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May 1, 2010 12:00 PM

Allied Aviation fuels air travel through Houston

Dry disconnect

Kamvalok meets the needs of Allied Aviation and its operations at IAH because they are designed with a unique poppet action that virtually eliminates spillage of any residual liquid that remains in the line after disconnection. They have been designed to shut off in the event of an accidental disconnection of the coupler and adaptor.

In other words, should the Kamvalok be disconnected due to operator error or accident while the lever is in the open position and product flow is in progress, the poppets in the adaptor and coupler will automatically close and immediately stop fuel flow through the coupler and adapter.

“We wanted to make it safer for the operator and the environment,” Minter says. “Since we converted to the Kamvaloks we can do maintenance any time we need to. We no longer have to shut the system down and we see less wasted fuel from spills during the hydrant service process.”

With a fueling hydrant system as complex as the one at IAH, a number of different technologies and equipment sizes originally were being used to service the system. Therefore, it took more than a year to convert and standardize the entire system — with its more than 200 service points — to the two-inch Kamvaloks. That upgrade was completed in 2007, which is — not coincidentally — also the year that Allied Aviation won the Silver Nozzle Award.

“It definitely was a big task to get the Kamvaloks into the existing system since we needed so many of them and we had to replace a variety of old equipment and valves,” Minter says. “However, it was definitely worth the wait. When you have one big spill and realize the cost in cleanup and lost fuel, you can appreciate the cost savings with the Kamvalok system.”