Gea’s New-Generation Valve Control Tops Enhance Operational Safety
The enhancement of automatic setup greatly simplifies the installation and reuses of valves are some of the features performed by new Gea T.Vis.
The digital valve control tops such as the T.Vis M-20 will be indispensable key components in processing plants. “We are already bringing elements of the valve of the future to fruition. This reflects the growing demand among manufacturers for connectivity, handling, and process diagnostics across their entire production lines,” says Bernd Porath, Product Manager for Valve Automation at Gea. Customers are required to commission plants ever earlier, lines often run at full capacity, and product changes are made so rapidly that valves are subjected to pressure surges and vibration. “That means plants today are increasingly exposed to even higher stress. Our Gea T.Vis M-20 counteracts this thanks to its shock-resistant design and built-in sensor technology. This helps operators ensure plant availability and quality through automatic, self-learning, reproducible process controls.”
The Quick-Setup takes care of the entire commissioning process – including self-learning status confirmation by the feedback systems – without the need for specially trained personnel. All that operators are required to do is assign the electrical and pneumatic connections.
The built-in contact-free path measuring system identifies its location with a precision of 50 µ – an extremely higher degree of accuracy than would be possible manually, says Porath. Under process conditions – following maintenance or replacement of the control top – the electronics automatically initialize the feedback systems.
The ease of installation has been confirmed in field tests at Arla Foods and Uckermärker Milch. “Our customers were astounded and very pleased. The M-20 can be installed completely intuitively, without needing to rely on judgment or experience by the operating staff. We have considerably reduced the burden on operators by eliminating errors caused by different users entering different settings,” reports Porath. The modules were instantly up and running at the customers’ sites and have now been functioning smoothly for months.
“The path measuring system and control electronics are located on a combination printed circuit board, which is no longer encapsulated but openly integrated into the housing, as with our most sophisticated A-15 control top,” explains Porath. All components are protected by the proven T-Vis housing technology at the highest level against dust and moisture applying the IP69k standard.
The innovative Gea T.Vis M-20 control top is optimized for most applications without added monitoring elements. A’s butterfly valves, single and double-seat valves, as well as valves with special functions and product recovery systems, can be fitted with the control top, including virtually the entire Gea Varivent and Gea Aseptomag valve series for hygienic and aseptic valves, respectively. If higher than two feedbacks and further monitoring functions via an IO-Link connection is required for double-seat valves with seat lifting, Gea’s portfolio offers the Gea T.Vis A-15 premium solution.
Gea T.Vis has made new ground for valve technology development; Product Manager Bernd Porath reports “Plant uptime, robustness, and repeatability of processes and their components are all part of the overarching theme of sustainability, which is a huge concern for the industry. Optimally configured, durable process technology naturally plays a part in the smooth operation of our customers’ plants. We aim to show how digital control tops with sophisticated automated functions and feedback options can contribute to an improved climate footprint. We intend to capture additional functions within our valve range – from control to process diagnostics and predictive maintenance.”
For more details: www.gea.com
