Final Control Elements

Control Valves
 Control Valves
• Control valves are most common final control elements
(FCE).
• Other FCE are Motors, Cylinders etc.
• “Control valve” works on principle of flow restriction at
the command of an automated signal from
“Controller” or logic device such as a “PLC”.
• Some control valve designs are intended for discrete
(on/off) control of fluid flow.
• While others are designed to throttle fluid flow
somewhere between fully open and fully closed
positions.
A typical Example
 Sliding-stem valves
• A sliding-stem valve body is one that actuates
with a linear motion. Some examples of
sliding-stem valve body designs are shown here:
• Most sliding-stem control valves are direct acting.
• Which means the valve opens up wider as the stem is drawn out of
the body.
• Conversely, a direct-acting valve shuts off (closes) when the stem is
pushed into the body.
• Of course, a reverse-acting valve body would behave just the
opposite.
 Globe valves
• Globe valves restrict the flow of fluid by altering the
distance between a movable plug and a stationary
seat.

• As you can see from these photographs, the valve

plug is guided by the stem so it always lines up with
the centerline of the seat.

• For this reason, this particular style of globe valve is

called a stem-guided globe valve.

Fully Closed In between Fully Open

 Needle Valve
• A variation on the stem-guided globe valve is the
needle valve.
• Here the plug is extremely small in diameter and
usually fits well into the seat hole rather than merely
sitting on top of it.
• Needle valves are very common as manually-actuated
valves used to control low flow rates of air or oil.
• A set of three photographs shows a needle valve in the
fully-closed, mid-open, and fully-open positions.

Fully Closed In between Fully Open

 Port-Guided Valve
• Yet another variation on the globe
valve is the port-guided valve,
where the plug has an unusual
shape that projects into the seat.
Thus, the seat ring acts as a guide
for the plug.
• This keep the centerlines of the plug
and seat always aligned, minimizing
guiding stresses placed on the
stem.
• This means that the stem may be
made smaller in diameter than if
the valve trim were stem-guided,
minimizing sliding friction and
improving control behavior.
 Double-Ported Globe Valves
• Some globe valves use a pair
of plugs on the same stem
and a matching pair of seats
to throttle fluid flow.
• These are called
double-ported globe valves.
• The purpose of a
double-ported globe valve is
to minimize the force applied
to the stem by process fluid
pressure across the plugs.
• The following photograph shows a
disassembled double-ported globe valve, with
the double plug.
 Disadvantage of Double Ported Valve
• While double-ported globe valves has the advantage of easier actuation
compared to single-ported valves.
• But, they also suffer from a distinct disadvantage: the near impossibility
of tight shut-off.
• With two plugs needing to come to simultaneous rest on two seats to
achieve a fluid tight
• Seal.
• This needs for very accurate machining of plug and seat.
• Valve is prepared in a shop for the best shut-off possible, but it may not
completely shut off when installed due to dimensional changes caused by
process fluid heating or cooling the valve stem and body.
• This is especially problematic when the stem is made of a different
material than the body.
• Globe valve stems are commonly manufactured from stainless steel ,
while body is of cast of iron, Cold-formed stainless steel.
• They have a different coefficient of thermal expansion than hot-cast iron.
 Cage-guided globe valves
• A more modern version of the
globe valve design uses a
piston-shaped plug inside a
surrounding cage with ports cast or
machined into it.
• These cage-guided globe valves
throttle flow by uncovering more
or less of the port area in the
surrounding cage as the plug
moves up and down.
• The cage also serves to guide the
plug so the stem need not be
subjected to lateral forces as in a
stem-guided valve design.
 Advantage of Cage guided Design
• An advantage of the cage-guided design is that
the valve’s flow characteristics may be easily
altered just by replacing the cage with another
having different size or shape of holes.
• Many different cage styles are available for
certain plug (piston) sizes, which means the plug
need not be replaced while changing the cage.
• This is more convenient than the plug change
necessary for changing characteristics.
 Balanced & Unbalanced Plug
• Cage-guided globe valves are available with both balanced
and unbalanced plugs.
• A balanced plug has one or more ports drilled from top to
bottom, allowing fluid pressure to equalize on both sides of
the plug.
• This helps minimize the forces acting on the plug which
must be overcome by the actuator.
 Gate Valve
• Gate valves work by inserting a dam (“gate”) into
the path of the flow to restrict it, in a manner
similar to the action of a sliding door.
• Gate valves are more often used for on/off
control than for throttling.

