Discussion

Discussion
The purpose of control valve characteristic experiment is mainly to determine

the characteristic curve of a linear control valve, equal percentage control valve and
quick opening control valve and also to compare the characteristics between those
three valves (Seborg, 1989). The control valve characteristics refers to the
relationship between the volumetric flow rate of water through the valve and the
degree of valve opening ,as the valve is opened from its closed position to various
degree of opening which are recorded at constant pressure drop, 1 psig across the
valve. The slope of the characteristic curve represents the valve gain and has
primary significance in establishing the compatibility of the valve with the process.
From the experimental results obtained for all the three control valves, it can
be observed that there is a proportional relationship between the stroke percentage
which represents the degree of valve openings and the water flow rate percentage.
This means that when the stroke percentage increases, the flow rate of water
percentage increases as well and vice versa. This is because the valve stroke
(stroke percentage) indicates the amount of water flow through the valve. When the
valve stroke increases, the amount of water in which the valve is turn to achieve the
required valve stroke will also increase, and larger flow rate of water is allowed to
pass through the valve (Control Valve Characteristics, 2016).
Theoretically, for linear control valve its characteristic curve can be
represented by a straight line on a plot of flow rate percentage versus stroke
percentage (valve opening) at the ideal condition of constant valve pressure drop.
Therefore, the valve gain or sensitivity is constant, whether at low flow or high flow.
However, in the experiment, from the linear valve characteristic curve plotted, it
can be observed that the flow rate percentage is not exactly directly proportional to
the stroke percentage as a linear graph is not obtained. This may be due to the
reason pressure drop across the valve is not constant and varies with flow rate.
Linear valve is normally utilized in process control applications where the pressure
drop or pressure fluctuations are small .They can be useful where it is desirable to
control mass flow rates into and out of a process such as liquid level control
("Guidelines for Selecting," 2003/n.d., p.).
For the equal percentage valve, theoretically on a plot of flow rate versus
stroke percentage, the slope is flattish near the initial but increases rapidly with flow
as the valve opens at the upper portion of travel. To compare with the results
obtained from the experiment, the characteristic curve of equal percentage shows
the same trend as the flow rate increases slowly at the beginning but increases
rapidly at higher stroke percentage. The characteristics of equal percentage valve
are that the increment of valve opening produces equal percent increment in the
flow rate. Therefore, this valve is suitable for processes where precise control of the
manipulated variable is important and the pressure drop or pressure fluctuations in
the system are large.
On the other hand, the quick opening valve also shows the same trend as in
theoretical view in which it has a large increment of flow rate at smaller valve
opening but eventually slows down at larger valve opening. This valve is normally
utilized in two position applications but also can be used in some linear valve
applications. This is possible because of its initial linear characteristic at a small
valve opening. The slope of this linear region is very steep which produces a higher
initial gain than the linear valve thus will increase the potential instability of the
control valve. Therefore, such control valve is limited to ON-OFF service and
application or in specific application which requires fast initial release or discharge
of flow (Control Valve Characteristics, 2016).
Reference
Seborg D.E., T.F. Edgar and D.A. Melliechamp, Process Dynamics and
Control, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1989, pp 116-118.
Control Valve_Theory. (n.d.). Unpublished typescript.
Guidelines for Selecting the Proper Valve Characteristics. (n.d.). In Valve.

(Excerpted from Valve, 15(2), 2003)
Control Valve Characteristics (2016).Retrieved from
http://www.spiraxsarco.com/Resources/Pages/Steam-EngineeringTutorials/control-hardware-el-pn-actuation/control-valve-characteristics.aspx

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The purpose of control valve characteristic experiment is mainly to determine

Control Valve_Theory. (n.d.). Unpublished typescript.

Guidelines for Selecting the Proper Valve Characteristics. (n.d.). In Valve.

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