Valves for Silo Filling Lines

Tackling Lime Mortars, Lime Plasters & Renders

A UK manufacturer of hydraulic Lime mortars, lime plasters, lime renders and lime-based paints are using AKO Pinch Valves for silo filling across their industrial plant.

Twenty three storage silos holding over 600 tonnes of raw materials provide the capacity for a daily manufacturing output of approx. 100 metric tonnes on this plant. A sophisticated software system ensures highly accurate computer-controlled batching of ingredients for all of the lime-based products.

The plant has a wide range of ingredients available on demand from the silos, everything from very traditional roman cement and limes through to modern low-carbon binders. Each of these materials pass through and are controlled by the Pinch Valves on site.

Tankers carrying the lime based materials connect to the bottom of the filling lines, and blow the material up the pipelines into the silos. The materials are then mixed if needed, stored, weighed and dispersed into sacks and bags.

Performance of the Valves for Silo Filling

The company sell Natural Lime Mortar, plaster, render, specialist grouts and more in 25kg paper sacks and 1 tonne bags.

The Pinch Valves are kept normally closed, and are opened at the point of filling.

The DN100 Pinch Valves pictured prevent unauthorised filling of the silo by drivers, as they have to be opened from the control room. They are also automatically closed by the plant control computer if the silo becomes over-pressurised or hits the high level sensor.

Further DN65 Pinch Valves are installed inside this plant on a valve packing machine, where they are used as an on-off dispensing function to control the stop/start of the material flow while it is being bagged into sacks and bags. The rubber sleeve inside the Pinch Valve for sack filling opens and closes a few times every minute.

Rubber Sleeve Lifetime

In its simplest terms, lime is a binder and it is made up of calcium carbonate mainly (more than 70%) but also of silica, iron oxide, aluminium or other minerals in smaller proportions.

The AKO Pinch Valves handle these materials with ease, and to date the internal rubber sleeves inside the Pinch Valves for silo filling have not needed to be replaced after 18 months.