Flipper valve

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A flipper valve is a media-separated 2/2-way or 3/2-way valve in which a metal tongue ("flipper") that rotates and is covered with an elastomer opens and closes the valve seat.

Peculiarities of construction

Flipper valves are typically solenoid valves that are used in applications in which flow rates in the µl or ml range are regulated or controlled. The separation of drive and medium enables applications where freedom from contamination is required or chemically aggressive fluids are used. As a rule, only selected inert materials come into contact with the medium.

Flipper valves are comparatively insensitive to pressure surges and also withstand high back pressures. The reason for this is the reduced area to which the medium pressure is applied. In contrast to diaphragm valves, there is also no need for the diaphragm to flex, which results in less wear and thus a significantly longer service life.

The low moving mass of flipper elements also results in lower power consumption of the valve and enables highly reproducible and very fast switching. Furthermore, virtually no pressure pulse is generated when switching, which significantly minimizes the pumping effect known from diaphragm valves. Therefore, flipper valves are particularly suitable for precise dosing tasks.

The dimensions of the valve can be kept extremely small. The currently smallest flipper valve is just 4.5 mm wide.

advantages

A flipper valve

• Works almost pulsation-free
• Has particularly short and reproducible switching times
• Requires very little power
• Has a very long service life
• Is insensitive to back pressure and
• Can also be used for chemically aggressive media.

disadvantage

A flipper valve

• Tends to have a larger internal volume than a rocker valve
• Often mistakenly associated with being poorly flushable; with the help of new construction aids such as B. FEM calculations, however, this could be refuted, for example with the Bürkert flipper valve type 6650. As things stand today, it must be concluded that the internal volume is not the sole and exclusive criterion for the flushability of media-separated valves, but instead parameters such as internal design, surface quality, material, etc. a. are at least as decisive.

Explanation of how a flipper valve works

In the rest position, the NC seat or the NC channel is closed by the flipper element. The medium can now flow through the inlet / outlet into the NO seat / channel. If the valve picks up and the flipper element changes to the switched position, the NC channel is opened and the NO channel is closed. The medium can now flow from the input / output into the NC channel. The NO channel is not used or does not exist for the 2/2-way function.