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General purpose solenoid valves available 2/2 or 3/2 way in Brass, Stainless and Plastic with port sizes from 1/8" to 3" BSP for air, water or vacuum are found in all industrial automation, processing, chemical and water industries who will use solenoid valves in some form or another. It does not matter if they are high pressure solenoid valves, ATEX Hazardous area solenoid valves, water solenoid valves, air solenoid valves or even vacuum and steam solenoid valves, but one solenoid valve that will be used from these commercial industries all the way down to domestic applications will be the general purpose solenoid valve.
General purpose solenoid valves are what the name suggests, its a solenoid valve for general purpose everyday applications where users are looking to control the flow of non aggressive fluid or gaseous media. Below we have General Purpose Solenoid Valve images and Technical information.
General purpose applications are general every day regular, even boring safe stable applications such as mains water control, compressed air control, vacuum systems, water cooling, water spraying and wash down systems. Basically any application where the media being controlled is non aggressive, non corrosive, low pressure, on standard threaded connections, without the requirement for any custom or specialised solenoid valve material, seal or function. For example the most common brass, stainless steel or plastic 2/2 way normally closed solenoid valve with all standard solenoid valve parts.
General purpose solenoid valves make up almost 80% of market demands, but will probably be only less than 10% of the manufactured range of solenoid valves. Imagine walking into a solenoid valve store and being confronted with 1,000's of solenoid valves and most customers wanted the same selection of only about 20. Well this is the essence of general purpose solenoid valves selection, if users need a basic on/off general solenoid valve having only a simple selection to choose from can make life much easier.
Good point, when 80% of solenoid valves are general purpose why manufacture such an extensive range, the answer is solenoid valve solutions. Outside of the general purpose range there are high pressure, high temperature, hazardous area, aggressive contaminated and viscous media applications that can require specialised sealing, position feed back, high flow, reduced bore and many other flanged or base ported, multifunctional and special custom made solenoid valve solutions and mixtures thereof to suit all semi conductor, automotive, food, chemical and pharmaceutical processing and offshore or petrochemical applications you can think of.
Brass general purpose solenoid valves are typically 2/2 way normally closed solenoid valves with NBR seals, Brass body with stainless steel internals to suit most water, air, light oil and even vacuum applications. A good quality brass general purpose solenoid valve will come with an IP65 protection rating and CE marking for use within the European community.
General purpose brass pressure assisted solenoid valves, basically the pressure difference between inlet out outlet is controlled and utilised to manoeuvre the sealing diaphragm or piston into the open or closed position via a pilot circuit.
Benefits: Typically cheaper more so for larger sizes, relatively lower current consumption for larger sizes.
Draw backs: relies on pressure difference, ideal for open to atmosphere systems such as tank refilling, but no good for low pressure vacuum or gravity fed, closed loop or high back pressure systems such as spray nozzles.
General purpose brass zero rated solenoid valves, basically the diaphragm or piston are linked to the armature directly manoeuvring the sealing diaphragm or piston into the open or closed position.
Benefits: Guaranteed opening and closing regardless of pressure difference i.e. zero pressure difference rated, ideally suited for low pressure, vacuum, gravity fed, closed loop or high back pressure systems.
Drawbacks: More expensive for larger sizes, can draw more current in larger sizes.
Stainless steel general purpose solenoid valves are typically 2/2 way normally closed solenoid valves with FKM seals, 304 or 316 (CF8M) cast stainless steel body with stainless steel internals to suit most water, air, light oil and even vacuum applications. A good quality stainless steel general purpose solenoid valve will come with an IP65 protection rating and CE marking for use within the European community.
General purpose stainless steel pressure assisted solenoid valves, where basically the pressure difference between inlet out outlet is controlled and utilised to manoeuvre the sealing diaphragm or piston into the open or closed position.
Benefits: Typically cheaper more so for larger sizes, relatively lower current consumption for larger sizes.
Draw backs: relies on pressure difference, ideal for open to atmosphere systems such as tank refilling, but no good for low pressure vacuum or gravity fed, closed loop or high back pressure systems such as spray nozzles.
General purpose stainless steel zero rated solenoid valves, basically the diaphragm or piston is linked to the armature to directly control and lift the sealing diaphragm or piston into the open or closed position.
Benefits: Guaranteed opening and closing regardless of pressure difference, ideally suited for low pressure, vacuum and gravity fed, closed loop and high back pressure systems.
Draw backs: More expensive for larger sizes, can draw more current in larger sizes.
Plastic general purpose solenoid valves are typically used for mains water and drinking or potable (WRAS approved) water applications. Plastic solenoid valves are usually nylon bodied with either NBR or EPDM seals and are suitable for most general purpose applications up to 10 bar working pressure.
Benefits: Light weight, non corroding, typically less expensive.
Draw backs: limited strength and very heat sensitive. Some appliance water solenoid valves have faston tag type or small B rated coils are limited to 2 minutes power on with 3 minutes power off cooling time, any excess in cycle duty will over heat the coil melt the plastic and can lead to catastrophic leakage failure. Fine for short on cycle dishwashers, washing and water dispensing machines.
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