Roto-Disc, Inc. remains focused on continuous improvement and product innovation for all industries we serve, including those industries where purity is paramount. Keep reading to learn if your industrial processes can benefit from our Roto-Clean® sanitary spherical valves.
Overview of Roto-Disc
Roto-Disc, Inc. designs and manufactures spherical valves and airlocks, as well as clean-flow diverters for industrial processes that handle dry and slurry material. Hundreds of industries around the world, from mining and pharmaceuticals to food production and chemicals, benefit from our improved designs.
Customization options and precision engineering are key components of our product offering. Do you need a valve that can withstand abrasive and demanding material in harsh chemical environments? What about a wide range of temperatures? We can design a valve for your process that fits your requirements.
The advantages of Roto-Disc valves are numerous. They can save you money by decreasing direct maintenance costs and reducing or eliminating downtime. Improved industrial processes optimize production time on the line where minutes per shift and hours per week add up quickly for labor costs.
We have been in business for more than 40 years and have thousands of successful installations. All products are designed and manufactured in the United States, meaning your purchase supports American jobs.
What Is the Roto-Clean® Sanitary Spherical Valve?
The Roto-Clean® sanitary spherical valve utilizes the same essential features as the original Roto-Disc® spherical valve. The main difference is that this valve has a lighter weight and can be disassembled by hand in minutes when your team needs to sanitize the valve between batches.
Roto-Clean® wipes itself clean with each cycle. It can easily slice through sticky and gummy material build-up, like when handling dough ingredients. The sturdy materials and consistent action of the valve parts contribute to this process.
All product contact surfaces are made of FDA-compliant materials. The real benefit of Roto-Clean® sanitary spherical valves is that they are sturdier, reduce or eliminate jams, and are relatively easy to clean. These valves are available in various sizes and offer customizable inlet and outlet options.
Tool-Free Assembly and Disassembly Allows for Easy Cleaning
Our valves can be disassembled by hand and without tools in less than five minutes for easy cleaning and sanitization. Each individual part can be sanitized thoroughly before reassembling. Each part, including the shaft O-rings, can be individually washed and reassembled in minutes.
Roto-Clean® valves are typically used in gravity flow or low-pressure/vacuum applications and at ambient to slightly elevated temperatures. Please consult Roto-Disc®, Inc. for Roto-Clean® applications at elevated temperatures or pressures.
Our valves provide extra stub length for welding to a blender bottom. This minimizes dead space between parts, which can improve sanitation, increase efficiency, and maintain product quality.
Industries That Benefit From Roto-Clean® Sanitary Spherical Valves
Industries that require pure manufacturing environments with dry or slurry materials typically benefit most from Roto-Clean® sanitary spherical valves. These include, but are not limited to:
- Pharmaceuticals
- Food processing
- Pigments and dyes
- Semiconductor or high-purity silicon
- Any application where frequent valve cleaning is required
For example, our sanitary spherical valves are designed with smooth surfaces. This prevents materials from building up in crevices, which can cause contamination. Another advantage comes from fittings that can be changed out quickly when processing materials.
Roto-Clean® Sanitary Spherical Valves vs. Similar Valves
If your industrial processes use butterfly valves, ball valves, or diaphragm valves for dry material handling applications, Roto-Clean® sanitary spherical valves offer significant advantages.
Roto-Clean® Sanitary Spherical Valves vs. Butterfly Valves
The vane, or disc of a Butterfly valve is set directly in the middle of the flow-stream. This usually causes wear on the sealing surfaces and often causes product bridging. On the other hand, the dome of the Roto-Clean valve gets out of the way of material flow so the sealing surfaces are not exposed. This prevents wear on critical valve surfaces and gives a fully open port that won’t cause bridging.
Roto-Clean® Sanitary Spherical Valves vs. Diaphragm Valves
Diaphragm valves are not good for handling dry materials, especially abrasive or sticky materials. The principal issue with diaphragm valves is that the internal flow path is less streamlined. Another problem is that the flexible part of the valve can deform under pressure or wear down quickly in demanding environments. Roto-Clean® sanitary spherical valves can solve these problems.
Roto-Clean® Sanitary Spherical Valves vs. Ball Valves
Residue can accumulate in the cavity of a ball valve, which puts the purity of your products at risk. Ball valves have a less dynamic design, which makes this traditional placement susceptible to clogging. You might have higher maintenance time because the valve body often requires disassembly. Further, wear is concentrated on the sealing surfaces of ball valves, which is problematic if you have an abrasive environment. Roto-Clean® is designed to lower or eliminate these difficulties.
