Tag: Valves

The purpose of a control valve actuator is to provide the motive force to operate a valve mechanism. Both sliding-stem and rotary control valves enjoy the same selection of actuators: pneumatic, hydraulic, electric motor, and hand (manual). 27.6.1 Pneumatic actuators Pneumatic actuators use air pressure pushing against either a flexible diaphragm or a piston to move a valve mechanism. The following photograph shows a…

In some process applications, it is important that the control valve be able to completely stop fluid flow when placed in the “closed” position. Although this may seem to be a fundamental requirement of any valve, it is not necessarily so. Many control valves spend most of their operating lives in a partially-open state, rarely…

Regardless of valve type, all stem-actuated control valves require some form of seal allowing motion of the stem from some external device (an actuator) while sealing process fluid so no leaks occur between the moving stem and the body of the valve. The general term for this sealing mechanism is packing. This mechanical feature is not unlike…

A damper (otherwise known as a louvre) is a multi-element flow control device generally used to throttle large flows of air at low pressure. Dampers find common application in furnace and boiler draft control, and in HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) systems. Common damper designs include parallel and radial. Parallel-vane dampers resemble a Venetian blind, with multiple…

A different strategy for controlling the flow of fluid is to insert a rotary element into the flow path. Instead of sliding a stem into and out of the valve body to actuate a throttling mechanism, rotary valves rely on the rotation of a shaft to actuate the trim. An important advantage of rotary control…

One of the most common final control elements in industrial control systems is the control valve. A “control valve” works to restrict the flow of fluid through a pipe at the command of a remotely sourced signal, such as the signal from a loop controller or logic device (such as a PLC), or even a manual…