Obviously the cross-slit valve belongs to the duckbill valve family. It shares the same features and benefits. The main advantage over a regular duckbill valve is that it has a lot larger flow capacity when the 4 cuspids open up. On the other hand cross-slit valves have a non-tortuous, straight line flow path as well and therefore can be used in applications where instruments are pushed through the valve. Such as in a Trocar used for minimal invasive surgery procedures. Gas is prevented from venting out of the body cavity with either the instrument inserted or withdrawn from the Trocar. One particular problem associated with using a back up seal is when various diameters of instruments are used in combination with a high back pressure. The larger the diameter range and the larger the pressure the higher the insertion force. Minivalve Back-up Seals have such a combination of material and geometry that a larger range and pressure can be achieved without much draw back. There is a patent pending on the design.
Minivalve Cross-slit valves are available in ISO 10993 medical Silicone and various other elastomeric materials to handle a broad range of media and temperatures.
Minivalve International is a niche company dedicated to the development, manufacturing and worldwide distribution of a broad variety of miniature, self-actuating valves and elastomeric valve components for OEMs. We have specialized in automatic high-volume manufacturing and offer our own range of standard umbrella and duckbill valves from our catalog. They are supplied off the shelf in several sizes and materials. That means they are readily available in any quantity, from a few to millions of parts per year. We also develop customized valve solutions.