A global pharmaceutical company was looking for a gate to shut off and control the flow of different ingredients into a dry blender. But the gate needed to adhere to the company’s specifications.
•The slide gate must provide a positive seal of materials across the gate and to atmosphere.
•All metal and polymer materials of construction must be health compliant.
•The slide gate must be able to limit initial material flow as the gate is opened, so that downstream equipment is not “flooded.”
•The gate’s inlets and outlets must match with existing equipment.
The solution was to install a Vortex Clear Action Gate with a Variable Position Open (VPO) assembly. In addition to a superior material seal across the gate and to atmosphere, the Clear Action Gate “self cleans” its seals on the closing stroke.
Traditional slide gates jam and pack material into an end seal upon closure. Alternatively, the Clear Action Gate does not seat into an end seal. This reduces potential for material packing into the seals; shearing and other forms of product damage; spoilage; and premature wear to the blade, seals and other material contact areas.
The gate was equipped with a VPO assembly that allows the blade to initially open to a preset intermediate position, prior to moving to the full open position. The intermediate position is simple to manually set and adjust at-the-valve.
This gate was installed in August 2004.
“We pretty much installed the valve and forgot about it. It has given us great service all these years.” – Head of Maintenance
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