1964

The engineer Friedhelm Dirkskötter founded the Dirkskötter Armaturen GmbH & Co. in Senden/Westphalia to produce shut-off, throttle and regulating valves, and introduced them to the industrial market under the same brand name.

The company began with the development and production of centrally mounted butterfly valves with intermediate and double flange designs evidencing sealing sleeves permanently bonded by vulcanisation to the valve housing.

Close technological and constructive cooperation with the chemical works Hüls, the system builders Uhde, CEAG, Mannesmann-Demag, the container manufacturer Thyssen, etc. and the resulting technical experience led as a matter of course to a rapid and positive overall development of the Dirkskötter Armaturen GmbH & Co. company.

1976

The necessary design, technological and spatial requirements had been achieved and the production range was expanded to include the production of double-eccentric valves with intermediate and double flange designs up to nominal width 2400. The latter were particularly required for large water and sewage works, and are still in use today in places such as Berlin, Florence and Cairo, etc. In addition to so-called soft sealing, this construction series was also available with pure and composition metal sealing designs.
The design and production engineering experience gained from the double-eccentric butterfly valves was used to further expand the product range with the production of patent protected double flanged non-return valves with adjustable hydraulic damping.
Additional developments in this field included in particular centrally mounted butterfly valves for use with abrasive media. Our house developed butterfly valves with sealing sleeves actuated externally by compressed air in order to prevent contact of the valve with the sealing element in the housing during the closing/opening process, thereby counteracting greater wear of the sealing surfaces.

1982

Due to the accidental death of the company founder, the company changed hands and continued operations as >DEKA Armaturen GmbH<, keeping the brand name. The company change and related change in management led to an intensification of the production program, particularly through the increasing utilisation of application technology experience, and to continuous growth in market share. Numerous patent and registered design registrations and certifications already demonstrate the innovative spirit of the company during these years under the technical manager, the engineer Gerhard Oberbeck, as well as the creativity and determination inherent in the conversion of operation-based shut-off problems into reliable application technology problem solutions.

For instance, a double-capability butterfly valve was developed, amongst other things, that combined the advantages of a double eccentric flap and a valve. A single drive shaft is used to achieve the 90° swivel movement and then a linear movement of the flap in the housing seal seat. The "Valve double eccentric flap" was introduced to the market under the name VENDEX and is protected by patent throughout the world..


1985

Westfälische Absperr- Regel- und Exzenterklappen

WAREX Armaturen und Industriebedarf GmbH.

This period saw the further development of the butterfly valves with pneumatically actuated sealing elements and the subsequent application for registered design. The German Patent Office granted this request on 14.11.1991 with the No. G 9106 289.6. Since then, these butterfly valves in the DKZ 103 and DKZ 110 series are also available with = Air Pressure Sailing, which has also been registered as a trademark (2 046 164), and are still proving themselves to be durable shut-off devices in practice.

Market-oriented insights led to the production program being tightened up and restructured in favour of safety-related butterfly valves, negatively affecting the production of WAREX double eccentric and double flange non-return valves.


1992

The first safety butterfly valves were developed and then tested and certified by the Bergbau research institute in Dortmund with regards to pressure shock resistance and flashback safety. The DKZ 103 series butterfly valves were then delivered with the DMT certificate and have since then proven to be extremely effective in particularly potentially explosive systems.
The operational restructuring resulted in further expansion of the company right up to worldwide marketing of the entire production range. The continuous rise of the WAREX company can be dated from this point.


1995

Close partnership with the WAREX customers around the world also required a correspondingly strong presence of our company "on-site", and so moves were initiated to set up direct representatives. Another sign was set for "internationalisation" by a more modern company name >WAREX VALVE GmbH<. At the same time, the managing director and proprietor Fritz Schmidt handed over management to the then technical manager of the company, engineer Gerhard Oberbeck.


1996

Production of WAREX products became subject to quality management following the introduction of EN ISO 9001 and the development, production and marketing of Warex shut-off devices were certified by DET NORSKE VERITAS. This ensured that WAREX devices met the complex operational requirements and that the constructive, application and production engineering experience of the company was used to ensure a high degree of safety and reliability for system planners and operators.

These events meant that a new technological period and further growth began for WAREX VALVE GmbH. The constantly increasing demands inherent in shut-off devices due to new chemical and thermal process sequences also posed a constant challenge to our company. New designs for normal butterfly valves were necessary to supply operators of shut-off devices with the highest degree of safety, stability and durability under difficult operating conditions, whether for bulk goods engineering, pneumatic conveyor systems or chemical processes. After extensive tests lasting for months under extreme operating conditions, a novel butterfly valve was developed in the type series DKZE 103 and patent registered at the German Patent Office. This eccentrically mounted, extremely service-friendly and universal butterfly valve is designed so that the pneumatically actuated sealing element can be replaced by normal, not specifically trained, personnel without having to dismount the valve. This design, in comparison to normal valves, evidences significantly less wear, especially when used in pneumatic conveying systems for highly abrasive media, e.g. quartz sand, etc., and therefore much longer service lives for the respective sealing elements and an enormous economic advantage for the operator.