Common Applications for Roto-Clean® Sanitary Spherical Valves
There are several applications where a Roto-Clean® sanitary spherical valve is preferred for your manufacturing processes.
Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
Our Roto-Clean® valves can be used in powder handling for tablet and capsule production, as well as in processes requiring strict sterility, such as blending and granulation. For example, it is great for transferring powders in tablet presses or moving granules between processing equipment.
Food Processing
Roto-Cleans are often used on the inlet and discharge of blenders/mixers that handle food ingredients (flour, sugar, spices) because the dome is wiped clean with each cycle. Additionally, the dome takes up dead-space at the blender bottom which reduces the amount of unmixed product. User’s that want a clean-in-place solution can take advantage of the spray-nozzle option for internal wash-down with cleaning fluid.
Semiconductor Manufacturing
Does your facility maintain ultra-high-purity silicon? Roto-Clean® works for inert environments where abrasive silicon must maintain its purity for microchips and wafers. It can help you manage silane or trichlorosilane during the pre-processing stages by preventing contamination with the tight seal.
Cosmetics Manufacturing
Pigments are often powders used in cosmetics manufacturing. Roto-Clean® aids in the transfer of pigments from hoppers into mixers when creating batches of cosmetics.
Benefits of Roto-Clean® Sanitary Spherical Valves
These valves have the same essential features as our other products. Valve sizes range from 2 to 12 inches, with a wide range of mounting and control options.
Durable Design
The durable design comes from these main alloys:
- Stainless Steel
- Hastelloy-C
- Other alloys on request
Soft seats can be comprised of the following:
- Reinforced PTFE
- PEEK
- Ertalyte
- Stainless steel
- Other engineered plastics on request
Coatings may include:
- Thin-dense chrome
- Teflon®/PFA
- Others upon request
Two Case Studies With Roto-Clean® Sanitary Spherical Valves
Two case studies from happy customers are related to our Roto-Clean® sanitary spherical valves.
Continental Mills, Krusteaze Division
Continental Mills’ Krusteaze division, located in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, produces various cake mixes. The mixers used in production are 10′ X 4′ ribbon mixers equipped with two 10-inch outlets—one for good product and the other for rejects. These mixers are critical for maintaining product quality, with every batch undergoing thorough testing before packaging.
Originally, the mixers used lip-seal type swing gates powered by air cylinders, but these valves faced several issues. Material adhered to the lip of the valve, preventing full closure, which allowed ingredients to sift out during mixing, affecting batch quality.
Additionally, power failures could cause the valves to remain open, resulting in product loss on the floor. The valves were also difficult to clean and posed risks of cross-contamination between batches.
Plant engineer Scott Seebold selected the Roto-Clean® valve for its easy disassembly and cleaning capabilities. These valves lead to improved performance, easier cleaning, and substantial maintenance savings for the plant.
Eurand America
Eurand America, based in Dayton, Ohio, manufactures micro-encapsulated time-release pharmaceuticals. In the production process, dry solids are conveyed to reactors by vacuum and mixed with solvents.
These reactors must seal securely, as pressure differentials can range from 30 PSI to full vacuum, making reliable valve operation essential. Additionally, ease of cleaning is crucial between different batches of pharmaceuticals to prevent cross-contamination.
The Solution for Eurand
To address these needs, Ralph Lindon from Eurand selected Roto-Clean® valves to replace traditional ball valves. The Roto-Clean® valves can be easily disassembled and cleaned without tools in just minutes.
Custom fabrication allowed the valves to match the dimensions of the previous ball valves, enabling smooth installation without the need for piping modifications. Additionally, the solenoids and air actuators were positioned to avoid extra control tubing in the explosion-proof installation.
The Roto-Clean® valves provide quick and efficient cleaning, with disassembly taking only 3 to 4 minutes. Each part, including the shaft O-rings, can be individually washed and reassembled in minutes. These valves are available in various sizes and offer customizable inlet and outlet options for easy, tool-free removal.
Contact Roto-Disc
Does your team need sanitary valves that don’t have the problems of traditional valves in a clean-environment setting? Contact us today to see if our team can help solve your production line problems and make your processes more sanitary and efficient.
