Sustainability through minimized weight
The transformation on the way to a sustainable future is an important topic to which we all want and need to make our contribution. Consumption and production techniques must be changed, and ecological and social action is moving further into focus. Conscious use of limited resources is called for, as is compliance with occupational health and safety and environmental protection guidelines.
Sustainable production merely uses resources instead of consuming them. It manufactures products that follow the principle of sustainability both in their production and in their subsequent use - such as self-acting industrial valves. They are used in almost every industrial sector: pharmaceuticals, food & beverage, offshore, tank farms, mining, power generation, high-pressure applications, industrial and process water, etc.
Self-acting industrial valves are important components of machines and plants and perform necessary regulating or control tasks in them. To function properly, they require neither an external energy source nor an actuator and only need to be adapted to the site-specific conditions in terms of material and design.
Lightweight yet robust: the deep-drawn valve
The materials for self-acting industrial valves are selected according to the application area and ambient conditions. Solid material is suitable for high-pressure applications and, thanks to its corrosion resistance, for aggressive media. Cast valves are used in high-temperature areas, welded constructions are used for large nominal widths and high volume flows.
If valves are manufactured from deep-drawn steel sheets, this allows significantly lower material usage compared to cast or solid material. Thin-walled sheets are manufactured in several steps to form deep-drawn pots, which then serve as the body for the valve.
The deep-drawing production process is significantly more resource-efficient due to:
- less material usage, e.g. due to sheet thicknesses of 0.5 to 10.0 mm
- less material wastage compared to valve bodies made of solid material
In addition, this type of production generates very little CO2.
Thanks to modular construction systems, different product variants can be flexibly assembled with a low number of components for a wide range of applications. However, the rule for modular industrial valves is: uniformity wherever possible and configurability wherever necessary.
Deep-drawn valves lead a sustainable life
Deep-drawn parts are characterized in principle by high corrosion and pressure resistance and significant weight advantages over a gray cast iron body and are easy to clean. Nowadays, not only stainless steel is deep-drawn, but increasingly also special materials such as titanium or Hastelloy. If deep-drawn valves are polished, their high surface quality makes them particularly suitable for use in hygiene applications, e.g. in the pharmaceutical and food sectors or in cleanroom technology.
The thin wall thicknesses and low weight save thermal energy during the sterilization processes, as the material is heated more quickly. At the same time, the deep-drawn bodies are in no way inferior to cast ones in terms of pressure resistance. For comparison: a deep-drawn valve has a wall thickness of 0.8 mm, whereas cast ones have a wall thickness of up to 2 cm.
Deep-drawn stainless steel and elastomers suitable for the application ensure long operating times for the self-acting valve. With regular maintenance, a lifetime of more than 25 years is not uncommon.
The perfect "GreenDeal“
The sustainability of manufacturing processes for deep-drawn industrial valves is gaining particular impetus from advancing digitalization. Thanks to digitized processes, more scope is being created for innovative developments. Enormous savings are made possible through customized production with optimized machines. This means that the required parts can be produced just in time, because the data can be retrieved at any time and from anywhere, and storage costs are reduced.
With CFD simulations and 3D geometries, the manufacturer can clearly communicate his technology. Specially designed videos with product information, assembly instructions or impressions from production provide the customer with important visual material and save time that would otherwise be spent on queries or comprehension problems.
The shipping of the finished valve is also sustainable. In combination with recycled cardboard boxes and the low dead weight (2 to 25 kg) of the self-acting industrial valve, more environmentally friendly transport routes/transport methods are possible. Valves made of other materials are so heavy in weight that they can only be shipped as palletized goods.
Ease of maintenance also serves the demand for sustainability: the fewer components the self-acting control valve has, the faster and easier it can be maintained or its control characteristics can be adapted to changed plant parameters by simply replacing the components. If spare parts are available for decades, the self-acting valve can provide its service for a long time.
Once the service life of the self-acting valve in the plant has expired, the materials can be separated and almost completely recycled. There is no electrical scrap as with control valves.
All of this conserves resources and also benefits the climate.
Aspects for self-acting control valves that are convincing.
Sustainability
- Resource-saving thanks to independence from external energy
- Long operational lifespan due to the selection of high quality material and proper design of the valve
- Recyclability of the used materials
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