of a major French pharmaceutical company.

Designated the SPS200, the new valve allows the safe lean phase pneumatic conveying of a pharmaceutical powder in methyl chloride, diverting the powder flow into one of two possible pipes under computer control using a double acting pnuematic torque actuator. Design operating temperature is between 50°C and 100°C at a line pressure capability up to 0.8 barg.

The highly toxic and corrosive nature of the conveyed material meant that the valve had to be designed with a sealed outer casing which is pressurised with Nitrogen to approximately 0.4 barg, and tested to 0.8 barg. All contact parts are fabricated from SMO 254 stainless steel and polished to 0.4 RA to minimise powder build-up. Casing and non-contact parts are in 316L stainless steel. The high specification of construction produced valves which weighed in at 720 Kgs.

At just over two metres long with inlet and outlet diameters of 200mm, the large size of the valves also entailed special design considerations. Each valve is Atex 94/9/EC Certified for use in a Zone 1 gas and Zone 21 dust environment. Special flanges and inflatable internal seals were supplied, designed to allow removal from outside the valve housing for quick and easy maintenance. The housing top cover is strengthened to prevent distortion under pressure, with all welding tested for quality. Quick release fittings provide easy access to the internal parts of the valve for cleaning and safety testing, and two drain connections with teflon sealed flanges facilitate wash down procedures.

Rota Val Managing Director, Ian Blackmore, commented “These new valves are unique in the solids handling industry, but were developed from our existing PS range. They demonstrate the innovative way in which we apply current technology to new applications. Our customer awarded the order because we could show that Rota Val has the necessary experience and would cooperate fully with the customer’s project team to produce an effective solution to their problem. Naturally, our high quality build standards, Atex certification and ability to demonstrate an excellent understanding of the commercial demands of the pharmaceutical industry all played an important part in winning the contract.”

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