A local agricultural contractor, beef, sheep and animal farmer based in the UK have been using AKO Pinch Valves for 10 years in their crop spraying application.
Agricultural herbicides, fungicides and insecticides diluted with water at Mains water temperature are passing through two AKO Pinch Valves from the VM range. Both valves are installed on top of the main tank. The VM type Pinch Valve has a PVC body with POM plastic BSP threaded ends. The heart of the pinch valve is the internal soft bladder/sleeve, which in this case is natural rubber.
One pinch valve is always closed, acting as a pressure release in case of a dead end in the plumbing. The other pinch valve is open until the nozzles are turned on where it is then shut to stop the chemical recirculating back to the tank. This is so that all the liquid that passed through the flow meter has to go out of the nozzles. Without it, chemical would be going back to the tank with no way of knowing how much was going out through the nozzles.
The pinch valves operate in excess of 200 cycles per day. 7 bar pressure through a 6mm pipe is used to fully shut off the internal rubber sleeve, while the diluted chemicals passing through the valves flow through at an average pressure of around 3 bar.
