Different Types Of Valves With Unique Purposes

Each valve has a unique purpose. It depends on its exact application and system demands.

You can find valves everywhere and it can be in different structures, such as:

under the streets
home
paper mills
power plants
refineries

There are various structures and industrial facilities using valves. You can buy valves online, a variety of them and valve configurations suitable for all services and conditions.

Types of valves

Different types of valves are used in various applications. The descriptions provide a basic guideline for various valves.

Ball valves

Ball valves have excellent operating characteristics. These are used for the widest scope of isolation apps. It is available in a wide range of materials and sizes in full flow and full through pipe. The advantages of using ball valves are:

quick-acting
straight through flow
low-pressure drop
bubble tight shut off and operating torque
easily actuated

Butterfly valves

The buttery valve derives its name from the wing-like action of the disc, which operates at the right angles to the flow. The main advantage is that the seating surface is not necessary. The valve is designed for flow isolation. The disc hits against the resilient liner to offer bubble tightness having low operating torque.

It is a compact and simple structure. The butterfly valves can facilitate the easy pipe arrangement. The advantages of using butterfly valves:

quick-acting
good regulating characteristics
compact and light
low-pressure isolation

Butterfly valves are developed in different sizes. The sizes start from 40 mm to 1000 mm. They are controlled by:

notched lever
handwheel
pneumatic
electric actuator

The shaft turns the disc 90º in a pipe. The disc angle in the pipe provides a restriction that varies from drip-tight to almost full flow.

Check valves

It is referred to as the non-return valve. The check valve keeps back-flow in the piping by keeping the fluid flowing in one way. Check the valves operate automatically.

Some disc check valves are loaded with springs for speed operation. The vertical downward flow needs a spring loaded with the check value.

Swing check valves
Piston check valves
Ball check valves
Tilting disc check valves

Globe or stop valves

The flow path through the globe valves follows the changing method. It causes an improved resistance to flow. Plus, it has a substantial pressure drop. Globe valves are suitable for throttling flow. But, you can avoid extremely close throttling when a repeatable pressure drop exceeds 20%.

Close throttling creates the following:

excess noise
vibration
potential damage to valves and piping

Compared to the gate valves, the globe valves are designed to open/close more fast. The flow characteristics are adjustable, by re-configuring the discs.

The advantages of using glove valves are:

best shut off
regulating

The stop check valves are identical to globe valves. There is no mechanical connection between the disc and the stem. Stop valves provide a combination of: