ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES Control Valve Rev4.3web
ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES Control Valve Rev4.3web
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TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION
Scope 6
DEFINITIONS 21
NOMENCLATURE 25
Choked Flow 40
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
Page 3 of 85
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Other method 46
APPLICATION 51
REFERENCES 73
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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LIST OF TABLE
Table 1: Effect of the choice valve and actuator action for single port valves 18
LIST OF FIGURE
Figure 13: The shapes of the plug determine the flow characteristic 28
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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Figure 14: Installed flow characteristic for linear control valve installed in flow
systems having different values of α 32
Figure 17: Comparison of Pressure Profiles for High and Low Recovery Valves 38
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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INTRODUCTION
Scope
Hundreds or even thousands control loops are networked together in a process system
plant to maintain the important process condition; such as pressure, fluid flow and level,
temperatures, etc. During the process, each of these loops receives and internally
creates disturbances that might affect process conditions. Hence sensors and
transmitters are installed to send information about process condition changes to the
controller, which can make any needed corrections actual to the desired set point by
sending a signal to the final control element.
Furthermore, a final control element is needed to provide the power and accuracy to
control the flowing medium to the desired service conditions. The most common type of
final control element in industrial process control system is control valve. The valve
makes the change according to the signal from the controller, completing the loop.
Each type of control valve has a different flow characteristic, and its selection largely
based on the type of the application process where it’s installed. Some common cases
come along with this control valve sizing; an oversized control valve will spend an extra
cost and introduce some difficulties in controlling the low flow rates, while an undersized
valve might not be able to handle the maximum capacity of the process flow.
There are many available guidelines developed to aid engineers in selecting and sizing
the valves, but mostly these guidelines are developed by certain companies and might
only be suitable for the application of the valves provided by their own companies.
Hence, it is important to obtain a general understanding of control valve sizing and
selection first. Later, whenever changes are needed in a process system, this basic
knowledge is still applicable. This guideline is made to provide that fundamental
knowledge and a step by step guideline; which is applicable to properly select and size
control valves in a correct manner.
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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Control valve supports the other devices which work together resulting in an ideal
process condition. Hence, it is crucial to make some considerations before deciding the
correct control valve sizing and selection. The selected valve has to be reasonable in
cost, require minimum maintenance, use less energy, and be compatible with the
control loop. Malfunction in control valve might cause process system does not work
properly.
Two basic steps to determine the control valve to be used are control valve selection
and control valve sizing. Selection of control valve includes material selection and
control valve type selection. Some commonly used materials are briefly mentioned in
the general design consideration section. Different types of control valve actuator
together with their advantages and disadvantages are also explained as well in this
section.
This design guideline also covers what is needed in a method based on sound, credible
principles. This design guideline introduce such a method for determining the optimum
control valve pressure drop, balancing the need to providing enough pressure drop to
achive control with the need to conserve energy.
Sizing the valve should not be done just by entering the numbers into formulas. It
requires good understanding of theories behind the numbers. Any limiting or adverse
conditions; such as flashing, cavitation, and choked flow need to be considered in
design calculation. Their relation for valve sizing is explained in this guideline. Besides,
two different types of fluid (liquids and gasses) would result in different calculations
which is also included in this guideline. The calculation spreadsheet is also attached in
the end of this guideline to make an engineer easy to follow the step by step calculation.
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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INTRODUCTION
A common control valves consist of two parts: the control valve body and control valve
actuator. Control valve body is the housing which is contained the flowing medium. It
provides inlet and outlet connections; and a movable restrictor which varies the fluid
flow as it opens and closes the port. The other term, an actuator, is part of control valve
which causes the valve stem to move by providing the force it’s needed.
The body of a control valve will regulate the fluid flow as the position of the valve is
changed by the actuator. Therefore, it is very important for the valve body to be able to
permit actuator thrust transmission, resist chemical and physical effects from the
process, and easily flange up with the adjacent piping connections. All the criteria
mentioned above must be fulfilled without any external leaking.
