Gemü develops world’s first controllable single-use diaphragm valve

Gemü, a German valve specialist based in Ingelfingen, has developed the world's first controllable single-use diaphragm valve, the Gemü Sumondo.

The product range now comprises a manually operated version alongside a pneumatically operated solution.

The trend towards simplified upstream and downstream plant designs and the effective prevention of cross-contamination risks means that single-use disposable technology is becoming an increasingly high-profile and important field.

Single-use design is increasingly being used particularly in the manufacture of smaller batch sizes, which are required, for example, in research and pilot plants.

Gemü Sumondo links the valve body and actuator together using a defined process, after which only the valve body is removed and the actuator itself can be reused repeatedly in the plant.

The valve body is manufactured from polypropylene in a cleanroom and is gamma-sterilisable up to 50kGy.

It isolates the working medium hermetically from the environment and from the actuator via an internally welded diaphragm, which protects the medium from the environment not only during operation, but also after removal of the valve body.

The major advantage of the Sumondo in comparison to conventional pinch valves lies in the precise controllability of processes.

Using a tried and tested actuator design from conventional plant engineering, a high degree of flexibility and reliability can be achieved.

The manually operated version has an optical position indicator as standard and the new actuator is manufactured from high-grade plastic.

It is gamma-sterilisable and washable, and an autoclavable version is planned for the first six months of 2017.

The process for selecting the valve body is identical to that for the pneumatically operated version.