Wear-resistant valves from AKO are among the most well-known in the industry

Wear-resistant valves with pneumatic actuation (also called pinch valves) have a fixed place in the product portfolio at AKO Armatures. Plant owners find an extensive range of valves with wear-insensitive properties in the common nominal sizes and all important connection variants.

The functional principle of pneumatically controlled valves, however, is always the same – independently of the composition or alignment of the valve: The flow of the transported material is stopped by pressing together the sleeves inside the wear-resistant valve through the application of compressed air (or a fluid) to the housing. In the process, the labiate closing pattern of the sleeve guarantees an absolutely seal-tight shut-off of the medium flow – regardless of bulk materials, dust, granulates, suspensions or pure liquids.

At the subsequent release of the compressed air, the sleeve opens independently thanks to its enormous restoring force; the product flow is once again constriction-free. State-of-the-art, wear-resistant valves have an elliptically shaped housing with which the use of the required compressed air is reduced by up to 45% in the active region. In this way, significant savings in energy costs are achieved, leading to faster opening and closing times and protecting the sleeve as the wear from the product flow on the sleeve core – the inside of the sleeve – during the opening and closing movement.