Valves in the mechanical industries, primarily as a pivotal part of the machines, are used to control or direct the flow of differently heavy mixtures of solids and liquids. These valves depending upon the functional requirements and technical involvement are designed accordingly. Among the many of the valves present, knife valves are highly used based on the blade incorporation in the structure. This is directly installed at the planar scale in machines, pipes, or other enclosures where it controls the rate of flow of mixtures by the use of knife or blade against a soft surface. These valves are made up of stainless steel or cast iron which is suitable for its installation in machines for cutting-off heavily-weighted mixtures. Another type of valves is the slurry valves which as the name indicates are used for controlling or maintaining the flow of slurry processes or operations. In this case, the subjected mixtures contain both solid and liquid particles to be separated finely by these valves.
Structure and working of knife valves
The valves which are used wither in fully open or closed conditions are called as knife valves. These are designed and maintained to have a stable contact with fibrous fluids like in sludge and abrasive applications. There is an extensive usage of knife valves in paper and pulp industries along with waste water lines. This wide applications rate is mainly due to the corrosive and rough nature of liquid mixture found in these areas.
Knife valves can operate from manual to piston mode. The knife or blade involved in the final assembly of these valves is made of stainless steel that has the ability to withstand a temperature of 200 degrees. Knife gate valves along with a slide perform the opening and closing of liquid flow between the sliding rings perpendicular to the direction of flow.
Importance of slurry valves
Slurries are a very important of almost every other industrial and chemical sector which is regulated and moved with the help of machines. Valves in contact with these slurries are called as slurry valves. Reliable and sustainable isolation along with control flow are the two main processes of slurries conducted via slurry valves.
Slurry flow control is best managed and maintained by slurry valves, as these are manufactured by keeping this job in mind. These valves can be custom engineered based on the severity, toxicity, and danger of slurry in the processing. Ball valves, pinch valves, and butterfly valves are some of the other varieties in which slurry-oriented valves can be manufactured on special demands. The cost of replacement of corrosive slurry damaged valves is quite high.
Conclusion
Knife valves are blade installed valves which have the ability to cut the flow of liquid mixture when it comes in contact with the blade in the pipeline. On the other hand, slurry valves are strictly developed to combat the mild to toxic slurries from industrial, mechanical, and chemical sectors.
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