Fully Closed In between Fully Open

 Diaphragm Valves
• Diaphragm valves use a
flexible sheet pressed close
to the edge of a solid dam
to narrow the flow path for
fluid.
• These valves are well suited
for flows containing solid
particulate matter such as
slurries,
• Although precise throttling
may be difficult to achieve
due to the elasticity of the
diaphragm.
 Rotary-stem valves
• A different strategy for controlling the flow of fluid is to
insert a rotary element into the flow path.
• Rotary valves rely on the rotation of a shaft .
• Advantage is a virtually obstruction less path for fluid
when the valve is wide-open.
 Ball valves
• A spherical ball with a passageway cut through the
center rotates to allow fluid more or less access to the
passageway.
• When the passageway is parallel to the direction of
fluid motion, the valve is wide open.
• When the passageway is perpendicular to the direction
of fluid motion, the valve is fully shut (closed).

Fully Closed In between Fully Open

 Butterfly valves
• The “butterfly” element is a
disk that rotates perpendicular
to the path of fluid flow.
• When parallel to the axis of
flow, the disk presents minimal
obstruction.
• When perpendicular to the
axis, the disk completely blocks
any flow.
• Fluid-tight shutoff is difficult to
obtain in the classic butterfly
design unless the seating area is
lined with a soft (elastic)
material.
 Valve packing
• All stem-actuated control valves require some form of
seal allowing motion of the stem from some external
device (an actuator ).
• The general term for this sealing mechanism
• is packing.
• This mechanical feature is not unlike the stuffing box
used to seal seawater from entering a boat or ship at
the point where the propeller shaft penetrates the hull:
Packing in a sliding-stem valve fits in a section of
the valve body called the bonnet.
• The packing material is in the form of concentric rings,
stacked on the valve stem like washers on a bolt.
• Two nuts threaded onto studs maintain proper force on
the packing rings.
• Care must be taken not to over-tighten these nuts and
over-compress the packing material, or else the
packing will create excessive friction on the valve stem.
• This friction will create undue wear on the stem and
packing, increasing the likelihood of future packing
leakage.
• A closer look at the bonnet shows a multitude of
components working together to form a low
friction, pressure-tight seal for the moving valve
stem
• Photographs shows the actual valve packing assembly
removed from the bonnet and reassembled
• on the valve stem (right) reveal the structure of the
packing and associated components
Packing
 Valve seat leakage
• In many process applications, it is important that the control valve be able
to completely stop fluid flow when placed in the “closed” position.
• Although this may seem to be a fundamental requirement of any valve, it
is not necessarily so. Many control valves spend most of their operating
lives in a partially-open state.
• Common installation of manual “block” valves upstream and downstream
of a control valve, there is usually a way to secure zero flow through a pipe
even if a control valve is incapable of tight shut-off.
• For some control valve applications, however, tight shut-off is a mandatory
requirement.
• For this reason we have several classifications for control valves, rating
them in their ability to fully shut off.
• Seat leakage tolerances are given roman numeral designations, as shown
in table.
• The “bubble test” used for Class VI seat leakage is
based on the leakage rate of air or nitrogen gas past
the closed valve seat as measured by counting the rate
of gas bubbles escaping a bubble tube submerged
under water.
• For a 6 inch valve, this maximum bubble rate is 27
bubbles per minute.
 Control valve actuators
• The purpose of a control valve actuator is to
provide the motive force to operate a valve
mechanism.
• Both sliding-stem and rotary control valves
enjoy the same selection of actuators
pneumatic, hydraulic, electric motor, and hand
(manual).
Valve Actuation Technologies
Electric Hydraulic Servo Electric
 Pneumatic actuators
• Pneumatic actuators use air pressure
pushing against either a flexible
diaphragm or a piston to move a valve
mechanism.
• The following photograph shows a
cut-away control valve, with a
pneumatic diaphragm actuator
mounted above the valve body.
• You can see the large coil spring
providing default positioning of the
valve .
• Air pressure applied to the bottom side
of the diaphragm lifts the sliding stem
of the valve in the upward direction,
against the spring’s force which tries to
push the stem down.
• The air pressure required to
motivate a pneumatic actuator may
come directly from the output of a
pneumatic process controller, or
from a signal transducer (or
converter ) translating an electrical
signal into an air pressure signal.
Such transducers are commonly
known as I/P or “I to P”.

