Kemutec IDV maintains clean room pressure

Published: 7-Apr-2009

The ‘Mucon’ Iris Diaphragm Valve (IDV) from Kemutec has been used for cable glanding to solve a problem posed by a pharmaceutical customer. When fitted with an elastometric diaphragm, the valve is capable of closing around lumps of product, or even foreign bodies trapped during closure, while providing an effective seal to smaller particles and dust.

The pressure loss through the existing seals around tubes carrying liquids between two clean rooms had been creating problems for the pharma company on a regular basis. These clean rooms operate at a slight overpressure, with one being at a higher pressure than the other. The pharma company had previously made its own sealing glands by using lids with a specific hole for the individual tubes. No problems were encountered provided only one tube was used. However, with the increasing complexity of the processes, more tubes needed to be used simultaneously. Thus more lid configurations were required, resulting in a situation were the number of lids, their complexity, hygiene considerations and the pressure losses through the seals all became an issue. Pressure losses occurred on such a regular basis that the pressure differential between the clean rooms could not be sustained and the alarm was continually activated. Kemutec’s solution was to provide a Series K IDV with quick disconnect flanges to seal around the tubes passing through the wall separating the two clean rooms. The valve is fully machined from stainless steel and fitted with an FDA approved, EPDM rubber diaphragm. Additional valve positioning notches were incorporated into the body.

The combination of the valve diameter, diaphragm material and the additional notches allows the rubber diaphragm to bring the tubes together and close tightly around them – accommodating different diameters of tubes and a number of tubes simultaneously. Since the installation of the IDV, the required pressure differential is maintained between the clean rooms and the alarm is no longer activated.

Contact T +44 1625 412000 {encode="sales@kemutec.com" title="sales@kemutec.com"} www.kemutec.com

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