Dynamic Fluid Control has bought RF Technologies, a leading USA-based pinch-valve manufacturer with an established global presence.

The purchase, which includes RF Technologies’ wholly owned Finnish subsidiary, follows DFC’s acquisition in mid-2008 of local company Insamcor.

It extends the product line of Benoni-based DFC to include the well known aiRFlex and RF valve brands, which occupy leading positions around the globe in applications involving abrasive, corrosive, scaling and plugging slurries and powders.

Commenting on the acquisition, DFC group managing director Henry Smith said that it would satisfy demand in the South African mining sector for a high quality pinch valve.

“Strategically, the RF Technologies footprint in North America, South America and Europe will accelerate our penetration of the international market for minerals processing valves,” Smith said.

“Locally, we will now be able to offer South African customers the most comprehensive range of high quality branded slurry valves available anywhere.”

Smith claimed that the combination of DFC’s SKG valves, Insamcor’s ported-blade and bi-directional knife-gate valves, Saunders diaphragm valves, and now the new RF and aiRFlex pinch valves, represented the best slurry valve offer by any single company worldwide.

“There are also synergies of the new product with the effluent and desalination industries,” Smith added.

The aiRFlex and RF valve ranges comprise pinch valves sized from 25mm to 1500mm in both manual and automated configurations.

Three product features distinguish these valves from competitors’ products: an industry standard face-to-face length allowing ready interchangeability with other valve designs, a non-stretch elastomer sleeve that delivers higher wear resistance and longer life, and the ability to change the sleeve in-line.

Standard elastomer sleeves experience 95% of wear during the last 10% of valve closure, when stress velocity and abrasion are at their highest.

To counter this, the RF Technologies sleeve incorporates folds to minimise stretching of the sleeve body and extend useful life by up to four times.

A wear monitoring sensor assists with preventative maintenance, and sleeves can be changed in-line to save manpower and equipment costs.

While AiRFlex valves handle line pressures up to 4 bar, RF valves are designed to control slurries in the pH range 1 to 13 at pressures of up to 40 bar and temperatures up to 120 deg C.  Actuation can be manual, pneumatic, hydraulic or electric.

To increase the competitiveness of the range, some of the RF Technologies valve bodies and sleeves will in future be manufactured at the DFC factory in Benoni.

Details of the new manufacturing arrangements will be announced soon.