The “Mercedes” of Ball Valves for District Heating

With the Monoball KHO, KLINGER Fluid Control is launching a new, even more robust ball valve.

District heating pipes are like an accordion. They constantly expand and contract. They are hundreds of kilometers long and seasonal pressure and temperature fluctuations cause enormous changes in length. They have to withstand all this to keep us comfortably warm.

This is true not only for the pipes, but also for the ball valves, which are placed between the pipes at regular intervals in order to be able to shut off the water if necessary. In particular, the weld seams of these ball valves are placed under extreme stress. If they were to fail, the heating supply would be disrupted, and extensive excavation work would be needed. To prevent this, KLINGER Fluid Control (KFC) is launching a whole new generation of ball valves: the Monoball KHO.

Single cast housing

The KLINGER Monoball KHO is a true product innovation: “We have set ourselves the goal of improving good products and at the same time offering them more cost-effectively,” says Xaver Gruber, Managing Director of KLINGER FLUID CONTROL. Whereas ball valves used to be welded together from bent metal pipes, the Monoball KHO is a new approach:

KLINGER Fluid Control made a conscious decision to increase quality. After all, we want to do justice to the company’s reputation and offer the “Mercedes of ball valves”, as Gruber puts it.

One Ball Valve, Many Models

This “Mercedes” is available in a variety of models. Models with threads or flanges can be adapted to customer requirements with very little effort. “The modular design means we only have to import a few parts. We receive a housing that we can customize on site,” says Gruber. The precision casting of the housing is a complicated process in which a thin-walled steel casting is created around a wax mold. Its low weight saves material and transport costs. “Casting requires more personnel, but we can reduce the processing time in Gumpoldskirchen and make optimal use of the available resources,” explains Gruber.

Courtesy of Klinger International.

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