FEW TIPS ON CONTROL VALVE

The below are the few tips and tricks on control valves:
1. If you are dealing with a corrosive fluid, choose the valve body and trim material to match
the pump casing and impeller.
2. Velocity is the key to handling abrasive materials. Normal city water velocity is about 7 to
10 F.P.S. (clean liquid). If you have a fluid that is abrasive, keep the velocity as low as
possible without having the particles drop out of suspension.
3. Always sense pressure where you want to control it. Many control valves and pressure
regulators do not function properly simply because they are sensing pressure at one point and
being asked to control it somewhere else.
4. Velocity is the key to handling noise. Noise is energy. When dealing with high pressure
drop situations try always to keep the velocities below 0.3 mach. on the inlet pipe, valve
body, and outlet pipe.
5. If you use a transducer in a control loop, specify a positioner on the valve. Otherwise the
transducer will rob the actuator of available thrust, and the valve will leak when it is
supposed to shut off.
6. In cavitating fluids even if the control valve has cavitation trim in it be sure to allow a
straight run of downstream pipe after the valve. If there is a pipe Tor elbow immediately
downstream, the flow will choke out and back up into the valve.
7. If you use a control valve with a bellows seal in it, try to size the valve so that its normal
throttling position is near the bellows at rest position. This will minimize wear on the
bellows.
8. Dont use a valve below 10% of flow if at all possible. Even though a valve may have
good rangeability, if the valve is used in an abrasive or erosive service (steam), it will not
hold up unless it has hardened trim.
9. If a PLC is being used to control the valves in a system, specify the valves with a linear
flow characteristic.
10. If a control valve is started up and fails to respond or goes to full open or full closed and
stays there check the controller and reverse the controllers action.
Troubleshooting:
1.
Start
with
the
fail
mode
of
the
valve.
If
the
valve
fails
closed
and
is
leaking
a)
Disconnect
the
positioner
or
controller
input.
b) If the valve has a hand wheel, check to see that it is backed out.

c)
Check
to
see
if
the
bench
d) Check to see if there is trash in, or damage to, the valve seat.

range

is

correct.

2. Next check the positioner.

3. Next check the controller.
Do not rely on the control room to generate signals. Generate your own with equipment that
you know is properly calibrated. Do not assume anything.
Remember that control valves only do what you tell them to. Many control valve problems
turn out to be a problem somewhere else.