Features Research & Innovation
VALVES: TRAPPING STEAM WHERE IT BELONGS

SOLON, OH — Swagelok has designed into its steam trap an automatic orifice that effectively removes steam condensate, thereby improving steam efficiency and reducing trap failure resulting from blockage. This is a major problem with conventionally made steam traps. Unlike in many other traps, Swagelok’s unit cannot be oversized, because the modulator responds to temperature. When condensate forms and cools in the drip or tracer line, the modulator opens more as the cooler condensate flows out. The modulator increasingly closes as hotter condensate — nearer in temperature to that of steam — approaches. A trap temperature and condensate flow-balance establishes the specific load of each application: from 0 to 91 kg/hr (0 to 200 lb/hr). The steam traps are designed in a 1-1/16-in stainless steel hex body with brass and fluorocarbon FKM-wetted parts. Available end conditions include the following: 1/2-in. NPT female pipe, 1/2-in. ISO female pipe, 1/2-in. Swagelok tube fitting and 1/2-in. VCO face seal fitting for easy trap removal with no axial clearance.

Circle Reader Service No. 2.