Linde Wins Award

Linde Gases, a division of The Linde Group (Munich, Germany), announced that its technologically advanced, ground-breaking gas cylinder valve, the EVOS™ Ci, won the prestigious Red Dot Award: Product Design 2015.

Product entries are assessed on a number of criteria including the degree of innovation, functionality, build quality, ergonomics, durability, ease-of-use, ecological compatibility, integration capabilities and the 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.

The EVOS valve range represents a significant leap from standard gas industry valves, not only in its striking, state-of-the-art ergonomic design, but also in terms of safety and productivity benefits delivered. Importantly, 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.

The highly innovative and multi-patent pending EVOS has undergone extensive international, end-user research and, in a departure from traditional efforts in gas industry hardware design, 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 (Hamburg, Germany), 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, the head of Linde’s Centre of Excellence for Packaged Gases. “We have always played a pioneering role in terms of technology development within our industry. The Red Dot Award recognizes EVOS 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.

Linde will formally receive its award on June 29 at the Red Dot Gala in Essen, Germany.

www.linde.com