Most control valves are designed as a globe valve (linear), but other configurations such
as ball and butterfly styles (rotary) are available based on the review of the engineering
application. These are valve types which have linear and rotary motion, their limitations
and capabilities are discussed and their more normal applications are covered
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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These valve types are divided to be three notes; there are single port valve, double port
valve and three-way valve which should be considered for design.
The most common control valve body style is single ported as shown in Figure 1, which
has widely used in process control applications, particularly in sizes NPS (Nominal Pipe
Size) 1 through NPS 4. Normal flow direction is most often flow-up through the seat ring.
Single ported valves are available in various forms, such as globe, angle, bar stock,
forged and split constructions.
Since high pressure fluid is normally loading the entire area of the port, the unbalance
force created must be considered in selecting actuators for single ported control valve
bodies. Single ported valves are known to work well in small sizes but it can often be
used in 4 inch to 8 inch sizes with high thrust actuators. Many modern single ported
valve bodies use cage style construction to retain the seat ring, provide guiding to the
valve plug, and means for establishing a particular flow characteristic.
Cage style trim offers advantages in ease of maintenance and flexibility in changing the
cages to alter valve flow characteristics. Cage style single seated valve bodies can also
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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be easily modified by change of trim parts to provide reduced capacity flow, noise
attenuation, or reduction or elimination of cavitations.
These valves are generally specified for applications with stringent shutoff
requirements. Metal to metal seating surfaces or “soft seating” with nitrile or other
elastomeric materials forming the seal, can handle most service requirements[3].
The single seat design is used for small size might under one inch orifice in order to
reduce forces sufficiently, so that normal machining tolerances to give suitable
rangeability, characteristic and leakage are not considered needs.
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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A single seat valve should be specified than double seat valve when a tight shut-off,
such as on a furnace fuel cut-off valve is required, because commonly, the leakage can
be easier expected for double seat valve. The forces required to shut a single seat globe
valve increase considerably with valve size. Unbalanced standard single seat valves
are designed with a balancing mechanism to reduce the closing force necessary,
especially on valves operating with large differential pressures, may require a piston
type actuator.
Double port valve is a special trim design used to fill the same purpose as pressure
balanced trim: to reduce the effect of the process forces on the plug, thereby lowering
the thrust requirement and allowing the use of smaller actuators. Flow is directed by the
inlet port to the body gallery and the trim, which features two seats and a single plug
that features two plug heads, one above the other as shown in picture 5[1]. The control
valve body in the picture is assembled for push down to open valve plug action. Double
ported designs are typically used in refineries on highly viscous fluids or where there is
a concern about dirt, contaminants, or process deposits on the trim.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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Since a larger valve, having a larger orifice, is used to pass greater volumes of the
medium, then the force that the actuator must develop in order to close the valve will
also increase. Where very large capacities must be passed using large valves, or where
very high differential pressures exist, the point will be reached where it becomes
impractical to provide sufficient force to close a conventional single seat valve. In such
condition, the basic solution to this problem is the double seat valve to achieve and
approximately balanced design.
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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Upper seat
Lower seat
Not only can the valve seats be kept smaller (since there are two of them) but also, the
forces are partially balanced. This means that although the differential pressure is trying
to keep the top valve plug off its seat it is also trying to push down and close the lower
valve plug. Called balanced because most forces on plug at top seat are balanced by
similar and opposite forces at bottom seat.
Three-way valves have two designs; double seated valve and single seated valve. Each
of design has specific application. Double seated usually is used for diverging (flow-
splitting), where as single seated is used for mixing (flow-mixing) service. These valve
bodies are best designs use cage-style trim for positive valve plug guiding and ease of
maintenance. Three-way valves are often found in refineries and chemical plants is
around heat exchanger to control heat transfered, as shown in figure 5 and 6.
