From drawing board to solution: gate valve with special sealing system
The problem
A good customer in the chemical industry was suffering from severe leakage of the medium through the stuffing box gasket of existing gate valves.
Due to the hazardous nature of the medium, this leakage is undesirable and even dangerous. Existing gate valve designs could not prevent this problem.
To avoid dangerous situations, a solution had to be devised that would either prevent the leakage or deal with the nagtive consequences of the leakage.
Outlining the solution
Based on the working principle of double block and bleed (DBB) valves, we started sketching the solution.
A gate valve equipped with:
- a double stuffing box gasket
- Two sight glasses to detect and track leakage
- a drainage connection to safely drain leaks
- everything enclosed in one sealed compartment
The design
After sketching the solution, the engineering team got to work on the design.
Based on existing principles and by combining conventional solutions, the design was created, improved and established.
The result is a knife edge valve with a sealed compartment and a double gasket system.
The purpose of the valve is not to prevent leakage of the medium through the gasket, but to safely drain this leakage as soon as it occurs.
The solution
This solution allows our client to control and contain the leakage. The leakage is monitored periodically after which a decision is made to replace the compartment as a whole. Thus, the customer is able to perform preventive maintenance.
