What are ball valves? Ball valves are valves that permit or halt the flow of media through a pipeline. A typical ball valve includes an inlet, an outlet, and a housing for the valve itself, which is a spherical shape and hollow.
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An external control mechanism is attached to a stem--which fits snuggly into a slot at the top of the ball--rotates the ball to an open or closed position. When the valve is "open," the hollow bore will be in line with the pipe, allowing material to pass through.
Conversely, when the valve is "closed," the hollow bore positions itself perpendicular to the pipe, thus stopping the flow of media. A handle, lever, or wheel turns the stem (on manually operated valves). It's worth noting that the bore diameter may have a significant impact on the potential rate of flow.
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Ball valves can be used in thousands of applications and are commonly employed throughout the industrial world. Ball valves come in a wide variety of designs: full port (which utilizes an oversized ball for unrestricted flow), a "v" port ball valve for flow control (the ball is actually a "v" shape), a trunnion ball valve, which may have additional mechanical anchoring--for high-velocity flow--and a standard port ball valve, which is usually a size smaller than the pipe, for a mildly restricted flow.
A ball valve frequently used in the food industry is known as a cavity-filled ball valve. A cavity filler incorporates extendable seals to fill the cavity around the ball, therefore limiting potential bacteria growth. Body styles include single-piece, split body (two-piece), three-piece body, top entry, and welded body.
Design elements may include, but are not limited to, any of these materials: stainless steel, brass, bronze, chrome, titanium, PVC, PFA-lined, etc. Some ball valves are flanged, and the pieces are bolted together.
Many of the smaller, lower flow capacity ball valves (reduced port) are dispensable and inexpensive. These replaceable types of ball valves are often called "throw-away valves." Ball valves made in America (and meeting ANSI qualifications) are of the highest quality.
Three-piece, top entry, and some other ball valves, typically for industrial applications, are made to last as long as possible and are often repairable when they fail in the field. Conforming to today's laws in America, most valves and valve fittings are available "lead-free."
Some of the different ball valve types include split-body ball valves, vented ball valves, and metal-seated ball valves.
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Ball valves may also include 2, 3, and multiple ports. Multi-port ball valves often utilize electric or pneumatic actuators, and some are so sophisticated they can even regulate flow besides just diverting, stopping, or allowing flow. Nevertheless, ball valves are most typically used in "shut-off" applications.
While you can technically leave a ball valve partially open for extended periods of time, it can have negative effects on the valve overall. For instance, a high-pressure drop across the ball may lead to a damaged soft valve seat.
While you may use a valve with a ball for moderate throttling, these types of valves are best suited for basic functions like starting and stopping flow. If you know how a ball valve works, you can use it efficiently for a wide range of functions by placing the ball valve handle in the appropriate position (only giving it a quarter turn, for example).
However, the fact remains that it's unwise to leave this type of pivoting ball valve partially oven for an extended period. They serve best as a type of gate valve where you need to control when the flow starts and stops.
Yes, in some cases, it is entirely possible to overtighten a ball valve. Doing so will lead to an increase in wear and tear and reduce the lifespan of your valve. The solution to this is, if tightening is required, to do it incrementally and not beyond what is absolutely necessary.
In a floating ball valve, the rotary ball is movable, while in trunnion ball valves, both the upper and lower stems are fixed. Floating ball valves are generally best for use in low or medium-pressure applications. Trunnion ball valves work best for high-pressure applications.
The floating ball design is generally significantly less expensive than the trunnion valves.
Floating ball valves, as with other ball valves, come in several different formats. In one-piece ball valves, the valve body consists of only one portion. In two-piece ball valves, two different portions thread together to create the valve body. Three-piece ball valves, as the name suggests, consist of three different parts.
Ball valves can be an incredibly useful addition to many different types of systems. However, that doesn't mean that they're without their disadvantages. Some of these include the following:
If you want to know more about ball valves or would like to spec or purchase ball valves, regardless of your application needs, contact us--we know all about valves. The team at the ValveMan valve store are experts. We have been in the valve business for over 50 years, and we pride ourselves on carrying the finest industrial-grade valves and valve-related products available on the market today.
Shop our online store for new products and examples of the valve industry's latest innovative technology. Unlike some of our competitors, we only sell valves, period. It's simply what we do, and we do it better than anyone else.
From PVC ball valves to those with electric actuators, you can get your new ball valves right here at ValveMan
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Ball Valves Introduction
Ball Valves are quarter turn valves that uses hollow ball and seat combination to allow or prevent flow of fluid. Ball valve types includes floating ball valve, trunnion ball valve, stainless steel ball valve, brass ball valve, bronze ball valve etc. A ball valve is open when the ball's hole is in line with the flow. Turn is one quarter (90 deg) by either a handle (3" or below) or geared handwheel, the ball is seal on the seat thereby preventing fluid flow. Any position in between open and close can be used for throttling. Ball valves can be full port or reduced port. Pipeline applications prefer full port ball valve to allow passage of cleaning pigs thought them. Stainless Steel and Brass ball valves are commonly used in industrial and home applications in size 3" or smaller and comes an open close lever.
