Valves and Their Application

Control Valve

Control valve is a valve used to control fluid flow by varying the size of the
flow passage as directed by a signal from a controller. This enables the direct
control of flow rate and the consequential control of process quantities such as
pressure, temperature, and liquid level.

The opening or closing of automatic control valves is usually done by electrical,

hydraulic or pneumatic actuators. Normally with a modulating valve, which can
be set to any position between fully open and fully closed, valve positioners are
used to ensure the valve attains the desired degree of opening. Valves are used
to handle variety of liquids, gases, steam, air etc..

Category of valves
ON-OFF Services - Gate, Ball, Diaphragm, Plug, Butterfly valves

THROTTLING SERVICES Globe, Butterfly, Diaphragm, Pinch

NON-REVERSE FLOW - Check valves

Gate Valves

The Gate valves are characterized by a siding gate which is moved by the stem
perpendicular to the direction flow. Linear motion valves used to start and stop
flow. The valve is completely opened when the disk is removed from the flow
stream. Classification of gate valves is made by the type of disk used: solid
wedge, flexible wedge, split wedge, or parallel disk.
Application - It is used for on-off application.

- Suited for high temperature and pressure use with variety of

fluids.

- They are not primarily used for slurries, viscous fluid etc..

Advantages - Low pressure drop when fully open & tight sealing.

- No resistance to flow when open.

- Little pressure drop.

- Good sealing when closed.

- Little/no leakage.

Disadvantages - Causes vibration.

- Seat disc wear in partial open condition.

- Slow response characteristics and require large actuating force.

- Subject to wear.

- Repair work is difficult.

Butterfly valves

A butterfly valve is from a family of valves called quarter-turn valves. In

operation, the valve is fully open or closed when the disc is rotated a quarter
turn. The "butterfly" is a metal disc mounted on a rod. When the valve is closed,
the disc is turned so that it completely blocks off the passageway. When the
valve is fully open, the disc is rotated a quarter turn so that it allows an almost
unrestricted passage of the fluid. The valve may also be opened incrementally to
throttle flow.
Applications - For flow regulation in large pipe diameters

Advantages - when actuated pneumatically, open and close very quickly.

-The valve requires less structural support.

-They are very precise.

-They are quite reliable and require very little maintenance.

Disadvantages -some portion of the disc is always presented to the flow, even
when fully opened.

-The use of a butterfly valve therefore always results in a pressure switch across
the valve, regardless of the setting.

Check valve or non-return valve

It allows the fluid to pass in one direction only.They are used in systems
employing gate valves because they prevent the reversal of flow in the piping
system and there is a low pressure drop across the valve. The pressure of the
fluid through the system opens the system, while the weight of the check
mechanism will close the valve if the flow is reversed.
Applications - To prevent mixing of the gases in the original source

Advantages - Prevents reverse flow.

- They open and close automatically.

-They do not need exterior force to open or close.

- They move quickly.

Disadvantages - It is hard to determine if the valve is open or closed,

because all the moving parts of the valve are placed in a closed area.

- Check valves have restrictions during assembly.

-Valve disc can get stuck in open position

Choke valve

Choke valve is a type of control valves, mostly used in oil and gas production
wells to control the flow of well fluids being produced. Another purpose that the
choke valves serve is to kill the pressure from reservoir and to regulate the
downstream pressure in the flowlines. Choke valves allow fluid flow through a
very small opening, designed to kill the reservoir pressure while regulating the
well production. The reservoir fluids can contain sand particles. Hence the
choke valves are usually designed to handle an erosive service.

It is a valve that raises or lowers a solid cylinder which is placed around or

inside another cylinder which has holes or slots. Used for high pressure drops
found in oil and gas wellheads.

Diaphragm valve

It controls flow by a movement of a diaphragm. Upstream pressure,

downstream pressure, or an external source (e.g., pneumatic, hydraulic, etc.) can
be used to change the position of the diaphragm. Linear motion valves that are
used to start, regulate, and stop fluid flow. The disk is flexible and seals with the
seat in an open area at the top of the valve body.

Advantages - Ability to throttle.

- Well-suited for difficult environments (corrosive chemicals,

slurries, radioactive fluids)

- They provide a sealing from bubbles.

