AVK UK PUR Coated Gas Valves as featured in GI News November 2018
The Donkin Asset Protection System for Valves, a unique Polyurethane coating explicitly developed for the Gas Industry. 05-03-2019
Building long-term relationships and providing innovative solutions for our customers, business partners and supply chain are key elements of AVK’s Expect Values. One such example of AVK UK successfully delivering its values is the Donkin Asset Protection System for Valves. In conjunction with AVK UK Limited subsidiary Bryan Donkin Valves Ltd, the industry leading gas valve manufacturer since 1847, the company has collaboratively worked with leading stakeholders in the UK and Overseas Gas industries to provide innovative and resilient solutions to resolve a number of issues around valve asset life, corrosion protection, asset integrity and traceability.
Mike Skeemer, Market Sector Manager Gas for AVK UK Limited explained the need for this collaborative approach to the project. “There were a number
of key drivers for this project, some customer led in response to their own key strategies; such as Health and Safety and the optimisation of “whole
life cost”, others were internally driven through our own innovation teams based on Donkin’s unprecedented experience in the gas sector. It became apparent during early research that an innovative and resilient solution was required.”
Trusted solution provider
As a long-term and experienced partner to the Gas Utility Industry, the AVK and Donkin team were tasked with providing the solution, it was
recognised through extensive collaborative discussion that the scope of the project should be as follows:
• To simplify the installation of valves, reducing the time to install and the risk of gas escape through flanged joints.
• To provide an industry accepted robust external protection solution that would negate the need for secondary site applied protection.
• To provide a factory applied corrosion coating for buried valves that has proven performance characteristics to recognised industry standards.
The result of this approach was the development and launch of the Series 555/370 Polyethylene (PE) Ended Gas Valve with a polyurethane
coating developed specifically for the Gas Industry.
This unique high performance coating has been intentionally developed by AVK* to withstand the rigors and challenges of underground installation.
Industry leading standards
Whilst other coatings are now available on the market it is believed that the AVK UK coating is the only one meeting the specification requirements of
BS EN 10290 and industry standard T/SP/CW/6-2. This compliments the AVK UK strategy that safety critical products must meet and benefit from the
highest manufacturing standards. In the 12 months since its introduction the PUR coating has become the preferred choice for buried valves, in the UK gas distribution sector.
AVK UK became the first manufacturer in the gas distribution sector to achieve the international standard ISO/TS 29001:2011 for its entire design-to-delivery, gas valve manufacturing process – the highest safety based standard a manufacturer can achieve in this sector and involves an intensive auditing process.
Full Protection
AVK recognise that many valves also need to be supplied with flanged connections and so the same PUR coating is applied to our 555/300 range of gate valves. These valves are fully protected on the valve body and bonnet but will still require the connecting flanges to be protected as part of the installation. In addition to the new coating, a corrosion resistant, stainless steel Gr 303 spindle is supplied as standard throughout the size range.
Optimum corrosion protection
The Donkin Asset Protection System coating was originally developed* jointly by AVK in the Netherlands and a German polymer manufacturer in 1995 to withstand the challenges of buried service for gate valves and now through 20+ years of use is proving to be the optimum solution to corrosion protection of the 555 gate valve range in the UK.
Full product traceability
The final element of the Donkin Asset Protection System is traceability. Both AVK and their gas customers understand the importance of being able
to track valve assets for operational requirements.
Every valve is now fitted with a QR code label through which the AVK Valve Installation Tracker (AVIT) app can provide an accurate GPS location, log all the relevant installation details and provide a genuine picture of the installation for quality audit purposes. This same QR code also provides full product traceability throughout the manufacturing process at Bryan Donkin Valves Ltd.
20 Year Warranty
Confident of the customer benefits, to the gas industry and of the systems resilience, AVK UK offer a 20-year Warranty on all Series 555/370 valves
supplied with the new AVK UK PUR Coating and registered onto the AVIT system at installation.
• No need to corrosion protection wrap PE tailed valves
• Much quicker installations times
• Extremely robust coating, minimum 1500 microns
• Valves individually holiday tested
• Valve asset tracking - AVK Valve Installation Tracker
• Coating compliant with recognised standards EN 10290 and T/SP/CW/6-2
• Valves approved to GIS V7 part 1 and PL3
* Developed jointly by AVK in the Netherlands and a German polymer manufacturer in 1995
For further details on the Donkin Asset Protection System for Valves and other innovative AVK UK Limited products please contact:
Mike Skeemer.
