Flat spring valves offer life of one billion cycles

Dean Palmer reports on a new flat spring solenoid valve that is ideal for medical and general industrial applications, offering an operating life of more than one billion cycles

A flat spring solenoid valve has been launched that offers an operating life of one billion cycles when used with neutral gases. Asco Scientific's Series 065 valve combines energy saving operation (0.6W) with response times of less than 10ms for faster analysis and protection against fluid contamination. The innovation behind the new valves is based around Asco's flat spring technology, which combines the valve spring and core functions in a unique flat part manufactured from stainless steel. The result is a compact device (with just one moving part) that requires no maintenance. The valves have internal seals and discs made from high performance fluoroelastomer/ viton, ensuring the widest range of chemical compatibility. Kalrez seals are also available for more aggressive fluids. There are also oxygen service valves, valves with medical pipe connections and higher power units with faster response times of less than 1ms. The threaded or pad mount versions are ideal for integrating into medical and analytical equipment such as gas chromatographs, breathing systems and dental equipment. But there's also plenty of industrial uses for the valves, including gas and smoke analysers, vacuum lifters (for semiconductor production), mobile equipment and leak detectors. The valves come in four orifice sizes: 0.6mm, 1.0mm, 1.4mm and 2.0mm. And, to make assembly easier, the valves are supplied with integrated coils with 6V, 12V and 24V DC options.