Pinch valve info in a cinch

Do you remember when watering the lawn with a garden hose, trying to stretch it for that last bit of pull while reaching the front or back porch, it had a kink in its coil? The flow of water lessened or came to a dripping halt because of the bend or pinch in the hose.

Think of industrial pinch valves operating in a similar way on a more sophisticated scale.

A pinch valve comprises of a body, tube and sleeve designed to control or restrict the flow of fluids or granular materials. Fluid remains housed in the supply tube controlled by tubing opening and closing (hence “pinch”) the valve.

Since fluid stays in the supply tube, no additional volume enters the valve system, eliminating the risk of cross-contamination; this zero dead volume feature is vital for applications in the chemical, food and beverage, medical and wastewater treatment industries.

Read our brief primer below to understand pinch valves when in a pinch. 

Two-way and three-way pinch valves control fluid flow by locating soft tubing in a mechanism that “pinches” the tubing to block and release flow.

The main difference between two-way pinch valves and three-way pinch valves is the former is more commonly used in the commercial market, which offers a slight economical advantage.

While three-way pinch valves contain an opened and closed flow path operating at the same time, both two-way and three-pinch valves offer many of the same benefits:

• Two-way and three-way pinch valves include the range of ambient and media temperature operation of -10˚C to 60˚C (14ºF to 140˚F).

   

• Wide open gaps of the pinch valves offer high flow and handling of particulate media. Removable and rotatable coils are installed inside the pinch valves provide easy maintenance and servicing.

   

• Our 284 Series two-way solenoid operated pinch valves, along with he 384 Series of three-way pinch valves are constructed to regulate the flow of corrosive or high purity fluids for industrial and medical applications, including analytical instrumentation. 

For more detailed consultation or product specifications of ASCO Numatics pinch valves, please visit our office or website listed above.

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