Understanding Pipeline Valves |
Posted: November 5, 2021 |
Valves are the electro-mechanical devices which are used to manage the movement of liquids, gases, powders, chemicals etc. through tubes, containers, tanks and pipes. They rely on some or the other mechanical barrier which can be a ball, a diaphragm, a plate— something which can be removed or inserted from the material flow stream. While some valves are designed as on-off varieties, there are others which allow a limited yet fine control over the passage of material. In such scenario, material knowledge of the media to transported is critical. It plays an important role in helping identify the right valve, its compatibility, that is of the wetted parts in the valve with the chemical or fluid passing through it. Next, the size of the valve is determined by the pipe or tube diameter, liquid flow rate, and the width between flanges for pipeline valves. Barring few industries such as aviation, valves as such are not industry specific. They can be used anywhere whether it is food and beverage, chemical processing, oil and gas, mining, water or power generation. While there are some dedicated to fluid power applications, including poppet, hydraulic, solenoid, cartridge, and air logic valves; there are those which are meant for general pipeline applications with smaller-scale fluid systems and consist of piston, plug, pinch, gate, globe, disc, butterfly, diaphragm, and ball valves. There are also valves used to activate automatically in events like check and relief valves. Pipeline valves are usually suitable for either blocking or throttling. For on-off applications, a ball valve is considered suitable regulating the flow. Similar functions are performed by the gate and piston valves. However, for flow regulation, butterfly or globe are preferred choices. Ball valves can be customized to prevent any kind of friction loss. Other valve types typically introduce some kind of loss in the valves during the fluid flow. Pipeline valve sizes frequently match to flange dimension for many standard pipe sizes and pressures, i.e., 150 psi, 300 psi, etc. Most of the pipeline valves exist with manual levers or handwheels which can be altered to gear type actuators in larger sizes and fitted with electric or electro-pneumatic actuators for automatic control. Valves fitted with such actuators are sometimes known as flow control valves which have the automatic actuation integrated into control loops useful for process automation. Sometimes the phrase “control valve” is also used to describe the valves leveraged in pneumatic and hydraulic fluid power systems to actuate a ram, for instance. Normally, a valve needs to fit in the space between fixed pipes so that the measurements can be critical if alterations to existing piping are unwanted and are to be evaded. Some manufacturers will offer their valves as direct dimensional replacements for valves of other types. Get the best industrial piping materials for your project with PetroGas Piping's grade pipes, fittings, and flanges!
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