• Refrigeration Service Today

    Jan. 1, 2011
    Valve Station Reduces Installation TimeThe ICF valve station from Danfoss allows industrial refrigeration installers to complete projects faster and with less labor, sources report. Its single one-piece body provides ports for up to six function device ...

    Valve Station Reduces Installation Time
    The ICF valve station from Danfoss allows industrial refrigeration installers to complete projects faster and with less labor, sources report. Its single one-piece body provides ports for up to six function device modules that are configured specifically for a customer's application and shipped to a jobsite as a complete subassembly, ready for installation into the jobsite piping or into the OEM's products. (The ICF valve is shown at left in an actual industrial refrigeration application.) Recently, Republic Refrigeration, industrial refrigeration specialists based in Monroe, NC, installed an array of ICF valve trains at two Gordon Food Service ammonia plant projects. "Valve trains are an assembly of components that control the flow of refrigerant and ensure safe, reliable operation," says Jay Kell, vice president for Republic Refrigeration. "We've installed countless valve trains in refrigeration systems for food distribution and processing facilities." A typical valve train is assembled from five or six components, each requiring two welds, which adds up to 10 welds or more per valve train. A project can average 60 to 80 valve trains, or as many as 800 welds per project. Combined with unboxing, cleaning, assembling and leak checking, at least six hours of work are involved per valve train. Kell says the compactness of the ICF valve train helped save space in the plant, and reduced the amount of refrigerant in the line, and was a real time saver. "Because the ICF valve train components are integrated in a single body, it saves a lot of assembly and weld time," Kell says. Read more about the project at http://bit.ly/icfvalveinstallation
    — Danfoss North America
    danfoss.us.com
    Circle 182

    Valve Adjusts, Maintains Superheat Automatically
    The Smart Valve™ from Hill Phoenix automatically adjusts superheat and maintains it at the pre-set condition of 5F for low temperature systems, and 8F for medium temperature systems. Sources report that when installed on a dual temperature system, Smart Valve will adjust automatically to the selected temperature, to ensure the proper superheat is maintained. The valve has a much larger range of motion than a traditional expansion valve, which means case pull-down temperatures can be achieved up to three times faster during extreme conditions, such as when the system is coming out of a defrost cycle. According to the company, a refrigerant change-out can be performed without having to remove product from the case.
    — Hill Phoenix
    hillphoenix.com
    Circle 183