SteriValves rotary valves: operation, types, and industrial applications
SteriValves rotary valves are essential components used in numerous industrial processes for flow control, feeding, continuous dosing, micro-dosing, and fractionation, aimed at the packaging of bulk solid materials such as granules and powders. Thanks to their flexibility, these valves ensure excellent performance even in challenging operating conditions, maintaining high precision and reliability in the most complex production processes.
These valves are widely used in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food processing, and many others, where precision in product control is crucial, as well as hygiene, ease of cleaning, and frequent maintenance cycles. All valves have a sanitary design inspired by the strictest international standards and comply with current industry regulations. This makes SteriValves rotary valves particularly suitable for applications in environments where safety, cleanliness, and regulatory compliance are key factors for success.
The main advantages include high efficiency in flow control, dosing accuracy and precision, material reliability, and ease of maintenance, as well as versatility in adapting to various applications thanks to modular and ultra-compact configurations. The modular configurations also allow for valve customization according to the specific needs of each process, ensuring that every application can be optimized in terms of performance and cost. Due to these features, SteriValves rotary valves have become indispensable in many modern industrial processes, significantly contributing to improved operational efficiency and productivity, while simultaneously reducing management and maintenance costs.
How a rotary valve works
A rotary valve operates based on a moving element, the rotor, which rotates within a fixed housing, called the stator. The rotation allows for flow control, regularly discharging the product in line with the plant’s requirements. The rotor movement is managed by actuators or gear motors, capable of ensuring continuous or variable rotation, guaranteeing constant performance and meeting the desired flow, precision, and timing targets. Thanks to the ability to vary the rotation speed, these valves can quickly respond to the changing needs of the process, always ensuring maximum efficiency and dosing precision.
The main components of a rotary valve include:
- Valve body: acts as the stator and housing for all other components, ensuring the system’s structural stability.
- Rotor: the moving element that doses and controls the flow. The rotor design can be optimized based on the type of product being handled, improving discharge and ensuring dosing precision and reliability.
- Seals: present in some configurations, they ensure the perfect sealing of the system under pressure or vacuum, essential to prevent contamination and product loss.
- Drive shaft: connects the rotor to the external drive mechanism, ensuring power transmission with high wear resistance.
- Actuation system (motor or actuator): provides the driving force for rotation, with electronic control options to manage speed and torque variations based on process needs.
The types of movements and controls vary depending on the valve’s design. Some rotary valves allow controlled product feeding, others offer continuous dosing, while others fraction the product into bags, drums, or containers, enabling subsequent transfer or automatic packaging. This operational versatility makes them suitable for multiple applications across various industrial sectors, always ensuring maximum precision and reliability.
Main types of rotary valves
SteriValves produces several types of rotary valves, each designed for specific applications, offering concrete advantages to the user. Our solutions range from standard valves suitable for multiple purposes to custom-designed models for particular needs, integrating cutting-edge technologies to ensure superior performance.
In many production processes, the packaging of bulk solid products in small batches is required, maintaining high dosing efficiency and quality. The challenge is choosing between valves that ensure high flow rates, necessary to reduce discharge times but less precise, or smaller devices offering dosing accuracy but with unacceptable discharge times. SteriValves solves this dilemma with innovative solutions that combine the benefits of both technologies.
For these needs, SteriValves offers integrated dosing systems composed of two elements:
- Rotodoser: consisting of two concentric rotors. The outer rotor is dedicated to fast feeding, while the smaller inner rotor takes over for micro-dosing in the final discharge phase, ensuring an extremely high level of precision. This system significantly reduces processing times, while improving precision and minimizing waste.
- RotoMetering: similar to the Rotodoser, but combines an external rotor for feeding with an auger (screw) for micro-dosing. This hybrid design allows for even greater accuracy in dosing small amounts of product. Both models can be supplied integrated with a scale and custom control logic tailored to the plant’s needs, enabling automated and precise management of the most complex production processes.
For applications requiring constant and precise discharge over time, SteriValves offers the Rotovalve Plus, featuring a compact, lightweight, and ultra-sanitary design. This valve is ideal for transfer systems involving pressure or vacuum and is designed for in-line cleaning (CIP/SIP) or quick manual cleaning without tools. The ability to easily disassemble the valve without tools makes it extremely practical for maintenance, reducing downtime and improving overall efficiency.
Finally, for controlling the flow of solid products when feeding hoppers or adding solid products to liquid mixtures, the Rotovalve Light is the ideal solution. Available in the Alfa α variant, which reduces maintenance frequency and elastomer contamination, and the Beta β variant, which offers perfect sealing for applications with fine powders and systems under pressure or vacuum. The Rotovalve Light is particularly suited for environments with high safety and hygiene requirements, where preventing contamination and ensuring secure, reliable closure is essential.
Advantages and benefits of rotary valves
Rotary valves offer numerous advantages that make them the preferred choice for many industrial applications. In terms of flow control and dosing efficiency, they enable precise adjustment, quick response to open and close commands, and minimize pressure losses, improving the system’s overall efficiency. Moreover, their ability to maintain a constant flow rate significantly reduces the risks of process fluctuation, ensuring uniform and high-quality output.
SteriValves offers a range of rotary valves designed for maximum hygiene, featuring compact and lightweight designs, solutions to facilitate installation and assembly, and excellent ergonomics for maintenance operators. These aspects not only simplify operators’ daily work, reducing the need for special tools and intervention times, but also significantly improve workplace safety thanks to a design that minimizes accident risks.
Our valves are made from corrosion-resistant materials and comply with sanitary standards, ensuring reliability and safety even in the most demanding environments. The corrosion resistance of the materials used offers a key competitive advantage, reducing wear and prolonging the valves’ operational life, even in harsh conditions such as exposure to aggressive chemicals or high-humidity environments.
Additionally, the modular design of our valves facilitates the quick replacement of wear-prone parts, thus improving the efficiency of maintenance processes and reducing costs associated with plant shutdowns. This means less time and costs dedicated to maintenance and greater operational availability of the plant. The ease of access to components and the intuitive assembly of the internal parts of rotary valves make maintenance operations particularly simple and quick, allowing operators to focus on higher-value-added activities.
Industrial applications
Rotary valves are used in numerous industrial sectors due to their versatility and reliability. They are employed for feeding hoppers, weighers, and packaging machines, such as tablet presses in the pharmaceutical industry and homogenizers in the food industry. Furthermore, their ability to handle materials with different physical characteristics makes them ideal for applications in the fine chemicals, nutraceuticals, and other fields where precision is essential.
They can be configured to support CIP and SIP procedures, ensuring the cleaning, maintenance, and sterilization of every part of the machinery without compromising operational effectiveness and efficiency, while also ensuring operator safety. ATEX certification makes these valves suitable for explosive atmospheres, ensuring workplace safety. Versions suitable for food contact are available according to EN 1935/2004 regulations, ensuring that every part of the process is safe and compliant with the most stringent hygiene and safety standards.
Conclusion
SteriValves rotary valves represent an essential component in numerous industrial processes, offering continuous dosing, high precision, and reliability in the transfer or packaging of solid materials. Their versatility, efficiency, and ease of maintenance make them indispensable in sectors ranging from pharmaceuticals to food, fine chemicals to nutraceuticals. With the ability to customize solutions to meet specific customer needs, SteriValves stands out for providing targeted support and optimal solutions for every application.
