Steam Control at Cheshire Paper Coating Factory

Over the past few months, we have been involved in improving steam control at a Cheshire paper coating factory. The existing system had two Spirax Sarco 3/4″ pneumatically operated control valves for steam which were fed steam through two baffle separators. The operators had stated that the present system did not provide the control they required and that the steam quality was poor.

We visited the site with their contractor and following our site visit, we looked at TLV products that would provide control and separation in one unit. We initially identified the TLV CV-COS as the ideal product, a temperature control valve with an inbuilt cyclone separator and free float steam trap. Unfortunately, TLV did not have a pneumatic version available from stock meaning that delivery on the said valve would have exceeded twenty-one weeks.

Working with TLV we were however able to offer a 3/4″ CV-COS valve in its electro-pneumatic form and with some help from Samson Controls two pneumatic positioners were delivered and fitted to the valves onsite by the TLV engineering team. Upon the completion of the installation, we set the valves to work with the existing control panel which although fully working is dated compared to modern units.

Once the work had been completed, we left the operators to complete their testing on the paper coating machine. When we returned to the site several weeks later, our technical team received high praise from the on-site engineers for the improvement in steam control at the factory as a result of changes, which resulted in improved product quality and an increase in production speed.