For more Trunnion Vs Floating Ball Valveinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.
TRUPPLY offers variety of ball valves.
Ball valves are used to control flow of liquid or gas and can also be used for on/off throttling. For critical throttling applications however, the profile of the opening in the ball valve is designed mainly for controllability over its range of positions. The orifice cut into the ball is machined in the shape o and of triangle and also called V Port Ballvalve.
Standard ball valves are quarter-turn valves.The stem rotates 90 degrees to go from close to open position. The ball is usually metal with a hole drilled through it for fluid flow. Ball valves are easily turned with levers in sizes up to 3 inch nominal pipe size. Bigger size ball valves are usually equipped with geared handwheels which indicate the position of the valve with an arrow located atop the operator.
It is important while specifying ball valve to ensure that the bore size is appropriate for the application. The standard bore is actually one size smaller than the nominal ball valve size. For example, a 4" standard bore ball valve has a 3" bore and is therefore smaller than the inside diameter of pipe it is attached to. It is also called "reduced-port" ball valve. If the application require full bore opening, the ball valve should be specified as "full-port" ball valve.
Double reduced bores are also available in smaller sizes such as 2 in and under. The bore in these valves are 2 size smaller than the adjoining pipe.
Types of Ball Valves
Ball valves are available in three types: Full Port, Reduced Port and Venturi Port. As mentioned above, full port valve has ball opening that matches the adjoining pipe size. Reduced port and venturi port has ball opening that is one size smaller
Different body configurations of the ball valve includes;
Ball Valve End Connections
While specify the ball valve, it is important to specify the valve end connection. Most common end connections are: Butt Weld, Socket Weld, Flanged, Threaded and Propriety Connections.
Ball Valve Components
Material: Balls in a a ball valve is usually made of metal while the seats are made of a soft material such as Telfon, Neoprene or Thermoplatics.
Stem Design: Stem has rectangular portion at the ball that fits into slot cut into the ball. This permits rotation of the ball as the valve is operated.
Bonnet: Bonnet of the valve is fastened to the body which holds the stem assembly and ball in place. Bonnet can be adjusted to change compression of the packing which supplies the stem seal.
Ball Valve Sealing Mechanism
One of the critical ball valve component is sealing interface between the ball and the seat. This sealing surface relies on both the sealing method and seat material. Sealing is achieved by one of the four methods as below;
Seats are often made with a low friction material such as PTFE. These material have upper temperature limit of 350 F at 100 psi. For higher temperature, metal to metal seal is used.
Ball Valve videos
Video below shows the working of a floating ball valve.
Video below shows working for Trunnion mounted ball valve
Q&A with a Valve Distributor
We recently sat down with a valve distributor which specializes in smaller size valves (up to 4") mainly for O&G customers. Below is the transcript of the session;
Speaker 1: Alright these are ball valves. We cover everything from a forged brass, stainless steel and carbon ball valve. We'll first discuss our brass ball valve. This is a forged brass we cover everything from a one-inch through a four-inch, I mean quarter-inch. Quarter-inch through a four-inch and do also offer in a two-inch heavy duty as well. We've had a lot of success with these, in regards to testing these valves we test these in house. Typically anything over two-inch or two-inch and above we test a hundred percent. Below that we have certain percentages, we've had a lot of success with these valves. They do not have a locking handle although we get a few request every now and then on those but that is our brass ball valves.
Speaker 2: And the main reason we don't have a locking handle on this is because it's rated at 600 pounds. It's just a low-pressure valve, brass can not withstand a very high pressure, and that's when you get into your carbon steel, and your stainless steel.
Speaker 1: Go ahead and talk about the carbon steel first.
Speaker 2: So you know essentially it comes down what the customer wants, of course your going to pay more for your stainless steel. But this carbon steel ball valve this is going to be a high-pressure ball valve. It's one-inch, it's a two-piece locking handle one-inch up to four- inch.
Speaker 1: Quarter inch.
Speaker 2: Yes quarter-inch up to four-inch and your 2,000 pound, your SRT is going to be your reduced port your SFT is going to be your full port 2,000 pound and then when you get into your high pressure you'll have a 3,600 class and a 6,000 class. Now when your get to the two-inch on a 3,600 pound and a 6,000 pound it will go into a reduced port. Now your stainless steel is going to be a stainless steel 316, as you can see this here will be a two piece but this has got a seal weld on it. Ok, this ensures just another safety feature that we add to our stainless steel ball valve. This is probably our number one seller our SWFT. It's going to be a full port, two piece, 2,000 pound locking handle. We also offer this in an SRT, which is your bar stock, this is going be your one piece and it will be at a reduced port. Then you also get into the high-pressure valves which will be your SFTB 3,600 class, your SFTB 6,000 class, that's going to be your higher pressure two piece steel weld 316 ball valves.
Speaker 3: And those are NACE as well?
Speaker 2: Yes.
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