It’s such a basic issue and yet it can cause huge operational and maintenance issues as well as create costly process upset and product losses. All this results in lost revenue and safety concerns.
The issue is; how do we effectively measure tank levels while being able to isolate the level sensor effectively and protect personnel?
For many years, industrial valve manufacturers have addressed instrument isolation with many variations of knife-gate, ball and wedge-gate valves with marginal success. The challenge has been to provide instrument isolation in order to periodically calibrate the level transmitter while creating a bubble tight seal. Often the valves did not provide Bubble tight sealing and thus the transmitter could not be removed due to safety issues. This meant that the tank would have to be drained in order to remove the transmitter. What to do with all that product?
A second issue arose when the instruments allowed in-situ field calibration. The tank nozzle and transmitter were plugged with the process fluids and thus purging was necessary. Add valve leakage and the result was that the instrument technician could not successfully calibrate the device.
Pressure Transmitters such as these are typical in applications where the vessels store slurries or solids laden products. The face (diaphragm) must be kept clear of product when calibration is being performed.
The indu-tech valve addresses all of the above concerns as follows;
- Bubble tight shut-off (Isolation and Safety)
- Custom flange bolt configuration that accommodates both tank nozzle and Transmitter bolt patterns
- Permits removal of the Transmitter if required
- Equipped with purge ports on instrument and process sides of valve thus allowing cleaning of the nozzle and instrument
- Full ANSI rated , 150,300, 600 PSI rated
- Metallurgies to suit the process application (Titanium, Hastelloy, Stainless Steels)
- Wafer Ball Valve with “Blow-out proof” Stem