Piston Valve Applications: Casting Systems

M&M Piston actuated valves can be used in a wide variety of applications, in this  blog post we are going to provide some examples of the type of applications that they have been used in and the type of valve that we would recommend for the application.

Piston actuated valves used in high pressure casting systems:

Industrial manufacturing of sanitary fittings such as rim bowls, wash basins, bidets or shower trays is carried out by high pressure casting systems. 

These systems are completely automatic and can carry out all production stages without manual interventions. 

The casting process consists of the following production stages:

- casting or feeding/exhausting of the slip;

- consolidation of the component and detachment from the mould;

- extraction of the component from the mould;

- washing of the mould.

The material used for manufacturing sanitary fittings is slip, a very dense ceramic mixture made of clay and water.

During high pressure casting slip is injected into a mould at 18 bar pressure through injection nozzles.

1)  Consolidation of the component and detachment from the mould

When the casting cycle is over, valves control air at 7 bar pressure and inject it into the still closed mould in order to consolidate the component and detach it from the mould.

2) Extraction of the component from the mould

During the extraction cycle valves control the vacuum cycle: thanks to suction generated by the injection nozzles in the mould, the component is retained until the robot picks it up and places it onto the drying bench.

3) Mould washing

Moulds are washed with water controlled by the valves at 10 bar pressure and injected into the inside circuits of the mould. The mould is made of micro-porous resin; thanks it its permeability it lets water filter outside thus eliminating all slip residues.

The type of valves that we would recommend for this type of application is:

You can view the V-Flow Solutions range of M&M Piston actuated valves here:

V-Flow Solutions: Piston Valves


You can read the rest of V-Flows blogs here.

M&M Angle seat piston valves 

M&M piston valves are manufactured in Italy, using the highest quality materials for a high quality product.

M&M piston actuated valves use an external control media to pilot the actuator, where a piston valve is directly connected to the main seal that closes onto the main orifice, thereby controlling the flow of liquids and gases.

M&M piston valves are highly recommended under these conditions:

• Media containing dirt particles
• Highly viscous media (up to 600 cST (80°E); 1 centistoke = 1 mm²/s)
• High flow volumes
• High temperatures
• Damp environments or hazardous locations

The versions of M&M Piston actuated valves available are:

Technical Information

The main seal material used in piston actuated valves:

A modified PTFE has been used as the main seal material since 2004, when it replaced the original PTFE material seal.

The modified PTFE seal provides these benefits over the previous verision:

• Lower porosity and permeability
• Fewer void spaces
• Higher elasticity
• Reduced deformation under load
• Better chemical resistance to controlled media
• Smoother surface and improved design flexibility 

The standard bonnet seals consist of 2 'V'-shaped FKM gaskets and a package of 25% graphite-filled PTFE gaskets.

High temperature Piston actuated valves:

M&M can offer a piston valve that can be used up to 200°C, provided that the valve pressure limits are respected.
The main differences, in regards to the materials in this design, are as follows:

• Change of the actuator material: From standard PA6 to PA66 filled with 30% fibreglass
• All valves with DN > 25 with fixed plug design (to withstand turbulence caused by steam at high speed)
• Special design of bonnet chevrons, all are made of 25% graphite-filled PTFE

10 Reasons to use a piston actuated valve:

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Piston actuated valves can be found here, on our website:
http://v-flowsolutions.co.uk/actuated-valves/pneumatic/piston-valves/

For any other products please look on our website:
http://v-flowsolutions.co.uk/

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If you think V-Flow can help you then please contact us:

Telephone: +44 (0)1234 855888

Email: sales@v-flowsolutions.co.uk

Fax: +44  (0)1234 857775

V-Flow are the experts of flow control.
If you have a problem with flow control, we will find the solution.