Valves for Food on a Vacuum Line

The Best Solution for Transporting Food Media

The food sector has become a much broader sector than it used to be. Valves have an important function in the processing, production and transport of various different food and beverage products – particularly controlling transport flows.

AKO UK are working with a local manufacturer of spices, seasonings and pulses supplying to many leading food manufacturing companies, servicing the most demanding and dynamic retail market in the world.

The company works closely with major food groups as well as smaller manufacturers. Their products are key ingredients within:

• ready meals
• sauces
• snack foods
• marinated meat
• sweets & savouries

Their expertise in cuisine includes Indian, Chinese, Thai, Mexican, West Indian and Mediterranean to name but a few.

Ensuring that the products that this company manufacturers are transported around their factory efficiently is an important role, which is why they chose to do this with the help of Pinch Valves.

Application Details

There are two Pinch Valves installed at this plant. The valves are used to control the product flow in the closed position, between two vacuum lines at a Y intersection.

The food media passing through the valves and pipelines is ‘Channa dal’, which is a yellow split pea. The temperature of the Channa dal is ambient, and it is being sucked through the valves under a vacuum pressure of 250mb.

The valves are positioned in a straight vacuum line, each performing less than 5 cycles per day. 3 bar air pressure is used to close the valves for food.

Pinch Valve used within this application: VF080.02X.35.30LA

VF model, air operated, aluminium body, aluminium flanges PN10/16 with stainless steel bushing contact parts, white food quality natural rubber sleeve (FDA approved).

Experience with Valves for Food

The food manufacturing company have been successfully using Pinch Valves within their manufacturing equipment since the installation of the process in 2018. Pinch Valves were described as the best option for this process to them by another user.

The Pinch Valves are problem free until the point of failure, which, like every valve, will fail at some point. The company check the sleeves inside the valves for any degree of wear during planned preventative maintenance checks (PPM), and so far the sleeves are looking fine at every check. On average, the rubber sleeves are replaced every 2.5 years.

AKO Pinch Valves for food are available in stainless steel, aluminum or plastic. Our pinch valves offer many end connections (threaded socket, flanged, tri-clamp, and weld on ends) to suit most applications. Various sleeve materials are available for food and chemical compatibility.

Other benefits of the Pinch Valve include:

• 100% leak tight
• Ideal for CIP & SIP cleaning
• Quick opening and closing time
• Easy maintenance and re-sleeving
• No bug traps or dead spots, allowing a clear and true full bore passage.

See more case studies and success stories on valves for food in many different food and beverage applications.