Valves for Food & Beverage Applications
The food & beverage industry has found that Equilibar® valves offer a unique advantage in pressure, flow or vacuum control in high speed, precision applications. Equilibar valves react instantaneously and maintain control across an extremely wide operating range, much wider than traditional valves. Some of the most common applications where Equilibar valves outperform are in spray coating, bottle filling, vacuum canning and food packaging.
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Popular Food & Beverage Applications for Equilibar valves
Application Details – Why choose Equilibar valves?
Spray Coating & Bottle Filling
Why is pressure control important in spray coating and bottle filling? Product filling machines in the beverage industry, for bourbon and beer production for instance, utilize time release valves that need precise pressure control to operate. Similarly, spray heads for food processing work most effectively at a specific pressure setpoint.
One of the main challenges in spray coating and bottle filling systems is maintaining control during start-up and shut down when flow rate is fluctuating. It might take several seconds during machine start-up for each of the nozzles to activate as the items being sprayed or bottles being filled move along the conveyor line. The opposite situation occurs at machine shutdown as the conveyor slows down and the last item passes under the spray nozzle manifold. During these ramping up and down times, the flow volume through the spraying or filling line can vary dramatically.
In these situations, a good solution is to install a high-speed back pressure regulator near the exit of the nozzle or filling manifold and recirculate the fluid back to the pump inlet. This solution offers significant advantages for applications experiencing persistent pressure fluctuations. The Equilibar back pressure regulator (BPR) is a high precision device that responds in milliseconds to pressure changes at its inlet, making it well suited for spray coating systems and for bottle filling systems.
For food and beverage applications, Equilibar offers the FDO sanitary valve product family in sizes ¼” to 3″.
Vacuum Canning
In vacuum canning, pumps are used to draw out the air from the can or bottle just prior to filling. Depending on the type of vacuum pump, the approximate pressure can be set by use of a vacuum breaker, or variable pump speed. However, as the filling line speed changes, there is a large change in the required flow rate. Unless a precision, high-capacity vacuum regulator is used, these changes in required flow can have a significant effect on the vacuum applied at the can. Vacuum pressure fluctuations can affect fill accuracy, cause splashing, or (in the extreme situation) cause collapse of the can wall. Like the Equilibar BPR, the Equilibar vacuum regulator (EVR) reacts quickly in response to fluctuations in flow, maintaining a steady vacuum setpoint as the speed of the filling line changes.
Food Packaging
In food packaging using Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP), air is rapidly removed and an inert gas is substituted. To do this economically, the gas exchange process must occur quickly, challenging the performance of traditional gas handling components. It is important that the vacuum be consistent from package to package and not deviate from the setpoint. The Equilibar EVR is a good fit for this demanding application. By providing stable vacuum pressures under rapidly varying flow rates, the EVR dramatically reduces the atmospheric variability from package to package, thereby improving the quality of the product and the productivity of the process.
Equilibar vacuum regulators are available with port connections between ¼” to 4”.
Equilibar Flow Control Valves for Food & Beverage Applications
While Equilibar valves inherently function as back pressure regulators, they may also be used for flow control. By modulating the reference pressure on the dome of the Equilibar in response to feedback from an external flowmeter, the valve diaphragm can be adjusted up and down to open or close the valve, thereby regulating the flow. Equilibar valves offer many benefits over traditional control valves when used for flow control in this way. Within the food and beverage industry, some relevant advantages are:
- Sanitary and industrial options in a wide range of sizes
- Ability to handle wide operating Cv ranges, with 100:1 Cv turndown or greater
- Ability to maintain stable control with mixed phase liquid-gas flow
- Multi-Orifice design enables use with viscous fluids or slurries
- Simple design allows for easy customization of wetted materials to meet chemical or sanitary requirements
- Fewer components means these valves are easier to rebuild and generally have a lower over all cost of ownership over the lifetime of the valve when compared to traditional control valves (ie. globe valves, gate valves, etc.)
More of the advantages of Equilibar technology over traditional control valves can be found here.
Contact an Equilibar application engineer to discuss your application.
RELEVANT PRODUCTS

Equilibar FDO sanitary back pressure regulator for precision food spraying or bottle filling

Equilibar vacuum regulator with electronic pilot for precise canning or vacuum packaging