Valve 101
BENEFITS OF A BALL VALVE OVER A BUTTERFLY VALVE
Among the two most common types of rotary valves are the ball valves and butterfly valves. Both valves have a 90 degree turn and are mainly used to control the flow of gases and liquids. There are certain features which make the ball valves better than the butterfly valves. For a start, a ball valve…
Read MoreHANDWHEEL OPERATORS AND TORQUE
What is torque? Torque is a force tending to rotate a body about an axis. (Example): force on a wrench tending to rotate a nut around a bolt. How is Torque expressed? Torque always has two parts, force and distance, and is expressed as the product of the two. (Example): Torque = force x distance. …
Read MoreHOW DOES A BUTTERFLY VALVE WORK?
A butterfly valve is a type of quarter turn valve. A quarter turn valve can open or close whenever the handle is turned 90 degrees (a quarter of a turn). The main function of these valves is to control the flow of liquids through a section of pipe. Butterfly valves are mainly used in waste…
Read MoreThe 4 Types of Ball Valves – Single Body, Split Body, Top Entry and Welded
There are four general body styles of ball valves: single body, split body, top entry, and welded. There are four general types of ball valves: full port, standard port, reduced port, and v port. A full port ball valve has an oversized ball so that the hole in the ball is the same size as the pipeline resulting in…
Read MoreAPI Valve Standards Defined and Explained
API SPEC 6D Specification for Pipeline Valves. API Specification 6D is an adoption of ISO 14313: 1999, Petroleum and Natural Gas Industries-Pipeline Transportation Systems-Pipeline Valves. This International Standard specifies requirements and gives recommendations for the design, manufacturing, testing and documentation of ball, check, gate and plug valves for application in pipeline systems. API 600 Bolted…
Read MoreWhat is a valve and how did it originate?
We all know that valves are present in our everyday lives, but valves work a lot “behind the scenes”—controlling what might seem like the “uncontrollable”. Without valves, we would have engineering issues on how to regulate and control steam, water, air, corrosive liquids, gases and other materials. You can already see WHY valves are important, but WHERE did…
Read MorePlug Valve: What is a plug valve?
If you are in the valve world at all, you know that the plug valve oftentimes gets a bad rap. There are different reasons for this. One being that the maintenance for these valves is greater than that of other valves. They need to be lubricated while out in the field and more times than not, this…
Read MoreWhat is a valve actuator (Electric & Pneumatic)
Valve actuators are of various types namely electrically operated , pneumatically operated. Pneumatically operated actuators can be diaphragm operated for globe , gate valves. Pneumatic actuators can be quarter turn type for ball or butterfly valves. Pneumatic actuators can be cylinder operated for say Knife gate valves. Actuators are again single acting spring return type…
Read MoreWhat is a v-port valve?
What is a V-Port Ball Valve? When it comes to ball valves, the V-port ball valve plays an important role in the valve world. This V-shaped ball or V-shaped seat is utilized with higher velocity applications that would otherwise damage a normal ball valve. These ¼ turn control valves can be flanged or non-flanged. The…
Read MoreWhat is a butterfly valve?
There are various butterfly valves being utilized in every industry imaginable. The butterfly valve, aka quarter-turn valve, is one of the most popular and economical valves. You may not realize it, but you encounter butterfly valves on a daily basis. These valves, made of carbon steel, cast iron, stainless steel or plastic, are being utilized in many applications…
Read More