The Most Widely Used Types Of Valves In Piping Systems

Table of Contents

The following are the most widely used types of valves in piping systems and the differences between each valve.

1. Gate valves
2. Globe valves
3. Ball valves
4. Butterfly valves
5. Check valves.

1.Gate Valves

Gate valve is a type of valve that is used to open or close the flow by lifting or lowering the closing gate which is round or rectangular in shape.

Gate valve is the most widely used type of valve for piping systems.

The disc gate valve position must be completely open or completely closed because if the disc gate valve position is half open or half closed it will cause turbulence which can cause:

• Erosion occurred at the corners of the gate.
• There is a change in the position of the closing gate holder.

There are 3 types of gate valves, namely:

• Rising stem gate valve, if operated when the handwheel rises, the stem also rises.
• Non-rising gate valve, if operated when the handwheel is fixed, the stem is also fixed.
• Outside screw yoke gate valve, if the handwheel is operated it remains but the stem rises.

Rising stem and non-rising stem gate valves are used for pressures that are not too high and are not suitable for vibration.

Advantages of gate valves

• Low pressure drop when fully open
• Very tight/tight and pretty good full closing time
• Contamination free

Weakness of gate valves

• Not suitable for use for half open / close
• The process of opening and closing the valve takes a long time
• Gate valve sizes 10" and above are not suitable for use with steam

2.Global Valves

The globe valve has most of the similarities in shape to the gate valve, but on the body of the globe valve there is an arrow indicating the direction of fluid flow so that the installation cannot be reversed.

Globe valve is a valve that is used to control the speed of media flow in the piping system.

There are 3 main types of body globe valve designs:

• Z-body design, the most common type used
• Y-body design, an alternative to high pressure drop
• The angle body design, a basic modification of the 2 valve, is used to transfer flow from vertical to horizontal.

The disc/plug globe valve itself can be in the form of a plug disc, regulating disc, flat disc, soft seat disc or guide disc

Advantages of globe valves

• The ability to close the flow is very good
• Throttling capability (adjusting the flow rate) is very good

Disadvantages of globe valves

• There is a greater pressure drop when compared to the gate valve pressure drop.
• If you use a large size globe valve, it also requires a lot of energy to operate it.

3. Ball Valves

A valve with a spherical disc-shaped flow controller has a hole in the middle so that when the hole is in a straight line or parallel to the two ends of the valve, flow will occur.

Ball valve can withstand up to 10,000 Psi with a temperature of 200oC.

Ball valve type:

• Full bore ball valve, ball valve type with the ball hole diameter equal to the pipe diameter.
• Reduced ball valve, namely a ball valve that has a ball hole diameter that is different in size from the diameter of the pipe hole.

4. Butterfly Valves

Valves that can be used to isolate or regulate flow, the closing mechanism takes the form of a disc.

The butterfly valve has a rotation of 90 degrees with a drive in the form of a handwheel making it easier and faster to work the disc from fully closed to fully open position.

5. Check Valves

Check valve is a type of valve designed to make fluid flow move in one direction.

If the flow rate matches the direction then the plug or disc opens and vice versa.

Types of check valves:

1. Swing check valve
It consists of a disc the size of the pipe used and is designed to hang on a shaft at the top. If there is forward flow or forward flow, the disc will be pushed by pressure.

2. Lift check valve
The configuration is the same as the globe valve, except that the globe valve can rotate the disc or valve while the lift check valve cannot (because the globe valve is a type of rotary and control valve).