1997

This butterfly valve type series has since proven itself in the roughest of applications and under the most difficult operating conditions. Sealing elements lying in negative flow areas evidence low wear even after 2 years of operation with 3-4 actuations/min and 24 hour operation. This has proven that the service life of the sealing elements is increased by several factors in comparison to normal butterfly valves.


1999

Another change in management due to retirement, but no interruption to the continuing development of the WAREX VALVE GmbH company. The increasing significance of the company in the global market and the wide variety in the product range meant that management needed to be expanded. The following persons: Dipl. Kaufm. Jörn Schneider , Dipl. Ing. Andreas Reusch and Frank Schmidt took over management of the company. The company objective was, in addition to the production and further development of butterfly valves, to create and promote the prerequisites for the production of complete problem solutions, particularly under safety-relevant aspects. These included, amongst other aspects, the further development of actual pressure or silo sluices for supply and discharge, dosing of solids, into and out of pressure or vacuum containers, particularly in connection with butterfly valves in the certified "GS" series for explosion decoupling. Application-specific electro-pneumatic controllers have been developed for semi or fully automatic process sequences using valve/sluice combinations which can then be delivered ready for connection and easily installed on site. In addition, further butterfly valves were developed for various extreme conditions and have since then been patent protected. For example, developments included a metal tight butterfly valve for hot gases with high solids percentage and temperature ranges up to 460 °C and further development of the worldwide-proven valve double eccentric flap "VENDEX".


2003

A particularly cost-effective butterfly valve, with the designation DKZE 110, was developed with lightweight construction for highly abrasive media for use in pneumatic conveyor and filling systems. This butterfly valve is also equipped with an eccentrically mounted valve disc and an easily replaceable sealing element, which can also be replaced without dismounting the valve, particularly useful in systems that are lighter and mobile in design. A technically high quality, but also cost-effective, alternative for continuous conveying and gas-tight sealing of bulk goods and granulates in fine dosing systems is offered by the newly developed WAREX valve in the series DKZ 103 "Rotary Valve" with its multi-stage star design valve disc. This is particularly well suited for charging fine dosing systems and sieves with the corresponding bulk goods and granulates on a continuous basis without bridging. These valves are available as 180° rotation and fully rotating versions depending on the drive type and process requirements. The particular feature of these valves is that gas-tight sealing is ensured in the respective "closed" valve flap position by our APS system.

Butterfly valves, depending on their application purpose, have been subject since 30th June 2003 to the ATEX Directive 94/9/EC Equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres.

In accordance with this directive, WAREX butterfly valves in the centrally mounted series DKZ 103; DKZ 110; DKZ 103 GS; DKZ 110 GS; DKZ 103 APS; DKZ 110 APS, and the eccentrically mounted butterfly valves in the series DKZE 103 APS (Patent No.: DE 195 42 568) and DKZE 110 APS (Patent No.: DE xxx xx xxx) have been subjected to EU prototype testing and, following appropriate tests, certified by the EXAM BBG Prüf- und Zertifizierungs GmbH on 13th May 2003 both as a "Device", and in combination, with an appropriate controller, as a "Protection system“.

Today

In addition to the production of "normal" butterfly valves, our company is strongly focusing on explosion protection and developing protection systems which can be used for Kst-values of up to 1000bar m/s. Double flap systems have been developed that include all safety-relevant parameters, taking into account explosion hazard areas and potentially explosive atmospheres due to burning dusts in Zones 20 to 22. The material-specific properties of these dusts were particularly taken into account, such as ignition temperature, ignition energy and maximum explosion pressure, as were the categories of the dust explosion classes St 1 to St 3.

Particular features in these systems are:

Pressure surge safe and flame-proof up to 14 bar
Suitable for Kst-values up to 1000 bar m/s
Also available for gases
Applicable up to 200°C
Reduced air leakage in operation
No air leakage in closed condition

Double flap systems, consisting of a combination of two GS series butterfly valves, a corresponding intermediate container and EU prototype tested actuation of the butterfly valves. In order to ensure the necessary functional safety, we have developed a specially patented pneumatic lock which guarantees combination with a limit switch unit that can be precisely calibrated (switching hysteresis < 1° or 2°).

The expansion of our global marketing network has been realised by the creation of additional representatives so that WAREX VALVE GmbH is now present in France, the Benelux countries, Scandinavia, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, etc., and is represented by competent trade partners and engineering offices. The constantly increasing high requirements set by industry and process technology, as well as the process-based further developments in the chemical industry, increasingly require matching reliable and, above all, operationally safe shut-off devices. We can meet these challenges and resolve them with our long-term experience and the competent knowledge and creativity of our employees. Our work is aimed at significant and long-term value addition for our customers. We achieve this through constant improvement of our products, constant learning processes and implementation of the resulting knowledge, and our extra-ordinary customer orientation.