• Converters, since they typically

translate an electric current signal (I)
of 4 to 20 mA DC into an air
pressure signal (P) of 3 to 15 PSI.

• The following photographs show I/P

transducers of different make and
model.
• Some pneumatic valve actuators are equipped
with hand jacks which are used to manually
position the valve in the event of air pressure
failure.
• Pneumatic actuators may be either diaphragms or a pistons.
• Piston actuators have longer stroke than diaphragm actuators.
• And are able to operate at greater air pressures.
• Perhaps the greatest disadvantage of piston actuators as applied to
control valves is friction between the sealing ring and the cylinder
wall.
• This is not a problem for on/off control valves, but it can be a
significant problem for throttling valves where precise positioning
is desired.
• Diaphragm actuators do not have same friction as piston actuators
because the elastic diaphragm.
• A double-piston pneumatic actuator appears in
the next photograph, providing the mechanical
force needed to turn an on/off butterfly valve.
 Hydraulic actuators
• Hydraulic actuators use liquid pressure rather than gas pressure to move the valve
mechanism.
• Nearly all hydraulic actuator designs use a piston rather than a diaphragm.
• The lubricating nature of hydraulic oil helps to overcome the characteristic friction
of piston-type actuators.
• Given the high pressure ratings of most hydraulic pistons, it is possible to generate
tremendous actuating forces with a hydraulic actuator, even if the piston area is
modest. For example, an hydraulic pressure of 2,000 PSI applied to one side of a 3
inch diameter piston will generate a linear thrust of over 14,000 pounds (7 tons).
 Hydraulic actuator
• Very Stiff
• Fast
• High forces
• Very energy inefficient
• Hazardous fluids
• Tend to leak
– Environmental problem
• Difficult to maintain
 Electric actuators
• Electric motors have long
been used to actuate large
valves, either in on/off
mode or in throttling
services.
• Advances in motor design
and motor control circuitry
has brought
motor-operated valve
(MOV) technology to the
point where it regularly
competes with actuator
technologies such as
pneumatic.
 Electric Actuator
• Uses physical limit switches to
indicate valve closure/position
• Position sensor
– potentiometer
 Electric Actuator
• Rotary to linear conversion
– Worm Gears
– Ball screws
– Acme screws
• Not robust for high duty cycles
– Gear or ballscrew wear
– Motor burn-out
 Rotary to Linear Converter
Ball Screw Technology
• Short service life
• Low shock resistance
• Nearly impossible to clean and regrease
• Rotational speeds limited to ~ 1,000 rpm
• Noisy
• Tricky disassembly
Rotary to Linear Converter
Roller screw Technology
• Up to 15x the travel life of a
(equivalent size) ball screw
• High Shock Resistance
• Easy disassembly
• Easy cleaning and re-greasing
• Rotational speeds up to 6,000 rpm
• Design can be inverted
• Quiet operation
 Why Longer Travel Life?
Ball Screw Roller Screws have
15 times more contact area
in the same space
Roller Screw

Load Points ( )
 Why More Efficient?
Roller Screw
Roller screw rollers are
separated by journals.

Ball Screw
Adjacent balls within a ball screw
have conflicting friction leading
to heating and wear.
 Why Higher Rotation Speeds?
Roller Screws
There is no loading and
unloading of balls and no sharp
turns of ball return tubes.
Therefore, planetary roller
screws operate efficiently up to
6,000 rpm.
Ball Screws
Sharp turns of ball returns
cause vibration and noise.
 Servo Motor vs Induction Motor
• Small size
– High output relative to size and weight
• AC induction motor 7.6in
• Brushless servo motor 3.5in
• Closed loop feedback
– Resolver, Encoder
• High efficiency (90%)
• All Voltages
– 24VDC to 460VAC
 Servo Motor vs Induction Motor
• High torque to inertia ratios
– Rapid acceleration
• Reserve power
– (2x over continuous)
• Cool running
– current draw proportional to load
• Quiet
• Vibration free
 Valve Failure Mode
• What will happen to valve in case of failure of;
– Actuator
– Electrical power/ pneumatic source
• It may remain in following positions;
– Remain in current position
– Move to fully closed position
– Move to fully open position
• This Design parameter is known as
“Valve Failure Mode”.
 Fail Safe Design
• The desired position of valve depends on the
process requirement.
– Example: In case of power failure the “fail safe”
design of boiler;
• Safety valve should get fully opened to insure pressure
release: “Fail Open - FO” design.
• Inlet valve for fuel should get fully closed to stop the
heating: “Fail Close - FC” design.
• The ultimate target is to have a safe process
design even in case of failure of power.
• Actuators are equipped with spring to insure
desired position of valve in case of failure.
 Control Valve Characterization
• For a control valve;

