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Power of Comparison

Vortex Handslide Orifice Gate vs. Alternatives

The Vortex® Handslide Gate™ is a highly versatile solution. It is often used in applications where air supply is not available, in filling applications where iris diaphragms are not feasible, or as a cost-eective alternative to using powered process gates in low actuation applications.

• Iris diaphragms are limited in scope, compared to the Handslide Gate. Because iris diaphragms feature a fabric sleeve, most are designed to handle bulk densities < 40 lb/ft. Because the Handslide Gate features a solid sliding blade, it is well-designed for handling bulk densities above that threshold.

• The fabric sleeve of an iris diaphragm is not designed to handle corrosive materials. Oppositely, the Handslide Gate's material contact areas are constructed from stainless steel to provide appropriate corrosion resistance.

• The fabric sleeve of an iris diaphragm is not designed to seal against fine materials. The Handslide Gate's solid sliding blade and hard polymer pressure plate seals provide a positive seal of materials across the gate and to atmosphere.

• It is not recommended to close an iris diaphragm through a flowing column of material. Doing so can cause wear and potentially break the diaphragm's internal control ring. The Handslide Gate's solid sliding blade is durable, allowing it to be closed through a flowing column of material.

• Many alternative slide gates rely on soft rubber seals which are directly exposed to the material flow stream. These seals rapidly erode or tear away in service. Others rely on bonnet packing, which can relax and allow material packing in the seals. These deficiencies promote leakage of materials and dusts past the gate and to atmosphere, in addition to actuation issues and several other maintenance concerns. The Handslide Gate addresses these issues by incorporating "live loaded" hard polymer pressure plate seals. Hard polymer provides greater wear resistance and longer service life than alternative sealing materials. The hard polymer seals are "live loaded" with compressed rubber backing to ensure even as the polymer experiences frictional wear from many actuations over time, the rubber load seals continuously force the polymer seals against the blade. The seals are also shielded from the material flow stream, to protect them from abrasion. This design maintains the gate's positive seal of materials/dust-tight seal with infrequent maintenance intervention.

• If the pressure plate seals have partially worn and the compression load is lessened, slight dusting may be present along the push-pull handle. With this maintenance indication, the Handslide Gate's shimming system can be utilized to restore the gate's dust-tight seal. Unlike alternative valves, which require spare parts be kept on-hand for seal maintenance, the Handslide Gate requires removal of parts. By simply loosening the nuts along the lateral aspects of the gate, shim(s) can be removed from each side and the nuts retightened to restore the pressure plate seals' compression load. This maintenance process can be performed while the gate remains in-line, and can be repeated several times before the shims and pressure plate seals must be replaced.