The ARMATURY Group has produced two goggle valves with a total weight of over than 18 tons for the blast furnace in Linz, after receiving the contract last year. The goggle valves have already integrated into the blast furnace for DN 1800 and DN 800.
The ARMATURY Group's designers had to design gate valves to meet the strict conditions at the blast furnace in Linz. The working medium is an aggressive blast furnace gas with a temperature of 80°C and a maximum pressure of 0.25 bar. "The customer demanded a special inner coating of higher strength to withstand this aggressive media. Moreover, all the parts that could not be painted with this special paint had to be made of stainless steel," said Petr Heider, technical director of ARMATURY Group.
Both gate valves are operated by a special hydropower system, which is divided into two circuits. One circuit is in operation, and the other is a reserve in the case of a functional circuit failure. The hydraulic cylinders are connected to the central hydraulics. The sealing plate can be moved using a gear, chain wheel and chain manually.
"Designing of documentation for a gate valve is always very challenging and takes a long time. The larger gate valve DN 1800 was a real giant," says design engineer of ARMATURY Group Jiří Baron. "The valve weighs over than 12 tons, is nearly four meters high, and includes a console for removing the cover reaching a length of 9.3 meters! Such a valve is difficult not only to draw but also to manufacture and manipulate with it. When I count all the parts from which the goggle valve DN 1800 is made, I get 3394 pieces.”
ARMATURY Group's design engineers have been able to meet this challenging task. Martin Krella designed the smaller of the pair of gate valves - DN 800, Jiří Baron and his colleague Jan Gratza drew the bigger one - DN 1800. ARMATURY Group is the only manufacturer of special metallurgical valves in the Czech Republic. The supplies go to metallurgical plants in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Poland, but also to South America.