- They are used or opening, closing and throttling purposes.
- They provide good chemical resistance depending on the
internal sheathing of the body.

Disadvantages - Valve transition has sets, preventing the pipeline from

complete discharge.

-The operation temperature and pressure have limits depending

on the diaphragm material.

-The hydrostatic pressure that can be applied to the diaphragm

is limited.

- Dimensions of diaphragm valves are limited.

Globe Valve

In globe valves disc or plug is moved on or off the seat. The seat opening is
directly proportional to the travel of the plug. It is short stem travel, high seating
capacity, large pressure drop and high flow controllability. Linear motion valves
used to start, stop and regulate flow. The disk moves perpendicular to the seat to
open or close the flow so the annular space between the disk and seat ring
gradually changes. There are three body designs for globe valves: Z-body, Y-
body, and angle and three designs for the disk: ball disk, composition disk, and
plug disk.
Application - It is used primarily for throttling purposes.

-It may be considered a general purpose flow control valve high

temp application.

Advantages - Faster to open or close, most reliable form of seating, throttling to

control the flow to any desired degree, positive shut-off.

Disadvantages -Seat disc wear in partial open conditions.

- Noisy in high pressure applications

-High head loss due to flow direction changes.

Plug Valves

It consists of body, plug and cover. The plug is tapered or cylindrical. In the
open position, the bore in the plug connects the inlet and outlet ends of the valve
providing straight line flow.

Rotation motion valves used to stop and start fluid flow. The disk is a solid
tapered or cylindrical plug with a bored passage at the right angle to the
longitudinal axis of the plug. When open, the plug lines up with the inlet and
outlet port of the valve body. The plugs are either round or cylindrical with a
taper. Plug valves are easy to adapt.

Application - The plug valves are extensively used in refinery.

- petrochemicals and chemical industries and for general purpose

involving on off services.

Advantages -Normally small in size and have low flow resistance.

-require less headroom and available in wide range of materials.

-They provide tight shut off, quick opening and low pressure drop.

- They provide reliable leak-proofness.

Disadvantages -Plug valve may be subjected to galling .

- Because of high friction, first movement (opening-closing)

requires a large amount of force.

Ball Valves

It is improvisation of the plug valve. It is basically a ported sphere in a housing.

The seat matching the ball is circular so that the seating stress is
circumferentially uniform. The seats are usually made up of PTFE which is
inert to all chemicals, has low coefficient of friction and resiliency. Rotational
motion valves used to start, stop or throttle flow. The valve uses a ball shaped
disk with a hole in it. When the valve is opened the hole of disk is turned in-line
with the direction of the flow. When the valve is shut, the ball is rotated so that
the hole is perpendicular to flow direction.

Application - It is used for flow and pressure control and shut off and for
corrosive fluids, slurries, normal liquid and gases.

Advantages -Low pressure drop shut-off.

- easy to maintain.

- low torque.

- Less expensive.

- Low maintenance costs

- Open and close quickly.

- No lubrication.

- Tight sealing.

Disadvantages - Relatively poor for throttling

- Fluid trapped in the ball

Relief and safety valves

A relief valve opens slowly as the pressure increases about the set-point and
only opens as necessary. A safety valve rapidly opens as the pressure setting is
reached and will stay open until the pressure is lower than the actuating pressure
set-point. Both valves are used to prevent damage by relieving accidental over-
pressurized fluid systems.

Application- used to control or limit the pressure in a system or which can

build up for a process upset, equipment failure, or fire.

Advantages - Prevents over-pressurization

Needle valves

Needle valves have a long, tapered, needle-like point that is used to make
relatively fine adjustments in the amount of fluid flow. They are sometimes
used as component parts for other valves because the needle allows for a
gradual change in the size of the fluid flow opening.

Advantage - Good for fine adjustment throttling

Pinch valves

The simplest of any valve design. Pinch valves consist of a sleeve molded of
rubber or other synthetic material and a pinching mechanism. The pinching
mechanism, a bar or gate, is lowered onto the valve body to cut off the flow
through the system.A pinch valve is a full bore or fully ported type of control
valve which uses a pinching effect to obstruct fluid flow.

Advantage - Relatively inexpensive

- On/off as well as throttling/regulating.

- Good for slurries, solids, Well-suited for difficult.