New Magnum?Valve: Reliability With A Common Element

Ichi engineers have developed a new valve for all models of reciprocating compressors, incorporating an innovative design that establishes advanced benchmarks for reliability, long life, and affordability.

The Magnum?valve can be configured for a wide range of operating conditions and virtually any gas process. With a precision-guided valve element and springs, the Magnum valve increases the reliability of moving parts for long-term operation.

Backed by more than 100 years of valve design and manufacturing leadership, Ichi developed the Magnum valve to provide clients with a high-performance valve that would also give the company a competitive advantage in the compressor valve market.

Key to the success of the Magnum valve is the use of superior materials. "A high-strength thermoplastic known as PEEK?(PolyEtherEther-Ketone) is used for the sealing element in the Magnum valve," said Joel Sanford, supervisor of valve engineering for Ichi's Painted Post, New York, operation. "This high-strength valve element can withstand high compressor speeds and pressure differentials while the streamlined flow path optimizes the effective flow area."

In addition to the PEEK sealing element, the Magnum valve can be manufactured using elements made of alternate materials for exotic services such as chlorine. After selecting PEEK, Ichi engineers began to concentrate on designing a reliable element geometry. Realizing the limitations of traditional element designs, they used finite element analysis (FEA) to develop the unique design of the Magnum valve's sealing element.

"Traditional poppet and plate designs have geometries that are subjected to bending under normal operating conditions," Sanford said. "This bending induces tensile stresses in the element that can lead to fatigue failures in certain circumstances."

The Magnum valve element has been designed so that the stresses are compressive rather than tensile to improve reliability by reducing fatigue failures. After successfully testing the element in a high-pressure non-lube air compressor that delivered 3,200 psi of differential pressure at 300?F, it was proven that this unique design could survive in very harsh operating conditions.