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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From TRC
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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Figure 7 explains the actuator pushes a disc or pair of valve plugs between two seats
increasing or decreasing the flow through ports A and B in a corresponding manner.
Mixing Diverging
Each valve is shown in figure 5 and 6 its preferred placement, with the flow through
each port inclining to open that port. There would be a harmful of the valve slamming
onto its seat, with releasing line vibration, especially in the larger sizes, as a valve
moves through its seat, the reduction in flow rate caused by this movement lowers the
downstream pressure, so that increasing the pressure drop across the valve, if the valve
were installed in such a placement that the flow would inclined to close the port.
B. Rotary Motion
Rotary control valves are direct through design to provide less resistance to flow and a
higher pressure recovery. As a consequence, they provide a higher flow capacity with
low pressure loss than equivalent size globe body valves that may make they appear
more economical. Rotary control valves include all forms of butterfly valves as well as
ball valves are most designed to be installed "sandwiched" between piping flanges.
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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There is discussed about butterfly valve; another rotary body valve, ball valve is
designed close such as butterfly valve for specific service conditions..
1. Butterfly Valve
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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The common services that often use butterfly valves are be in suction lines to centrifugal
gas compressors and air blowers, outlet lines from water releasing drums, and as a
replace for a large 3-way (two butterfly valves are needed) in gas lines through and by-
passing heat exchangers.
Their rotation characteristic is between those of linear and equal percentage valves.
General rotation of the disc does not require much torque but tight shut off usually
requires a high torque. The torque is applied by a stem and is normally provided by a
pneumatic piston, either by means of a lever or a rack and pinion[2].
Control valve bodies may be screwed, flanged, or welded onto the flow line. Screw ends
usually are threaded with American Standard female tapered pipe threads. The
dimensions, design details, and pressure temperature ratings of flanged ends should
be in accordance with American National Standards Institute (ANSI) specifications.
The most common material for control valve body construction is cast iron or carbon
steel. Other materials such as chromium-molybdenum, stainless steel, bronze, monel,
nickel and many other castable alloys can be used when the control valve is subjected
to operate under extreme conditions, e.g. very high or very low temperature, or
application under corrosive environment. The valve may also be constructed from solid
bar or forged materials when cast valve bodies are not practical, particularly for small
valves.
The construction material for control valve trim, i.e. those parts which must retain close
machined tolerances for sealing, metering, or moving, must be selected with care. It
must generally be more resistant to corrosion, erosion, galling, and distortion than the
body material.
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
Page 18 of 85
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Most common control valve actuators are pneumatically operated but other means of
operation such as electric, hydraulic and manual actuators are also available. The
operation mechanism of an actuator can be direct acting (Figure 10) or reverse acting
(Figure 11). The spring and diaphragm pneumatic actuator is most popular due to its
dependability and simplicity of design.
Pneumatically operated piston actuators provide integral positioner capability and high
stem force output for demanding service conditions. Adaptations of both spring and
diaphragm and pneumatic piston actuators are available for direct installation on rotary
shaft control valves.(5)
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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The choice between direct acting and reverse acting pneumatic controls depends on
what position the valve should back to in the event of failure of the compressed air
supply. This choice depends upon the environment of the application and safety
requirements. It makes sense for steam valves to close on air failure, and cooling valves
to open on air failure.
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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Table 1: Effect of the choice valve and actuator action for single port valves
Single port
valves
Electric and electro-hydraulic actuators are more complex and more expensive than
pneumatic actuators. This is due to these types of actuators offer advantages where no
air supply source is available, where low ambient temperatures could freeze condensed
water in pneumatic supply lines, or where unusually large stem forces are needed. A
brief summary regarding the design and characteristics of the actuators are given as
follows[3].
I) Diaphragm Actuators
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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Direct acting unit for rotary valves - increasing air pressure pushes down
on diaphragm, which may either open or close the valve, depending on
orientation of the actuator lever on the valve shaft.
