Industrial valves are quite popular and are used as essential components in industrial processes as well as in our daily life. To meet the industry-specific applications, the valves are evolved into ten prime types. All the types are manufactured to serve the same purpose which is to regulate the flow of liquids or gasses. While choosing any particular valve for an industrial application, understanding the different valve designs and types of industrial valves available is the crucial step.
Various Types of Industrial Valves
Gate Valve
An important part of the valve family is the gate valve that primarily suits isolation. The aspect that makes the gate valve distinctive is the linear motion used to start or stop the fluid flow. Typically, a gate valve acts as a controlling device that is commonly seen fitted in residential and commercial buildings to restrict the flow of liquid.
Advantages of Using Gate Valve:
– Gate valves can be used in both directions. Its bi-directional property enhances the valve efficiency in quickly controlling the liquid flow.
– Gate valves are known for their best tight sealing properties that help entirely lock down the flow of liquid.
– Gate valves hardly include the loss of pressure. This minimum loss of pressure enhances the durability of pipes and ducts.
– Gate valves can be designed in several ways to meet the specific needs of different applications. For instance, the wedge-design gate valves can be used to avoid fluid hammer effects.
Applications of Gate Valves
More commonly, gate valves are used in linear mediums to open or close the fluid pathway. Their use is quite popular in different fields including irrigation and chemical plants to control fluids and gasses ranging between -200C to 700C.
Ball Valve
Ball valve belongs to the quarter-turn valve family. Here, a ball or a hollow-shaped spherical disc is the center of the valve with a hole placed in the passageway. The ball lets the valve open and close. The controlling power of the ball valve is an outside source that can be turned to make certain movements such as 90 degrees, back and forth, or a quarter turn to open or close the valve.
Advantages:
● The ball valve functions for fluid control and throttling control.
● The ball valve is easy to function because of its simple structure.
● Even after its years of usage, the ball valve works perfectly.
● The ball valve is quite reliable as it does not get affected by the working medium.
● Low repairing or maintenance cost
● The tight shut-off characteristics of ball valves make them suitable to use in both high-temperature and high-pressure conditions.
Applications:
In both industrial and commercial processes, ball valves are quite useful to control the flow of fluids. Often, ball valves can be seen used in power, marine, petrochemical, catalytic reforming, and process industries. If designed precisely, ball valves can withstand 400°F and pressure up to 10,000 psi.
Butterfly Valve
The butterfly valve is another kind of quarter-turn valve that appears like a thin metal disc. It is named so because the rotational movement of the disc can be taken to 90 degrees. Typically, the rotational disc leads the liquid regulation for a specific system. The valve operations allow or restrict the liquid flow in the piping systems.
Advantages of Butterfly Valves:
● Easy to install and operate
● Minimum pressure loss
● Quite inexpensive compared to other valve types
● Lower repair work or maintenance required
● Easily handles huge capacities of fluids
Applications:
Butterfly valve are the preferred choice to be used for low-pressure and low-temperature applications. In water and gas applications, butterfly valves are used for flow isolation.
In the food and beverage industry where excessive wash processes are implemented, these valves are used for backflow prevention.
Check valve
These are reactive kind valves that get activated to pressure differences. These valves do not need any power or exterior source to function. Backflow fluid prevention is the prime function for which check valve is used in many industrial processes.
Advantages:
● Highly versatile and highly durable
● Easy to operate
● Low maintenance and rust-free
Applications:
Check valves are commonly used in managing wastewater systems. Also, in backflow prevention applications, check valves form a tight seal that blocks debris from entering waterways. Other suitable industrial applications of check valves include stormwater control, flood prevention, corrosive slurry handling, and sewer system control.
Globe Valve
The Globe valve is an essential member of the top valve family. Globe valves use linear or straight motion to throttle flow. These valves describe well from their name, as it has a round body made up of two distinct halves that are isolated by a disc that opens or closes.
Just like the gate valve, the globe valve easily moves to allow the liquid flow. This feature makes globe valves suitable to use for applications that do not need high-pressure drops.
Advantages:
● Minimum fluid leakage
● Easy adjustment to increase or lower flow
● Good shutting mechanism
Applications:
A Globe valve is a perfect choice to manage leakage issues in both residential and commercial places. Common industrial applications for globe valves cover cooling systems, chemical feed systems, and feedwater systems among many.
Pinch Valve
A strong pinching mechanism and molded rubber are used to manufacture pinch valves. What shuts off the fluid flow is pinching the membrane or lowering the bar or gate. Its unique design and construction make it different from other kinds of valves.
Advantages:
– Inherent abrasive and corrosion resistant feature
– Non-clogging operation
– Operation possible, for both hand-wheel or automatically
– Low maintenance cost
Seal drop-tight
– Versatile to operate in adverse conditions
Applications:
Whether manual or air-operated pinch valve, it is ideal to be used for fibrous and corrosive applications. Other applications include the paper manufacturing industry, pharmaceutical production, and non-abrasive products.
Plug Valve
Another member added to the top valve family is the plug valve. This disc within the valve is like a seal tight off/on a plug or cylinder. The operation process or mechanism of the plug valve is similar to the ball valve. Typically, it is a valve type known for its rotational motion meant to begin or hinder fluid flow. It is named so because of the shape and design of the valve disk as a plug.
