Linde valve wins product design award
Linde Gases, a division of The Linde Group, has announced that its gas cylinder valve, EVOS Ci, has won the prestigious Red Dot Award: Product Design 2015.
Product entries are assessed on a number of criteria including degree of innovation, functionality, build quality, ergonomics, durability, ease-of-use, ecological compatibility, integration capabilities and degree of emotional connection to the product. The panel of 38 jurors comprised many of the world’s most prominent and influential product designers, representing 25 countries. This year’s Red Dot competition received almost 5,000 entries from 56 countries, across 31 categories.
EVOS employs a uniquely designed, quick-action lever in place of the more traditional hand-wheel mechanism for opening and closing the valve. This innovative open/close functionality ensures easy opening to improve efficiency, fast closing in case of emergency and, as an extra safety feature, the ability to physically see at a distance whether the valve is open or closed.
Linde elected to collaborate with more leading-edge product designers in order to deliver the best user experience in terms of functionality, technical advancement and ergonomic design. Their chosen partner, German design firm, Indeed Innovation GmbH, helped Linde deliver a truly unique and evolutionary valve design to the market.
‘We are delighted to receive this award from such an eminent product design jury,’ said Colin Haden, head of Linde’s Centre of Excellence for Packaged Gases. ‘Linde has always played a pioneering role in terms of technology development within our industry. The Red Dot Award recognises EVO as true breakthrough in valve design and a leap forward in performance, safety, ergonomics and efficiency.’
The EVOS Ci design also incorporates several additional new features including a safety ‘interlock’ button to mitigate the risk of the valve being opened accidentally; a unique guard design to improve user safety and prevent damage to the valve; optimal grip design for ease of lifting and designed to ensure the cylinder can be easily and safely lifted via crane to heights. The valve also has an integrated real-time content gauge to allow users to see the amount of gas left at a glance, and is capable of operating 300 bar working pressure across multiple gas types – significantly more than standard industry valves.
