Handling / Material: Pharmaceutical powders
Client / Industry: Pharmaceutical manufacture
Geo Location: UK
Application required:
- Cleaning and maintenance characteristics of sanitary valve
- Full compatibility with vacuum in the host system
The problem:
Traditionally, butterfly valves designed for use in high vacuum applications, especially in the larger sizes required for powder handling in the Pharmaceutical, Food, Chemical and Cosmetics industries, tend to be large and heavy, and complicated and inconvenient to strip down for cleaning, and as a result do not conform to the requirements of cGMP design:
- No dead points where product can accumulate
- Rounded corners and edges
- Highly polished wetted parts
- Easy and quick strip down and reassembly
- Tool free maintenance wherever possible
Sanitary valves designed to these standards on the other hand do not perform well in vacuum conditions, especially when open, where they can very easily lose their seal due to the action of the vacuum .
The solution:
In order to meet these requirements, the team at ValvEngineering of Lucca, Italy designed a genuine sanitary valve which is at the same time fully compatible with use on vacuum systems.
Key features:
- Their unique clamshellTM clamp design enables tool-free strip down and reassembly in a few seconds
- precision machined with all product contact surfaces in AISI 316L mirror polished to full Pharma specification
- design of the valve body ensures that the sealing arrangements are fully resistant to vacuum and there is no possibility for the vacuum to dislodge the seal whether in the open or closed position
- innovative design of the FDA and USP class VI compliant silicone seal ensures that opening torque is kept to a minimum
- Tri-clover end connections enable straightforward hygienic fitting into host system with commercially available mating ferrules and clamps
