Although good Industrial practices always demand the use of filtered, clean, air to ensure a longer life for the internals, often no consideration is given to environmental ingress into the valves.
We find that many valves are installed with limited to no protection on the exhaust ports and the solenoid operators.
When valves are open to the environment, there is a risk of ingress from the weather, airborne contamination, dust, sand, dirt, and insects. Over time this can shorten the life of the valve and impede the top performance you expect.
Valve Ingress Vulnerabilities
There are a few key areas of any valve that, if left unprotected, can put it at risk for ingress issues. We particularly recommend looking closely at all exhaust ports and the solenoid operator when specifying a valve.
To counter these risks, VERSA offers several options and accessories which actively seal your valves from the external elements to protect the internals and extend the service life of the valves.
Exhaust Protection
The ideal solution should provide a solid seal against ingress when the exhaust port(s) are inactive but provide for the full flow rating of the valve when exhausting.
DE – The dust, dirt, and moisture excluder is fitted onto the exhaust port and only open when the valve is exhausting. The process of exhausting air actually serves to clean the area as the seal opens. The seal opens at a low-pressure differential and maintains the valve's full flow rate. The DE dust excluder option prevents ingress of low-pressure water jets thereby achieving an IPX5 rating.
D14 – The D14 Dust and moisture excluder for the solenoid pilot exhaust port, comprised of a flexible seal sitting in a chamfered groove covering several exhaust drillings. When the solenoid exhausts, the seal expands to allow the air to pass. Once the exhausting is complete, the dust excluder seals off the internals from the environment.
DG/DD – The Dust Proof option removes the external vent from behind the pilot piston, and instead exhausts the air through a drill hole in the valve piston into the spring cap. By removing the vent, any possible access from dust and/or moisture is eliminated.
Solenoid Protection
Solenoid operators are much more vulnerable to the effects of unwanted ingress and as such should be given special attention. Doing so helps to avoid premature failure leading to costly downtime.
The selection of a solenoid operator should first consider the certifications required for the application and the minimum IP rating.
Depending upon the solenoid operator type selected, there may already be a high level of ingress protection inherent to the design. Any solenoid operator can usually be upgraded to cover any additional requirements
How important each of these concerns is determined by your application and the solution should be able to meet budgetary needs.
One option is to pot the coil of the solenoid using epoxy resin to ensure moisture protection. The option PC is available to add this protection to our XX and XN solenoid operators.
The second option is to select a solenoid operator that makes use of a sealed housing to achieve ingress protection. The XDB, XV, and XT solenoid operators are rated to IP68, giving complete protection to the electrical components.
Stepping It Up
These valve options can individually improve the protection of your valves from the ingress of moisture, dirt, and contaminants, but when used together, they actively seal the valve and provide a certified barrier against the elements.
Many of our solenoid operators are already IP rated to IP68, but when combining the D14 exhaust port protection with the DG/DD dust proof assembly (with no external venting), we can certify our complete valve with an IP65 rating. This gives total protection against dust and low-pressure water jets from all angles.
VERSA takes pride in delivering durable and reliable valves to the most demanding of industries. We design valves to work in the toughest applications in some of the most extreme locations around the world.
For more information contact your local Distributor.
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