Food Processing

For over 60 years, Griswold Controls has provided stainless steel automatic flow limiting valves to breweries and food processing plants to maintain constant flowrate helping them make food and beverages, as well as help clean equipment.

Controlling the Flowrate

Controlling the flowrate (gallons per minute) in any piping system can be a challenge if the system experiences pressure changes due to valves opening, closing, or modulating to different loads. System pressure changes mean the flowrate fluctuates and in food processing applications flowrate changes can lead to food waste or equipment malfunctions.

Since 1960, Griswold Controls has made automatic flow limiting (automatic balancing) valves for the hydronic HVAC industry.

Brewery

The same stainless steel flow limiting cartridge can also be installed in our ALL 316 stainless steel housing and has been used for decades in breweries, wineries, orange juice processing plants, and water bottling facilities. The automatic flow limiting cartridge maintains a constant flowrate (+/-5%) in spite of pressure changes in the system by varying the open area in a stainless steel, spring loaded cup. The simply elegant design is free of electronics while the stainless steel ported cup is self-cleaning as it moves up and down in a stainless steel housing, protecting the cartridge from clogging if the process media has granules or higher viscosity.

Our stainless steel line of valves are available with threaded, flanged, or tri-clover end connections with flowrates from 0.33 GPM to 1,200 GPM.

 

Flow limiting valves

How does an Automatic Flow Limiting Valve Maintain Design Flow?

Griswold Controls designed the first balance                         When the differential pressure across the
valve in the market in 1960, years before the                        cartridge falls below its control range (pink
first manual balance valve was designed and                        colored area in Figure 4), the cup will come all
manufactured. The all stainless steel flow                             the way out, exposing the maximum orifice area.
limiting cartridge is a standard in the industry                      Similarly, if the differential pressure
because of its simply elegant design.                                      across the cartridge rises.

Flow limiting valves

Above its control range (blue colored area in Figure 4), the cup will move all the way in, exposing the minimum orifice area. In both cases, the cartridge will now act as a fixed orifice device, varying flow based on the out-of-range differential pressure.

You do not have to worry about the cartridge ever shutting off the flow completely because a minimum orifice area is always open.

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    Read about Griswold Controls’ work in the Food Industry below:

    Hostess Brands

    Hostess Brands Facility

    Precision HVAC balancing supporting large-scale commercial food production in Arkansas.

    Location Arkansas
    Date of Completion August 1st, 2022
    Representative Fluid Solutions
    Griswold Controls Products Used Balancing valves supporting balanced HVAC flow across all zones


    Photos from Hostess Brands

    Description

    Donut, doughnut, or…Gefüllte Krapfen? Sounds like a sneeze, right? Schools teach us a lot of important things, but this might be a history lesson you don’t know: the donut, as we know it today, was originally named by the Germans, thus we have the “Gefüllte Krapfen!” Later, a more modern version was published in an English cookbook as a “dow nut.”

    The donut then made its way across the pond and into the very first instance of the traditional donut we know today. Since then, it has been a staple of American culture. 110 years after the arrival of the donut, Hostess Brands was born.

    For over a hundred years and through 23 avenues, Hostess Brands has been a delightful part of American tables. Today, they are best known for the Twinkie, Ding Dong, and Donette.

    Although Hostess wasn’t around in 1485 with the German donut, they chose the modern route — and not only with their donuts. They wanted a fantastic and modern way to do HVAC, much like the donut itself. Not only that, but making sweet treats is a precise art. Just ask grandma!

    Project Description

    If the oven was off a few degrees, would she be happy? If the bakers were too hot or too cold would their baked goods be as tasty? The correct answer is no.

    That is why Hostess Brands needed a balanced HVAC system that provides the right flow in every zone of the building.

    Valves provided in this project ranged anywhere from ½” pipe size to 10” pipe size, balancing all aspects of their HVAC system and ensuring precise heating and cooling throughout the facility.

    This means that the building maintains the correct amount of heating and cooling — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

    Products Used

    Griswold Balancing Valves

    Griswold Controls balancing valves ensure accurate flow control throughout large HVAC systems. In projects like the Hostess facility, balancing valves help maintain precise environmental conditions required for consistent food production.

    With pipe sizes ranging from ½” to 10”, the valves installed on this project ensured balanced flow across all HVAC zones, allowing production environments to maintain stable temperatures and airflow conditions.

    Balanced systems improve energy efficiency, increase system reliability, and ensure consistent comfort and operational performance across the entire facility.

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      About Fluid Solutions

      Fluid Solutions Inc. is a company with a history spanning over 60 years. They partner with leading manufacturers to provide reliable HVAC equipment and solutions for commercial and industrial projects.

      At Fluid Solutions, the focus is on providing effortless connections to the equipment customers need. By building strong relationships with trusted manufacturers, they ensure customers receive high-quality products supported by knowledgeable experts.

      This approach provides peace of mind that every project is equipped with dependable equipment made by quality people.

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