Net output thrust of diaphragm actuators is the difference between diaphragm force and
opposing spring force. Molded diaphragms are used to provide linear performance and
increased travels. Size is dictated by output thrust required and supply air pressure
available. It is simple, dependable, and economical.
Pneumatically operated using high pressure plant air to 150 pisg, often eliminating the
need for supply pressure regulator. Furnish maximum thrust output and fast response.
It is easily reversible by changing action of the integral valve positioner. Best designs
are double acting to give maximum force in both directions. Various accessories can be
incorporated to position the actuator piston in the event of supply pressure failure. These
include spring return units, pneumatic trip valves and lock up systems.
Also available are hydraulic snubbers, handwheels, and units without yokes, which can
be used to operate butterfly valves, louvers, and similar industrial equipment. Other
versions for service on rotary shaft control valves include a sliding seal in the lower end
of the cylinder. This permits the actuator stem to move laterally as well as up and down
without leakage of cylinder pressure. (This feature permits direct connection of the
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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actuator stem to the actuator lever mounted on the rotary valve shaft, thereby
eliminating much of the lost motion common to jointed leakage.)
Requiring only electrical power to the motor and an electrical input signal from the
controller. It is ideal for isolated locations where pneumatic supply pressure is not
available but where precise control of valve plug position is needed. Units are normally
reversible by making minor adjustments and are usually self-contained, including motor,
pump, and double-acting hydraulically operated piston within a weatherproof or
explosion proof casing.
Manual actuators is useful where automatic control is not required, but where ease of
operation and good throttling control is still necessary. It is often used to actuate the
bypass valve in a three valve bypass loop around control valves for manual control of
the process during maintenance or shutdown of the automatic system. It is available in
various sizes for both globe style valves and rotary shaft valves. It is dial indicating
devices available for some models to permit accurate repositioning of the valve plug or
disc and much less expensive than automatic actuators.
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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DEFINITIONS
Choked flow - Condition at constant inlet pressure when no increase in flow rate is
achieved for a decrease in downstream pressure.
Dead Band (4)- Is the range which an input can be varied without initiating observable
response. (By referred to the amount of the diaphragm pressure it can be changed
without initiating valve stem movement in a diaphragm actuated control valve. It is
usually expressed as a percent of diaphragm pressure span.)
Diaphragm Pressure Span – Difference between the high and low values of the
diaphragm pressure range. This may be stated as an inherent or installed characteristic.
Dynamic Unbalance - The net force produced on the valve plug in any stated open
position by the fluid pressure acting upon it.
Effective Area - Part of the diaphragm area which is effective in producing a stem force
in a diaphragm actuator. (The effective area of a diaphragm may change as it is stroked,
usually being a maximum at the end of the travel range. Molded diaphragms have less
change in effective area than flat sheet diaphragms, and are recommended.)
Fail-Closed - A condition wherein the valve port remains closed should the actuating
power fail.
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
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Fail-Open - A condition wherein the valve port remains open should the actuating power
fail.
Fail-Safe - An actuator which will fully close, fully open, or remain in the fixed position
upon loss of power supply. (May require additional auxiliary controls to be connected
to the actuator)
Flashing - Condition where the cavitation vapor persists downstream of the region
where bubble collapse normally occurs, ie, the cavitation process stops before the
completion of the second stage defined in the above "Cavitation".
Flow Characteristic - Relationship between the flow of fluid through the valve and the
percent of rated travel as the latter is varied from 0 – 100 percent. This term should
always be designated as either inherent flow characteristic or installed flow
characteristic.
High Recovery Valve - A valve design that dissipates relatively little flow stream energy
due to streamlined internal contours and minimal flow turbulence. (Straight-through flow
valves, such as rotary-shaft ball valves, are typically high-recovery valves.)
Inherent Diaphragm Pressure Range - The high and low values of pressure applied
to the diaphragm to produce rated valve plug travel with atmospheric pressure in the
valve body. (This range is often referred to as a “bench set” range since it will be the
range over which the valve will stroke when it is set on the work bench.)