Advantages:
● Easy working mechanism
● Minimal pressure drop
● Reliable and versatile
● Low maintenance and functionality cost
Applications:
Plug valves are widely used in applications where there is a high level of debris. Also, plug valves find their applications in high-temperature applications and sewage systems.
Needle Valve
These kinds of valves are small in size that is primarily designed to pass liquid or gasses. The needle valve is an important part of the big valve family that is meant to shut off the liquid flow. What distinguishes this valve from other types is the elaborately designed structure of the valve.
Advantages:
– Ensure precise control flow
– Works best under high-pressure conditions
– Do not require an external
– The power source for operating
– Protect fragile gauges
Applications:
Needle valves are best suitable for vacuum services or other devices that seek accuracy. Usually, these valves find their usage in calibration applications where they are used as a regulator of media.
In vacuum systems, where adequate gas flow control is needed like filling gas-filled vacuum tubes, needle valves find their prime applications. Also, the needle valves are used to turn off the supply of Anhydrous Ammonia applications in certain industries. With a comparatively tiny opening at the screw end, the needle valve perfectly suits a long, tapered seat and a needle-shaped plunger.
Since it has a small opening and a high fine-threaded stem, it is easy to shut down the needle valves simply by applying a finger tight pressure.
Diaphragm Valve
Also known as membrane valves, the diaphragm valves comprise a valve body with a diaphragm, multiple ports, and a saddle that is behind the closing of the diaphragm. The material choice to manufacture diaphragm valves varies depending on the purpose for which the diaphragm is used. More commonly, the diaphragm valve is available in metal, plastic, and wood.
Advantages:
● Best to use for throttling service.
● Weir-type diaphragm valve ideal to control small flows.
● Easily handle corrosive fluids, radioactive fluids, fibrous slurries, and other fluids.
● Low maintenance required
● Stem leakage free
● Perfect for hazardous chemicals and radioactive fluids.
● Quick opening because of the large shutoff area.
● Near linear flow characteristics
● High sealing performance with low torque
● Easy and secure diaphragm replacement
Applications:
The bi-directional characteristics of the diaphragm valves make them a perfect suit for on-off valves. Unlike other kinds of valves, the diaphragm valves are widely used in low-pressure and restrained throttling applications. Due to their leak-tight characteristics, these valves are ideally suited to the systems where leakage cannot be tolerated. The material used to construct the diaphragm valve has a role in deciding the application. For instance, valves made up of stainless steel or PVC plastics are the preferred choice for corrosive applications. The common industries that excessively use diaphragm valves include food processing, brewing, and pharmaceutical because of diaphragm valves’ characteristics to restrict flow medium.
Sanitary Valve
Sanitary valves are gaining more and more attention around the world. It is mainly due to the preference given to hygiene in piping systems, especially in edible industries. What distinguishes this valve from other types is the specific purpose to be used to meet sanitary needs. This is the reason these valves are named so.
Different materials can be used to manufacture sanitary valves such as plastic, brass, however, stainless steel is the most preferred choice. Whatever the material choice is made, the surface that contacts the process should be well polished so as to avoid media clinging in any way.
Advantages:
● Easy replacement with a high-precision CNC.
● Easy opening and closing process with less friction.
● No probability of breakage as the valves easily withstands a higher level of torque.
● Highly adjustable valves ranging from 0 to 15 degrees to 90 degrees. In comparison to other valve types, this aspect gives higher flexibility to flow control applications.
● Ensures durability, and strenuous strength to function optimally.
● Low maintenance is needed due to feature detachable connections.
● Provide a high-sanitation level which makes them the ideal choice for products used with sensitivity to contamination.
Applications:
Sanitary valves are meant to be used in applications that require clean or germ-free processing. The word sanitary signifies not having crevices or cavities that attract media to avoid bacteria feeding upon it. The common industries that make use of sanitary valves are food & beverage, sterilizing equipment, chemical, pharmaceutical, medical, and cosmetics industries.
For any specific application, it is easy to find a wide range of sanitary fittings and valves made up of stainless steel, such as sanitary ball valves, sanitary check valves, indicator lights, and sanitary fittings. To meet your requirements, the valve choice can be made considering the temperature and pressure piping systems. Concerning your needs, disk rotation is possible to allow the free flow of liquids.
Final Words!
The majority of the types of industrial valves are used on pipes in every household with some major industries including gas industry, oil industry, mining, water, and sewage industries. Even some kinds are used in the household activities like regulating the gas to a gas cooker, or valves used by washing machines to regulate water flow in the machine.
Some valves are hand operated and can be controlled manually while others function automatically and may require an external input source. These complex valves actually require an actuator that operates by stroking the valve considering the set-up and input type. Their functionality relies on the position of the valves that gives control to meet different requirements.
All the above discussed are basic valve types, however, there are several other types as well that vary in the application and design work. For instance, there are vacuum delay valves, heart valves, and proportioning valves that work by the difference in fluid pressure.
At EG Valves, we design and provide a wide range of valves and related accessories. Whether to use in dairy, beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and other industrial markets, our services ensure product delivery in accordance with industry standards. Visit us egvalves.com to get details about our products and services.
