Valve Sizing and Selection Page | of 7 Together, we can deliver under any kind of pressure. Ive sales, Size, configure, price, Newest Articles sales. Si igure, pr ak ChExpress-June 9, 2009 ChExpress-May 26, 2009 ChExpross-May 14, 2009 ChExpress-April 28. 2009 of Catalogs for Gas Valve ChExpress-March 31, 2009 g ss Biodiesel: The Road Ahead ‘Methanol Plant Capacity Enhancement Plate ar imit lef valves Using RPM. to Manage Maintenance Plant and Equipment Wellness, Ps 4: Observing Variability Valve Pipe Pressure Relief Valve Gate Valves ‘Stop Vatve - specification sheets pao Che KnowledgeBase Valve Sizing and Selection “More on Valves from Cheresources.com: FREE Resources Article: Using Equivalent Lengths of Valves ‘Article: Rupture Pin Valve Technology ‘ChE Links: Search for "Valves" Students: Ask a Question in our Forums Professionals: Ask a Question in our Forums Purchase / Subscription Resources ‘Book: Valve Selection Handbook Flow Determination Sizing flow valves is a science with many rules of thumb that few people agree on. In this article 1M try to define a more standard procedure for sizing a valve as well as. helping to select the appropriate type of valve. **Please note that the correlation within this article are for turbulent flow STEP #1: Define the system The system is pumping water from cone tank to another through a piping system with a total pressure drop of 150 psi. The uid is water at 70°F, httn://www.cheresources.com/valvezz.shtml 7/2/2009Valve Sizing and Selection ‘exby Google Brass Ball Valve Ball Valve Manufacturer in Yuhuan, China,Good Quality, Affordable Price ‘ren yg cm uw Acro Assoc. Pinch Valves. Pinch Valves & Fluid Control System For Medical Device & Bioprocessing Control Valve Find it Fast & Easy. Resources for Control Valve Hydraulic Controt Valve Need Hydraulic Control Valve? See Hydraulic Control Valve. ‘arena com Valves & Accessories Find diferent types of valves, their manufacturers & dealers Free Industry Resources, Modern Plasties ‘Worlawide httn://www.cheresources.com/valvezz.shtml Design (maximum) flowrate of 150 gpm, operating flowrate of 110 gpm, and a minimum flowrate of 25 gpm. The pipe diameter is 3 inches. At 70 R, water has a specific gravity of 1.0. Key Variables: Total pressure drop, design flow, operating flow, minimum flow, pipe diameter, specific gravity STEP #2: Define a maximum allowable pressure drop for the valve ‘When defining the allowable pressure drop across the valve, you should first Page 2 of 7 Relief Valve Search Thousands of Catalogs for Relief Valve ww lobalpec com Flow Control Valve Flow Control Valve info Locate valves for sale online, CSI: Transfer panels, CIP uly stations, valve manifolds, custom fitings, & process systems uw ‘sty Google investigate the pump. What is its ‘maximum available head? Remember that the system pressure drop is limited by the pump. Essentially the Net Positive Suction Head Available (NPSHA) minus the Net Positive Suction Head Required (NPSHR) is the maximum available pressure drop for the valve to use and this must not be exceeded or another pump will be needed. Its important to remember the trade off, larger pressure drops inerease the pumping cost (operating) and smaller pressure drops increase the valve cost because a larger valve is required (capital cost). The usual rule of thumb is that a valve should be designed to use 10-15% of the total pressure drop or 10 psi, whichever is greater. For our system, 10% of the total pressure drop is 15 psi which is what we'll use as our allowable pressure drop when the valve is wide open (the pump is our system is easily capable of the additional pressure drop). : c.f - eee een eee GS enrages eae For our system, At this point, some people would be tempted to goto the valve charts or characteristic curves and select a valve. Don't make this mistake, instead, proceed to Step #4 STEP #4; Preliminary valve selection Don't make the mistake of trying to match a valve with your calculated Cv value, The Cv value should be used as a guide inthe valve selection, not a hard and fast rule. Some ‘other considerations are a. Never use a valve that i less than half the pipe size ’. Avoid using the lower 10% and upper 20% of