The winners of the Primus Award were announced at the DIAM 2021 in Bochum. In the VALVE category, the winner was Hartmann’s new pigging ball valve, which has been submitted for patent.
The new Hartmann pigging ball valve with multiple safety barrier to the sluice room enables the safe and easy launching and receiving of pigs even with (residual) pressure in the main line. In this new kind of construction, the sluice room is separately closed off by at least two additionally installed seat rings. Pressure gauges are used to monitor the sluice pressure. If the first barrier of the pipeline to the dead storage is leaking, the second barrier seals against the interlock and the sluice gate can still be closed without danger. The design not only simplifies the process of pigging, it also increases safety.
The new design also allows other applications, such as the use of a sieve basket filter. Other options include the use of check valves in the ball, the insertion and removal of measuring equipment, or the placement of control wheel to throttle the flow. The innovative design allows many other applications and is also suitable for hydrogen.
