Pinch Valves: Applications by Industry

AKO pinch valves are used in almost every industry where abrasive, sticky or hygienically sensitive media have to be dosed or shut off reliably. This page gives you an overview of the most important industries and fields of application – with typical use cases, suitable AKO series and practical examples from each industry.

Manufacturer: AKO Armaturen & Separationstechnik GmbH, Trebur-Astheim (Germany) – Industries & applications on the manufacturer's website ↗

Industries at a glance

  • 3D Printing and Contour Crafting – Additive manufacturing processes such as 3D concrete printing and contour crafting require highly precise, continuous dosing of viscous, abrasive material through narrow nozzles – even small fluctuations in material flow lead to visible print defects.
  • Filling and Dosing Technology – Filling processes range from single portions measured to the gram up to big bags weighing several hundred kilograms, and demand maximum repeatability at short cycle times.
  • Agricultural Technology and Farming – Agriculture faces increasing cost and efficiency pressure and needs precisely controllable technology for fertilising, sowing and crop protection – incorrect dosing means yield losses or unnecessary environmental impact.
  • Railways and Trains – In rail vehicle construction, valves must work reliably and with little maintenance in very tight spaces, for example for waste extraction in vacuum toilets or in sanding systems that support traction and braking.
  • Building Materials and Bulk Solids – The building materials industry handles highly abrasive, hard-to-control bulk solids that easily settle or cake during transport and standstill and can block valves.
  • Mining and Civil Engineering – Mining and civil engineering place extreme demands on valves: highly abrasive suspensions, sharp-edged rock and mineral-laden mine water wear conventional valves quickly, while underground conditions require easy maintenance and high robustness.
  • Chemical Industry – The chemical industry processes an extremely broad range of media – from liquids, greases and emulsions to pigments, dusts and granulates – and, given its high degree of automation, needs reliable and economical valve technology.
  • Ceramics Industry – In the ceramics industry – from decorative household ceramics to technical high-performance ceramics – raw materials such as aluminium oxide, zirconium oxide or silicon carbide consist of extremely sharp-edged, highly abrasive particles that quickly wear out conventional valves.
  • Plastics Industry – When processing thermoplastics, thermosets and elastomers into semi-finished products, moulded parts or fibres, numerous powdered additives and fillers such as carbon black, talc, chalk, graphite, sand or zinc oxide are used – often very dusty and partly abrasive.
  • Food, Beverage and Feed Industry – The food, beverage and animal feed industry has to handle an extremely wide range of media – from thin juices and thick creams and powders to lumpy products such as nuts or dried fruit – while requirements for hygiene, automation and output keep rising.
  • Glass Processing and Glassworks – Whether flat glass, container glass, special glass or glass fibre – production is based on sharp-edged, highly abrasive raw materials such as quartz sand, soda ash, potash, feldspar, lime and dolomite, which quickly wear or jam conventional valves with internals in the flow path.
  • Metalworking and Foundries – In metalworking and foundries – from steel and light metals to non-ferrous and precious metals – abrasive moulding sand and metal granulate occur alongside aggressive media such as acidic process water or coolants.
  • Tankers and Commercial Vehicles – Silo and tanker vehicles transport an extremely wide range of goods worldwide – from agricultural bulk solids and petrochemical products to food and beverages – and must load and unload reliably under changing temperatures, vibrations and mobile operating conditions.
  • Pharmaceutical Industry – In the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector, sensitive products – powders, tablets, liquids and finished goods – must be conveyed under the highest hygiene requirements, often under aseptic or sterile process conditions.
  • Pneumatic Conveying – In pneumatic conveying, bulk solids are moved through pipelines by compressed air – as dilute phase, strand, plug or dense phase conveying.
  • Powder Coating and Sandblasting – In powder coating and sandblasting plants, extremely abrasive solids such as blasting media and powder overspray meet process steps in which cleaning liquids and waste water must also be handled.
  • Silos and Silo Systems – Silos provide space-saving storage for very different bulk solids – from grain, flour and animal feed to plastic granulates and powders, salts, sand or building materials.
  • Environmental and Process Engineering – Environmental and process engineering covers a wide range of processes for protecting and restoring ecosystems – from wastewater treatment and flue gas cleaning to recycling and disposal processes.
  • Vacuum Conveying – In vacuum conveying, material is moved by negative pressure instead of positive pressure, which reduces physical strain on employees and minimises the release of dust.
  • Water Treatment and Wastewater Plants – Wastewater treatment plants typically run through mechanical, biological and chemical treatment stages, each producing different media – from coarse debris and activated sludge to chemicals for phosphate precipitation.
  • Hazardous Areas (ATEX) – Hazardous areas are divided into zones 0/20, 1/21 and 2/22 according to how often dangerous gas-air or dust-air mixtures occur.

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