the valve stroke. The valve is much easier to control in the 10-80% stroke range: Before a valve can be selected, you have to decide what type of valve will be used (See the list of valve types later in this article). For our case, we'll assume we're using an ‘equal percentage, globe valve (equal percentage will be explained later). The valve chart for this type of valve is shown below. This is a typical chart that will be supplied by the manufacturer (as a matter of fact, it was!) 7/2/2009Page 3 of 7 Valve Sizing and Selection ‘om | menos cans Pe ae Soi] | 33 | : Spe] es Els EA |3 See 2 Be eeli |e | ez Bei |e |g ls] For our case, it appears the 2 inch valve will work well for our Cy value at about 80-85% of the stroke range. Notice that we're not trying to squeeze our Cv into the 1 1/2 valve ‘which would need to be at 100% stroke to handle our maximum flow. If this valve were used, two consequences would be experienced: the pressure drop would be a little er than 15 psi at our design (max) flow and the valve would be difficult to control at maximum flow. Also, there would be no room for error with this valve, but the valve we've chosen will allow for flow surges beyond the 150 gpm range with severe headaches! So we've selected a valve...but are we ready to order? Not yet, there are still some characteristics to consider. STEP #5: Check the Cv and stroke percentage at the minimum flow If the stroke percentage falls below 10% at our minimum flow, a smaller valve may have to be used in some cases. Judgements plays role in many cases. For example, is ‘your system more likely to operate closer to the maximum flowrates more often than the minimum flowrates? Oris it more likely to operate near the minimum flowrate for ‘extended periods of time. It's difficult to find the perfect valve, but you should find one that operates well most ofthe time. Let's check the valve we've selected for our system: Referring back to our valve chart, we see that a Cv of 6.5 would correspond to a stroke percentage of around 35-40% which is certainly acceptable. Notice that we used the ‘maximum pressure drop of 15 psi once again in our calculation. Although the pressure drop across the valve will be lower at smaller flowrates, using the maximum value gives us a "worst case" scenario. If our Cv at the minimum flow would have been around 1.5, there would not really be a problem because the valve has a Cv of 1.66 at 10% stroke and since we use the maximum pressure drop, our estimate is conservative. Essentially, at lower pressure drops, Cv would only increase which in this case would be advantageous. STEP #6: Check the gain across applicable flowrates Gain is defined as: Gein -__4Flow *ASwokeor Treva Now, at our three flowrates: Qmin = 25 gpm Qop = 110 gpm Qdes = 150 gpm ‘we have corresponding Cv values of 6.5, 28, and 39. The corresponding stroke percentages are 35%, 73%, and 85% respectively. Now we construct the following 7/2/2009 httn://www.cheresources.com/valve7z.shtmlValve Sizing and Selection Page 4 of 7 table: Flow ][ Stroke | Change in [| Change in Stroke a (%)_}|_flow (gpm) (a) 25 35 [his 110-25 = 85 73-35 = 38 150_||_85 150-110, 85-73 Gain #1 = 85/38 = 2.2 Gain #2 = 40/12 = 3.3, ‘The difference between these values should be less than 50% of the higher value. 05.8.3) = 1.65 and 3.3 - 2.2= 1.10. Since 1.10 is less than 1.65, there should be no problem in controlling the valve. Also note that the gain should never be less than 0.50. So for our case, [believe our selected valve will do nicely! OTHER NOTES: Another valve characteristic that can be examined is called the choked flow. ‘The relation uses the F,, value found on the valve chart. T recommend checking the choked flow for vastly different maximum and minimum flowrates. For example if the difference between the maximum and minimum flows is above 90% of the maximum flow, you may want to check the choked flow. Usually, the rule of thumb for determining the maximum pressure drop across the valve also helps to avoid choking. flow. SELECTING A VALVE TYPE ‘When speaking of valves, its easy to get lost in the terminology. Valve types are used to describe the mechanical characteristics and geometry (Ex/ gate, ball, globe valves). ‘Welll use valve control to refer to how the valve travel or stroke (openness) relates to the flow: 1. Equal Percentage: equal increments of valve travel produce an equal percentage in flow change 2. Linear: valve travel is directly proportional to the valve stoke 3. Quick opening: large increase in flow with a small change in valve stroke So how do you decide which valve control to use? Here are some rules of thumb for cach one: 1. Equal Percentage (most commonly used valve control) a Used in processes where large changes in pressure drop are expected b. Used in processes where a small percentage of the total pressure drop is permitted by the valve . Used in temperature and pressure control loops 2. Linear 4 Used in liquid level or flow loops b. Used in systems where the pressure drop across the valve is expected to remain fairly constant (ie. steady state systems) 3. Quick Opening a. Used for frequent on-off service b. Used for processes where “instantly” large flow is needed (ie. safety systems or httn:// www cheresources.com/valvezz.shtml 7/2/2009Valve Sizing and Selection Page 5 of 7 cooling water systems) Now that we've covered the various types of valve control, welll ake a look at the most common valve types. Gate Valves Best Suited Control: Quick Opening Recommended Uses 1. Fully open/closed, non-throttling 2. Infrequent operation 3. Minimal fluid trapping in line Applications: Oil, gas, ar, sluries, heavy liquids, steam, noncondensing gases, and corrosive liquids Advantages: Disadvantages. 1. High capacity 1. Poor control 2. Tight shutoff 2. Cavitate at low pressure drops 3. Low cost 3. Cannot be used for throttling Gate vatve 4, Little resistance to flow Globe Valves Best Suited Control: Linear and Equal percent Recommended Uses: 1, Throttling service/flow regulation 2. Frequent operation Applications: Liquids, vapors, gases, corrosive substances, slurries Advantages Disadvantages: 1. Efficient throttling 1. High pressure drop 2. Accurate flow control 2. More expensive than other valves 3. Available in multiple ports Globe Vaive Ball Valves Best Suited Control: Quick opening, linear Recommended Uses: 1. Fully open/closed, limited-throttling 2. Higher temperature fluids Applications: Most liquids, high hitn://www.cheresources.com/valvezz.shtml 7/2/2009Valve Sizing and Selection Page 6 of 7 temperatures, slurries Advantages. Disadvantages: 1. Low cost 1. Poor throttling characteristics 2. High capacity 2. Prone to cavitation 3. Low leakage and maint. 4, Tight sealing with low torque Butterfly Valves Best Suited Control: Linear, Equal percentage Recommended Uses: 1, Fully openvclosed or throttling services 2. Frequent operation 3. Minimal fluid trapping in line Applications: Liquids, gases, slurries, liquids with suspended solids Advantages: Disadvantages: 1. Low cost and maint. 1. High torque required for control 2. High capacity 2. Prone to cavitation at lower flows Autterty Vaive 3. Good flow control 4. Low pressure drop Other Valves Another type of valve commonly used in conjunction with other valves is called a check valve. Check valves are designed to restrict the flow to one direction. If the flow reverses direction, the check valve closes. Relief valves are used to regulate the operating pressure of incompressible flow. Safety valves are used to release excess pressure in gases or compressible fluids. References Rosaler, Robert C., Standard Handbook of Plant Engineering, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1995, pages 10-110 through 10-122 Purcell, Michael K., "Easily Select and Size Control Valves", Chemical Engineering Progress, March 1999, pages 45-50 ChE Plus Subscriber - Click Here for a Printable Version Send this Page to a Friend Fill out your email address to receive notification of site updates and instantly receive five technical questions and answers! Email Address: httn://www.cheresources.com/valvezz.shtml 7/2/2009Valve Sizing and Selection Page 7 of 7 First Name: Last Name: Stat Not USAICAN Country: Choose Country Industry: Choose Industry Position: Choose Position ® Signup © Remove ‘Alimateral Copyright ©2008 were chewoucenco 7 hto://www.cheresources.com/valvezz.shtml 7/2/2009