Following the takeover and subsequent closure of the FLO-CON department by a competitor, some former employees of an industrial supplier based in Düren decided to use the know-how they had accumulated over decades to found a new company specializing in ladle slides. In June 2002, KNÖLLINGER FLO-TEC GmbH, based in Hillscheid, was founded as a partner of KNÖLLINGER Keramische Verschleißteile GmbH.
As an innovative, medium-sized company, we have been developing ladle slides since then, also tailored to the specific requirements of our customers. This has resulted in a proud product range with the most diverse and often unique problem-solving functions. When developing our slides, we always proceed according to the following principles:

SIMPLICITY: “Keep it simple” is one of our main philosophies. A simple ladle slide gate is a durable and user-friendly ladle slide gate.

FLEXIBILITY: Most of our ladle slide gates are designed in such a way that the valve can be equipped to accommodate a wide variety of patent-free plate formats in a very short time by means of minor conversion measures. This offers our customers maximum flexibility and allows them to react quickly to changing market conditions. As the refractory sheets can be purchased on the free world market, possible downtimes due to supply bottlenecks can be avoided. This concept is unique worldwide.

CLEAN STEEL: In order to hold their own against the competition, our customers are also placing more and more demands on their own products. The topic of CLEAN STEEL is omnipresent in steelworks that manufacture highly stressed products for the constantly growing energy sector, for example. For these customers, we have specially developed our GT ladle slide gate valve series, which can be flooded with inert gas such as argon. This prevents the reaction with oxygen in the liquid steel in the area of the ladle slide gate and thus reduces the scrap rate. Our gas-flooded gate valves are available as three-plate ladle gate valves for ingot casting and as two-plate ladle gate valves for continuous casting and are a powerful tool against re-oxidation in the area of the gate valve.

SAFETY: The solid construction of our fully enclosed and sealed GT ladle slide gates offers a considerable increase in safety, especially for continuous casting steelworks. If the condition of the refractory components is misjudged and leaks occur inside the gate valve, the escaping steel is very likely to freeze in the gate valve. This prevents liquid steel from escaping and thus endangering personnel, the plant or the casting pit and its equipment. There is a high probability that the steel can be returned and the damage is limited to the ladle slide gate.

We look forward to hearing from you!