Fast Closing Valves

A valve or faucet whose automatic closure is fast-acting. An explosion involves not only the immediate process item, but can also propagate to the rest of the process. This propagation can be avoided if the affected process item is quickly isolated (compartmentation), thus limiting the consequences of the explosion to the process item in which it occurred. If the airflow is only minimally charged with dust, as in the case of the clean air outlet on filters, a fast closing valve is the ideal way to achieve isolation.

Fast closing isolation valve as a component of a fast closing system for protecting storage rings of synchrotrons and particle accelerators, other critical systems and applications.

These valves are ideal for rapidly isolating one section of enclosed ballistic range tankage from another . They can be used to prevent gun products/gases from contaminating impact products and/or to keep impact products from contaminating the launcher and uprange tankage or any other applications requiring the fast closing of an opening. The valves use a small explosive charge to drive an aluminum or plastic plug across a circular port. The plug is “squeezed” into a tapered hole creating an airtight seal across the port opening.

Fuel is drawn the service tank through a quick closing valve. These can be closed remotely in case of emergency (e.g. fire). This can be done with simple pull wires, hydraulically, or in this case by compressed air.

The fuel then passes via the change over valve through a set of filters into the supply pumps.