• At constant density and a constant pressure

drop across the valve, flow rate becomes a
direct function of flow coefficient (Cv).
• The resistance of valve depends upon;
• Cross-sectional area of that restriction
• The proportion of fluid kinetic energy dissipated in
turbulence.
• If a control valve is designed such that the
combined effect of these two parameters vary
linearly with stem motion, the Cv of the valve
will likewise be proportional to stem position.
• That is to say, the Cv of the control valve will
be approximately half its maximum rating with
the stem position at 50%.
• If such a valve is placed in a laboratory flow test
piping system with constant differential pressure
and constant fluid density, the relationship of
flow rate to stem position will be linear
• However, in real installations the conditions are
not ideal due to;
• Frictional pressure losses in piping.
• Changes in supply/demand pressures that vary with flow
rate.
– A typical control valve “sees” substantial changes in
differential pressure as its controlled flow rate
changes.
• Generally speaking, the pressure drop
available to the control valve will decrease as
flow rate increases.
• Therefore, the relationship between the actual
flow rate and stem position will not be linearly.
• Instead, it will “droop” if the valve is further
opened.
• This “drooping” graph is called the valve’s
Installed Characteristic.
 Explanation
• A constant pressure drop of 20 20
psi across our control valve at psi
all times.
• Let us assume that Cv=18 at
maximum flow capacity.
• This means the valve’s Cv will
be;
– 18 at 100% open
– 13.5 at 75% open
– 9 at 50% open
– 4.5 at 25% open
– 0 at fully closed (0% open).
• The set of characteristic
curves to determine how this
valve will respond in any
installation by superimposing
another curve on the graph
called a load line.

• The load line describes the

pressure drop available to the
valve at different flow rates.

• Since we know our

hypothetical dam applies a
constant 20 PSI across the
control valve for all flow
conditions.

• The load line for the dam will

be a vertical line at 20 psi.
• By noting the
points of
intersection
between the
valve’s
characteristic
curves and the
load line.

• We may
determine the
flow rates from
the dam at those
stem positions.

• This tells us our

control valve will
respond linearly.
• But what if we alter this
situation that the pressure
drop across the valve does
not remain constant.

• Suppose the valve is not

closely coupled to the
dam, but rather receives
water through a narrow
(restrictive) pipe.

• And we must plot a new

load line describing the
pressure available to the
valve at different flow
rates.
• Now we see a definite nonlinearity in the
control valve’s behavior.
• If we plot the valve’s performance in both scenarios;
• close-coupled to the dam (Blue Line).
• At the end of a restrictive pipe (Red Line).
• The “drooping” graph shows how the valve
responds when it does not receive a constant
pressure drop throughout the flow range.
• This what we mean by “installed” characteristic
versus “inherent” characteristic (Ideal).
• Pressure losses due to
• fluid friction is just one cause of valve pressure changing
with flow.
• Other causes exist as well, including
• Pump curves and
• Frictional losses in other system components such as filters
and heat exchangers.
 Root Cause of the Problem
• The root cause of the problem is frictional losses due to;
• The piping
• And Other factors such as filter, pump etc.
• A claver solution of this problem is a purposely designed
valve that itself causes distortion to linear response of
valve in a opposite way to frictional losses.
• In other words, we design the control valve trim that
– Opens up gradually during the initial stem travel
– Then opens up more rapidly during the final stages of stem
travel.
– With the valve made to open up in a nonlinear fashion inverse
to the “droop” caused by the installed pressure changes, the
two non-linearities should cancel each other and yield a more
linear response.
• This re-design will give the valve;
• a nonlinear characteristic when tested in the
laboratory with constant pressure drop.
• But the installed behavior should be more linear.
 Linear, Equal Percentage & Quick
Opening
• The two most common inherent characteristics
are;
• linear and Equal percentage.
• Linear valve trim exhibits a fairly linear relationship
between valve stem travel and flow capacity (Cv),
While “equal percentage” trim is decidedly
nonlinear.
• Linear trim will exhibit consistent responsiveness
only with a constant pressure drop.
• While “equal percentage” trim is designed to
counter-act the “droop” caused by changing
pressure drop.
• Another common inherent valve characteristic
available from manufacturers is quick-opening.
• Where the valve’s Cv increases dramatically during
the initial stages of opening, later on it increases at
a much slower rate for the rest of the travel.
• Quick-opening valves are often used in
pressure-relief applications,
 Plug Design
• Different valve characterizations may be achieved by re-shaping the
valve trim.
• For instance, the plug profiles of a single-ported, stem-guided globe
valve may be modified to achieve the common quick-opening,
linear, and equal-percentage characteristics.
 Control valve sizing
• Control valves can be compared with resister (R) in
electrical circuits.

