Key points
For fluid control applications in sectors such as pharmaceuticals as well as food & beverage production, manufacturers can increase productivity and reduce costs while helping to meet their sustainability objectives by integrating improved control valves. Hydroformed valve bodies for diaphragm valves achieve high strength and light weight. This makes hydroformed valve bodies far more energy efficient compared to forged or cast designs, and the manufacturing process is inherently more sustainable too.
Kieran Bennet, Industry Manager Food & Beverage, Chemical & Petrochemical at Bürkert, explains the sustainability advantages of hydroformed valve bodies.
In process manufacturing applications including pharmaceutical as well as food and beverage production, diaphragm valves support the hygiene imperative. In addition to preventing contamination, diaphragm valve design enables cleaning and sterilisation to meet regulatory standards. While clean in place (CIP) and sterilisation in place (SIP) practices are essential, they demand time and energy.
A hygienic system, comprising tubing and valves, is steam sterilised to over 100°C and is then air cooled to below 45°C where production can resume. The longer each process takes, the lower the system’s production capacity. Increased time also means higher energy use, both with a greater demand on steam generation to reach the required sterilisation level, as well as powering the air cooling system to quickly reduce the temperature.
Critical to this process is the choice of valve body. Though they comprise just a fraction of the system’s total length of tube, even when hundreds might be used, production cannot resume until the valve bodies are cleaned, sterilised, and cooled. This makes the importance of valve body specification much greater than their physical scale might suggest.
Hydroformed valve bodies
Traditionally, diaphragm valve bodies are forged, where the stainless steel, required for its hygienic properties, is heated and compressed into place. A forged valve body has a longer heat transfer capacity, so a cast design, where the stainless steel is shaped in a mould, is preferable. Faster still, both at heating up and cooling down, is a valve body manufactured with hydroforming, which involves high pressure fluid to create the design. This can be combined with the processes of annealing that increases durability by relieving residual stress and improving corrosion resistance, as well as laser welding that can establish a hygienic seal without adding any extra material.
Together, these manufacturing techniques create a more lightweight valve body design, and this low mass achieves rapid heat transfer. While a forged valve body can take nearly 10 minutes to cool down to 45°C from the sterilisation temperature, a comparative hydroformed valve body reaches the mark in just over four minutes, and this difference can significantly speed up production turnaround.
Optimising sustainability
A hydroformed design also reduces the steam requirement, and hence energy use, necessary during SIP. This can represent a significant cost saving, especially when multiplied across all installed valves. As hydroformed valve bodies can be as much as 75% lighter, this also saves costs in installation with fewer supporting structures required.
This energy saving also provides an advantage in sustainability. According to the independent verifier, Trusted Footprint, comparing 1” tubing, up to 38% less gCO2 equivalent can be saved by using a hydroformed design, like the Bürkert Tube Valve Body, rather than a forged variant. Taking carbon emissions in valve body manufacture into consideration, hydroforming is also far greener. For a 1.5” device, Trusted Footprint confirms that the Bürkert Tube Valve Body generates 58% less emissions in carbon dioxide equivalent during its manufacture, which includes steel production as well as processing techniques, compared to a forged body of the same size.
Reliability and hygienic conformance
Although cost saving and sustainability improvements are highly important, valve body performance is fundamental. To ensure optimum durability, the design and manufacturing techniques of the valve body have to meet burst and leak pressure specifications. A safety factor multiple times the required real-world level can be achieved through the hydroforming and annealing processes, combined with the necessary conformance in wall thickness. It’s also essential to ensure that any welding can withstand the sudden temperature changes of sterilization and cooling, as well as resistance to cracking under vibration.
Equally crucial is hygienic conformance. 316L stainless steel achieves this, and the design, including weld lines, has to remain corrosion-free under intensive saline testing. Ultimately, a material inspection certificate 3.1 according to EN10204, with a CIP-capable design that meets EHEDG Type EL, CLASS I Certification, as well as 3-A Sanitary Standards, create trust in hygienic conformance.
Meeting standards in sustainability
While reliability and hygienic conformance should be a given in specification, optimising valve body design can not only increase productivity but can also enhance sustainability. Lower energy use in operation, in addition to the lower carbon emissions in valve body manufacture, can help provide a pharma, food & bev, or cosmetics manufacturer with the sustainability credentials they need from a supplier. Integrating light, strong tube valve bodies, these producers can reduce costs in production as well.
Kirsty Miller
Bürkert Fluid Control Systems
Tel: +44 (0)1285 648761
Email: kirsty.miller@burkert.com
Web: www.burkert.co.uk
Burkert Fluid Control Systems
- 01285648720
- sales.uk@burkert.com
- http://www.burkert.com/
- Fluid Control Centre 1 Bridge End Gloucestershire Cirencester GL7 1QY GB
About us
Bürkert is present in thirtyfive countries around the world. We also work with a large network of distributors and partners, which means we are as close as possible to our customers. This global presence ensures full service and support to all of our customers in every country around the world. Research is the lifeblood of our company.
At Bürkert, we are never satisfied with the status quo and are continually seeking new technologies and solutions for our customers. Every year, our people develop new and highly advanced products and solutions, ranging from integrated process measurement and control units to the most sophisticated systems used in pharmaceutical research. To be a market leader, we are also an R&D leader.
Therefore, our investment in research & development is one of the highest in our industry. In our research centres in Germany and France, 150 people are committed to working for a common future for our company and our customers. We are committed to offering our expertise wherever it is needed, anywhere in the world. This global presence ensures that our advances in fluid control technology are also global.
What we do in a nutshell
Manufacture of process equipment. One of the few manufacturers to provide solutions for the complete control loop.
Where we supply to
UK Ireland, Europe
Industries we supply to
Food and Beverage, Pharmaceutical Cosmetics Toiletries, Water and Wastewater
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