Material dispense valve range extended further

An Integrated Dispensing Systems product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Dec 20, 2000

One of America's leading manufacturers of meter, mix, dispense machines has extended its already large range of material dispense valves for epoxies, silicones, mastics, and urethanes.

One of America's leading manufacturers of meter, mix, dispense machines has extended its already large range of material dispense valves for epoxies, silicones, mastics, and urethanes.

The company specialises in precision equipment that includes special design features to combat wear from highly abrasive fillers.

Major customers for these valves are the automotive industries, both in the USA and Europe, where they are frequently fitted to the end of robot arms.

These valves have evolved after two decades of development and arduous industrial usage, particularly in co-operation with the automotive and electronic sectors.

With a reputation for ruggedness, precision, and reliability, the valves also provide a clean cut-off when dispensing materials ranging from watery thin to paste-like.

When the many valve designs are combined with the wide choice of specifications, the total number of variants now available adds up to over 200.

Sealant Equipment And Engineering, of Michigan, built up this manufacturing programme during the last 25 years.

Their distributors in the UK are Integrated Dispensing Systems.

Buyers of the dispense valves order them either with Sealant's machines or as separate units.

Very often, they serve as retrofit components for companies that already have a pressurised installation but wish to upgrade to achieve the benefits of Sealant's valves.

Despite only minimal maintenance, major manufacturers report significant gains in productivity in hard-pressed, multi-shift environments.

Apparently, these companies are extending their use of Sealant dispense valves and machines to other parts of their factories.

The UK distributor tells of their experience with a leading cartridge filter manufacturer who dispenses a highly filled abrasive PVC plastisol.

All other valves had been unable to improve upon two weeks before suffering disruptive breakdowns.

The Sealant replacement continued to give reliable 3-shift performance up to a straightforward planned seal exchange 13 months later.

This company now orders Sealant valves for upgrades in every part of the plant.

Car body undersealer materials are extremely abrasive and are sprayed on by robots in all of the major automobile plants in the world.

An air-assisted version of one of Sealant's valve range appears to have been recognised as the most effective component for this most difficult of materials.

This Sealant valve is now specified by most leading automobile companies in the USA and Europe, including those from Japan.

Some valves, used for high viscosity, paste-like, cohesive materials, employ Sealant's Snuf-Bak closing action.

This is an internal vacuum that cleanly cuts off dispensed material.

Others, for lower-viscosity, level-seeking materials, provide a secure No-Drip seal, which relies on a ball tightly shutting into a seat.

A third type, the highly compact Kiss valve, with its snap-action carbide valve head, applies uniform mounds (kisses), beads, or spray patterns with drip-free dependability.

Every valve design ensures precise and concentric location of parts, which eliminates side loading and reduces wear on rods and seals.

The integral pneumatic power cylinder provides rapid switching, even when pressures of the dispensed material reach design levels of 250 to 350 bar.

Dispense valves are available in stainless steel or aluminium, with seals varying from Teflon packings to elasto-plastic wear resistant materials.

Others feature hardened spools and/or carbide balls and seats.

For robotic applications, machined mounting details in the valve bodies locate with robot end-of-arm tooling.

As well as for their quality and specification, Sealant's valves and machines are valued because, designed for non-stop production, they need only infrequent planned maintenance and a simple replacement of just a few parts restores them to an as-new condition.

Moreover, Sealant gives a two year warranty on their equipment.