Téchne grease nipples
To eliminate some of the problem areas of conventional grease nipples, Sealweld and Téchne have developed a new type of grease nipple. From the outside, Téchne's grease nipples don't differ much from those of other suppliers, the difference is in the internal parts.
If you look at the drawing of the ordinary grease nipple, you can see that there is a groove under the spring that holds the spring and ball in place. This is a weak point that can break if pumped at too high a pressure. The bending of the steel will also cause small fractures. When pumping at high pressure, the spring will be overloaded, squeezed completely together and the flow area in the grease nipple will be significantly reduced, after which the pumping force can push the spring and ball out of the grease nipple and into the channel of the seat.
Regular grease nipple
The ball in the grease nipple can also cause problems. During normal operation, deposits can build up around the sealing surface of the ball, and vibration can also wear a small groove in the sealing surface of the ball. The deposits or the worn groove will not initially cause a problem, but when you start pumping in detergent/lubricant, the ball may rotate slightly and move back towards the housing in a different position than before, causing a leak.
Téchne and Sealweld's solution to these problems is three adjustments.
Téchne grease nipple
The internal parts are not held in place by a seam but now have a screwed-in stop that cannot be pressed out. This stopper is also equipped with a small pin that prevents the spring from being completely compressed so that the scarring through the grease nipple is reduced.
As the drawing of Téchne's grease nipple shows, it is no longer a ball, but a dome with a guide that acts as a check valve in the grease nipple. When the dome is pushed away from the seat when pumping in detergent/lubricant, it will be guided so that the sealing surfaces return to exactly the same position as before pumping started.
Téchne manufactures grease nipples with all desired couplings, be it NPT - NPTF - BSPP - UNC - UNF - Flange couplings - Grease nipples with single, double or triple seal
The drawings below show a few of the alternative grease nipples produced by Téchne.
Téchne auxiliary valves
As part of its specialty products, Téchne manufactures auxiliary valves for installation in the valve body of larger valves. In order to be able to maintain and test ball valves or gate valves, it is necessary to have a safe access for pressure reduction or supply of solvent into the valves' valve bodies.
Auxiliary valve w/ test port
The valve on the left is a standard ball valve with male and female NPT connections. What is special about this valve is the loose lever. One of the problems that can occur on small ball valves is that someone for some reason touches the handle of the valve and involuntarily opens it. To eliminate this situation, the handle is loose and taken off and hung next to the valve for later operation.
The valve on the right is a test valve with a 1/4" NPT hole after the ball but before the outlet of the valve. To test or maintain the main valve, a pressure gauge is installed in the test port and a standard auxiliary valve in the outlet of the test valve. By closing the outer valve and opening the inner valve, the pressure in the valve body will be registered. You can reduce the pressure or increase the pressure depending on what you need to do.
Flanged auxiliary valve
Due to the risk of breakage, NPT threads are no longer the desired connection to the valve body. Now there are often flanged couplings machined directly on the valve body. For flanged couplings, the same valve is produced, but now the male NPT is replaced with a flange of the desired type or dimension. This can be a compact flange or an ANSI flange in the pressure class of your choice.
Even if the flange is 2″ RTJ on a 36″ class 1500 valve, the auxiliary valve will be a 1/2″ class 1500 valve. It is essential to keep the weight and dimensions of the auxiliary valves as low as possible.
During normal operation, only the innermost auxiliary valve will be mounted on the main valve. Drain plugs must be fitted in the test barrel and outlet, and the auxiliary valve must be in the closed position with the lever disconnected.
Téchne also produces customized valves such as the valve below. This is a combination of a 1/2" ball valve with a 1/4" pressure gauge and a needle valve at the end. After the needle valve there is a 1/2" hole for filling with sealant in case of spindle leakage. These are valves that are fitted to old valves where there is a fear of unpleasant surprises.
