Pinch Valve

Table of Contents

What is a Pinch Valve

A pinch valve controls flow by pinching the fluid, ranging anywhere from fully closed to fully open flow, and has three components: a body/housing, a rubber sleeve, and end connections [1]. The body houses the valve components, while the sleeve is the part of the valve that is pressed to control flow, and the end connections are the ends of the valve that connects to the different pipes [1]. Pinch valves come in two types: air-operated, and mechanical [1]. Even further, mechanical pinch valves come in two types: manual and pneumatic [1].

Air-Operated Pinch Valves

• Pressurized air is directly supplied into the valve and the air pressure squeezes the rubber sleeve to restrict flow [1]
• When the air pressure is released, the rubber sleeve contracts to open the flow of fluid

Mechanical Pinch Valves

• Manual: a hand wheel is turned by the user to open and close the valve [1]
• Pneumatic: springs push compressor bars to hold the valve closed unless pressurized air is supplied to pull the bars apart and open the valve

Applications

• Useful in applications with abrasive and corrosive fluids (like sand) [3]
• Useful for slurries and granular fluids
• Not useful in high temperature applications
• Not useful for high pressure applications
• Not useful for vacuum applications

Suppliers

Listed below are links to some common pinch valve suppliers:

• AKO
• Red Valve
• Tameson