IMI Precision Engineering has developed a new range of ball valves which are specifically designed to meet the stringent standards required of products used on board rail vehicles.
With an in-depth understanding of the rail sector built over more than 30 years within the industry, the new range features a variety of benefits which respond to the daily issues faced by rail operators and OEMs, including in-line ported, interface versions and electrical position monitoring options. Including a robust, easy-to-maintain design, the IMI Norgren ball valves also offer consistency across a broad temperature range between -40°C and +85°C, ensuring optimum performance across the world’s most challenging environments.
Kelvin Austin, Business Development Director-Rail at IMI Precision Engineering, said: “Ball valves perform a vital function, enabling a compressed air supply to be isolated. This might be during the normal operation of a vehicle or perhaps to allow maintenance of pneumatic equipment to take place. Whether this is scheduled maintenance or a result of damaged or leaking pipework, our ball valve range ensures the air line can be shut off safely. The range also offers lever, latching or locking operating handles to ensure suitability across on-board applications, from door and step systems through to freight wagon controls.
Alongside being tested to EN 45545 standards for fire and smoke behaviour of materials used on board rail vehicles and EN 61373 for vibration resistance, all ball valves in the new range go even further to deliver reliable performance within rail applications. An additional standard with which IMI Norgren ball valves are compliant – NF F11-806:1996 – defines all technical, dimensional and functional parameters for ball valves used in rail vehicles. This defines also maximum and minimum operating torque with the aim of reducing the potential for an unplanned change of state and ensuring comfortable operation even at -40°C.
“We work directly with our customers to truly understand the challenges they face every day and use our industry knowledge to develop solutions which will help to overcome these. Designed specifically for the rail sector, the new range of ball valves does exactly this, offering a durable and reliable solution for rail operators.”
For more information and the full Rail Ball Valve Brochure, visit www.imi-precision.com/rail