Inherent Rangeablity - Ratio of maximum to minimum flow within which the deviation
from the specified inherent flow characteristic does not exceed some stated limit. (A
control valve that still does a good job of controlling when increases to 100 times the
minimum controllable flow has a rangeablitiy of 100 to 1. Rangeability might also be
expressed as the ratio of the maximum to minimum controllable flow coefficients.)
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
Page 25 of 85
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Group of Process Equipment Design Rev: 04
Installed Diaphragm Pressure Range - The high and low values of pressure applied
to the diaphragm to produce rated travel with stated conditions in the valve body. (It is
because of the forces acting on the valve plug that the inherent diaphragm pressure
range can differ from the installed diaphragm pressure range.)
Installed Flow Characteristic - Flow characteristic when pressure drop across the
valve varies as dictated by flow and related conditions in the system in which the valve
is installed.
Leakage - Quantity of fluid passing through an assembled valve when the valve is in
the closed position under stated closure forces, with pressure differential and pressure
as specified.
Normally Closed Control Valve - A control valve which closes when the diaphragm
pressure is reduced to atmospheric.
Normally Open Control Valve - A control valve which opens when the diaphragm
pressure is reduced to atmospheric.
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
Page 26 of 85
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group of Process Equipment Design Rev: 04
Push-Down-to-Open - A globe type valve construction in which the seat ring is located
between the actuator and the valve plug. The valve opens when the extension of the
actuator stem moves the valve plug away from the seat ring. This mechanism is also
called Reverse Acting. (For rotary-shaft valve, linear extension of the actuator stem
moves the ball or disc toward the open position.
Rated Travel - Linear movement of the valve plug from the closed position to the rated
full-open position. (The rated full-open position refers to the maximum opening
recommended by the manufacturer.)
Seat - The area of contact between the closure member and its mating surface that
establishes valve shut-off.
Seat Load - The contact force between the seat and the valve plug. (In practice, the
selection of an actuator for a given control valve will be based on how much force is
required to overcome static, stem , and dynamic unbalance with an allowance made for
seat load.)
Spring Rate - Force change per unit change in length. (In diaphragm control valves,
the spring rate is usually stated in pounds force per inch compression.)
Static Unbalance - The net force produced on the valve plug in its closed position by
the fluid pressure action upon it.
Stem Unbalance - The net force produced on the valve plug stem in any position by
the fluid pressure action upon it.
Trim - The internal components of a valve that modulate the flow of the controlled fluid.
In a globe valve body, trim would typically include closure member, seat ring, cage,
stem, and stem pin.
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
Page 27 of 85
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group of Process Equipment Design Rev: 04
Valve Flow Coefficient (Cv) - The amount of 60oF water in US gallons per minute that
will flow through a valve with a one pound per square inch pressure drop.
Vena Contracta - The point where the pressure and the cross-sectional area of the flow
stream is at its minimum, whereas the fluid velocity is at its highest level. (Normally
occurs just down stream of the actual physical restriction in a control valve.)
NOMENCLATURE
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
Page 28 of 85
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group of Process Equipment Design Rev: 04
∆Pcv Pressure drop across the valve from centrifugal pump discharge
Q Volumetric flow rate
Qmax Maximum flow rate (choked flow conditions) at given upstream condition
rc Liquid critical pressure ratio factor, dimensionless
T1 Upstream temperature (Absolute, T or R)
W Mass flow rate
x Ratio between pressure drop across the valve and inlet pressure,
dimensionless
xT Rated pressure drop ratio factor, dimensionless
xTP Rated pressure drop ratio factor for valves attached to fittings,
dimensionless
Y Expansion factor, dimensionless
Density
z Compressibility factor, dimensionless
γ1 Density at inlet conditions
υ Kinematic viscosity, centistokes
These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design cases.
They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design must
always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly reduce the
amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a training tool for
young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.
This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.