• When a fluid moves turbulently through any

restriction, energy is inevitably dissipated in that
turbulence.
• The Energy dissipation is proportional to the
kinetic energy of the turbulent motion.
• Energy dissipated by turbulence will be some
proportion (k) of the total kinetic energy, so:

• Energy lost due to turbulence results in loss of

fluid pressure.
• Thus, a control valve throttling a fluid flowstream
will have a greater upstream pressure than
downstream pressure.
• This pressure drop (P1 − P2, or ΔP) may be
substituted for dissipated energy per unit
volume.
• The fluid “Resistance” depends on;
• Energy lost due to turbulence (k)
• The density of the fluid (ρ)
• And the cross-sectional area (A).
• In a control valve density (ρ) is constant.
• In case of fully open valve area (A) is also constant.
• In a Fully open control valve, the value of;
• (A) will maximum
• (k) will be zero.
• In a fully shut control valve,
• (A) is zero, creating a condition of infinite “resistance” to fluid flow.
• (k) will be maximum.
• The Restrictiveness of any valve is expressed in terms of flow it will
pass given a certain pressure drop and fluid specific gravity (Gf ).
• This measure of valve performance is called flow capacity or flow
coefficient (Cv).
• Higher (Cv) value represents a less restrictive valve.
• Since;
• Cv is defined as the flow rate (cubic meters
per hour) of water at a pressure drop of 1 bar.
• Prediction of correct valve of (Cv) is known as
sizing of valve.
• it is recommended to use valve sizing software
provided by control valve manufacturers.
 Importance of proper valve sizing
• The (Cv) value is a numerical value expressing maximum flow
capacity.

• eg. a control valve with a Cv rating of 45 should flow 45 gallons per

minute of water through it with at 1 PSI pressure drop when wide
open.

• The (Cv) value for this same valve will be less than 45 when the
valve is not fully open.

• Cv = 0, when valve is fully shut off.

• Therefore Cv is variable: not a constant.

• The (Cv) value should be large to allow
required flow rate.
• A valve, too small for an application will not be
able to give enough flow rate when needed.
• Given this fact, it may seem safe to choose a
valve sized much larger than what is needed.
 Example
• It is required to maintain hydrostatic head of 25 ft in the tank.
• The maximum expected flow rate for this valve is 470 GPM.
• What should the maximum (Cv) rating be for this valve?
• The 25 foot water column height upstream
provides us with the means to calculate inlet
pressure.

• Manipulating our flow capacity equation to

solve for Cv:
• This tells us we need a control valve with a
(Cv) = 143, to meet the specified (maximum)
flow rate.
• A valve with insufficient (Cv) would not be
able to flow the required 470 GPM of water
with only 10.8 PSI of pressure drop.
Does this mean we may safely over-size the
valve? Would there be any problem with
installing a control valve with a (Cv) value of
300?
 • Over-sized valves may be problematic.
• The possibility of too much flow under
fully-open conditions.
• But also that the process will be difficult to
control under low-flow conditions.
Cv= 147 Cv = 300 (Over Size)
In
147GPM between
Ѳ = 88⁰
300GPM
147GPM

Fully Fully
Fully Fully Closed Open
Closed Open Ѳ = 0⁰ Ѳ = 180⁰
Ѳ = 0⁰ Ѳ = 180⁰