Valves
Specials

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Special Valve Capabilities

Another resource that we can offer to our distributors and customers is our ability to make custom designed or modified products. Because of our engineering design team, our 30+ years in the Fluid Power Industry and our expert in-house machining capabilities, we are able to design, manufacture and deliver custom made products or special assemblies of standard products quickly and efficiently.  Our Engineering group has flow modeling software that can interface with our Solidworks 3-D software to produce models that have “real-life” flow patterns and calculations. This program assists us when we are designing products to the parameters that are needed for a particular application, nothing is left to guesswork. An example of the flow modeling can be seen below. The following pages depict only a few of the products that we have developed or assembled for specific applications in the past couple of years. Please refer to our “Custom Product Request Form” that can be filled out and submitted through our website which allows anyone to request a quotation for special or non-catalogued items. We have designed many circuits which were laid out on "circuit plates" or manifolds which control speeds, sequencing, pressure etc, the possibilities are virtually limitless. Special valves have been constructed from, brass, bronze, aluminum and stainless steel of various types. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any or all opportunities.

This valve was developed for a high speed/flow food packaging/processing application. All metal components are 316 stainless steel. As mentioned earlier, we were able to tie the Solidworks model to the flow simulation software as depicted above during deveolpment of this product.

This manifold plate was designed for a carwash manufacturer for use in controlling individual pneumatic pressures to chemical dispensing valves. The plate is anodized aluminum as are the regulator bodies. The gauges used feature corrosion resistant polymer cases and covers. The valves feature NEMA 4 electrical protection.

This valve was developed for a fluid drive (water) system on an underground mining machine.  Working pressure is 1000 PSI, the body and end caps are brass, the spool and lever are stainless steel and the ports are ¾” SAE -12. The unit features two separate inlets on top that get diverted to one of two sets of outlets on the sides.

This valve was a special that we developed for a customer that needed a more compact solenoid with a plug-in electrical connection. This valve was released as our DIN style solenoid/pilot operated product line back in November of 2006. Specials often become standard products that anyone can use.

This special assembly consisted of three normally closed 2-way valves. The one on the far left was setup to operate on vacuum while the two on the right are for pressure. The middle valve was to see full line pressure while the valve on the far right was to see a greatly reduced pressure. The check valve keeps the full pressure valve from bleeding into the reduced pressure unit while it is being operated. The application was on a plastic blow-molding machine – an example of standard products being provided in a special assembly to save the customer time and labor.

This manifold assembly was created to operate door opening/closing and locking functions on a sliding door unit. The manifold features the ability to run the doors at normal speed, at an adjustable secondary slower speed for safety when coming into the fully open or closed positions plus the ability to regulate the force of the doors while sliding. The timing/force to the lock mechanism is also adjustable and features a connection for a backup/safety supply circuit as well. These manifolds will be used on pneumatic jail cell door assemblies. Custom circuits can be designed for virtually any application that you can come up with. The drawings shown above are of the original prototype manifolds. The customer wanted a "cleaner", smaller package. The picture shown below is the final production design which has all the external plumbing removed and is significantly shorter and more narrow (at only 3.5" width by 7.75" length versus the original at a nearly 4" by 11.39" size).

This valve was designed for a customer that had an existing competitor’s special valve that was experiencing short life in a drilling rig application. We designed a replacement unit that would fit into the existing piece of machinery with no modifications to the customer’s equipment so it can be retro-fitted in the field with no problem. This valve features a brass body with a stainless steel spool and 3000 PSI hydraulic pressure capability.

These 2” NPT Poppet/Shuttle valve assemblies are used as inlet valves on high flow commercial air dryers. The unit shown below is on the same piece of equipment and is used as the outlet selector for the dry air coming from the unit as well as for regulating the adjustable purge between the twin towers for sieve bed regeneration. Both units feature anodized aluminum bodies and “Victaulic” couplings on both ends for “drop-in” installation on the customer’s dryer units. These units provided the customer with an economical pre-assembly saving them from having to inventory multiple items plus the assembly and testing time of the items.

This five station valve manifold was designed specifically for a car wash manufacturer. The valves are a mixture of normally open and normally closed units with varying pilot ratios. The bodies are brass, the pilot caps anodized aluminum and the poppets inside are one of three types – stainless steel with PEEK polymer inserts, brass with PEEK polymer inserts or solid PEEK polymer construction.

This special Tube-O-Matic® Valve assembly is used to control the flow of coolant on commercial buses. They are supplied as shown with a pilot valve and sometimes also with a miniature pressure regulator installed as well. The mounting bracket and fittings are also installed by Lexair so that when the customer receives this unit, it is ready to install in the hoses on the bus engines cooling system.

This is one of many versions of a valve that was developed nearly twenty years ago that is used on bottom dump coal and aggregate cars. This valve actuates the cylinder that controls the opening and closing of the doors. Recent developments include special safety devices such as our patented “safety check end cap” that does not allow the dump mechanism to operate until a preset pressure in the system is reached and our integrated valve/cover that has a positive latch when closed and features the ability to protect the manual override buttons when closed and padlocked to keep vandals and other unauthorized personnel from operating the system inadvertently.

  

The unit above was developed to be a high pressure switching valve for a smaller “wall mounted” commercial dryer. The valve switches inlet air between one of two sieve tanks for drying. The valve below is used as a purge valve to equalize pressures between the tanks rapidly just prior to switching between them with the valve above. Both valves have a working pressure rating of 250 PSI.

The preceding examples are only a few of the specialty items that we have recently produced. Keep in mind that we can not be everything to everyone so there will be times when price, quantity etc may preclude us from being able to provide what is wanted. However, we would like the opportunity to quote on any special needs that you may have.