News & Events.
EXIDA CERTIFIES LUPATECH S.A. - VALMICRO BALL VALVES FOR SAFETY per IEC 61508
February 16, 2011
SELLERSVILLE, PA (February 15, 2011)—exida, a global supplier of functional safety products, services, and certifications, has certified the design and engineering processes for Lupatech S.A. - Valmicro 800 Series Floating Ball Valves and the 920 Trunnion Ball Valves per IEC 61508.
“Lupatech-Valmicro has demonstrated that its development processes and product characteristics meet the requirements of the IEC 61508 safety standard,” says exida Senior Engineer Steve Close. “We used the FMEDA technique backed up by field failure studies to determine the ball valves’ failure rates. This is superior to manufacturer warranty studies or cycle tests that produce optimistic results.”
“exida has the technical capability needed to certify mechanical devices,” says Lupatech S.A. - Valmicro Manager Marcos Ricardo Pretto. “The exida analysts have a strong understanding of the mechanical design process. This certification will give our customers additional confidence in our design processes and products.”
A complete list of exida certified products is available at www.sael-online.com.
About exida:
exida is a certification and consulting firm specializing in safety critical / high availability automation systems and control system security. exida’s main offices are located in Sellersville, PA, USA and Munich, Germany. exida has worldwide operations with service centers in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Netherlands, and New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
About Lupatech S.A. – Valmicro
A leader in the Brazilian industrial market, Valmicro was founded in 1984 as a division of Lupatech S/A. Located in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Lupatech S.A.-Valmicro produces ball valves, manual and automated, for industrial use in various market segments such as oil & gas, chemical, petrochemical, pulp and paper, food, pharmaceutical, transportation, metallurgy, equipment manufacturers, among others, in sizes ¼” to 12”, accumulating experience of over 4,000,000 installed valves. Lupatech S.A.-Valmicro was awarded “TOP ONE” by consumers of Ball Valves in the past 14 years, according to the annual survey conducted by NEI magazine - Industrial Equipment News. IEC 61508 certificate complements the existing Certificate ISO 9000 of Quality System, the certificate ISO 14000 of its Environmental Management System and the API 6D Certification, consolidating and confirming the quality of the system and its products.