Ball valves are widely used because of their durability, strength, and affordability. Simple to install, they have a quarter-turn operation that makes piping systems more efficient. The robust nature of Ball valves has led to their widespread use in a range of industries, including chemical processes, petroleum, and water treatment plants.
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A ball valve is cylindrical in shape and has a hollow and pivoting ball as the flow control element. When the ball is open, the hole through the ball faces the flow, allowing fluid to pass through.
When the handle of the valve is turned 90 degrees, the ball closes and the flow of fluid through the valve stops. When the valve is open, the handle (or lever) is perpendicular to the direction of flow, making visual indication of the status of the valve easy. The biggest benefit of ball valves is their long service life and reliable sealing capabilities.
Although they’re an easy choice for most applications, there are a few drawbacks you should be aware of when selecting the correct valve for your application. In this article, we want to help you choose the right valves for yours requirements. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of ball valves.
HIGH EFFICIENCY
Due to the size of the opening in the ball, ball valves are considered high recovery valves since they have a low-pressure drop and high flow capacity. There is little turbulence or resistance to fluid flow when the valve is fully open.
CONVENIENT USAGE
As a result of their simple quarter-turn (90-degree) operation, ball valves are efficient and convenient to use. As the valve is relatively lightweight and small, it is also easy to install and remove.
LOW MAINTENANCE
Compared to other types of valves, ball valves are simple and require less maintenance. Because the ball valve stem rotates without axial movement, the packing seal on the valve stem does not easily wear or fail. Ball valves are easy to disassemble and repair, and worn parts can be easily replaced.
COST-EFFICIENT
The cost of ball valves is affordable compared to more complex valve types. Also, as they have low maintenance needs, they’re cheaper to maintain/implement in the long term.
ROBUST
Ball valves are among the most robust valve types because of their ability to withstand high pressures. Their wide range of materials enables them to be used in a variety of environments across a variety of industries.
PRONE TO BLOCKAGES
As a result of the cavities around the ball and seats, they are not suitable for slurry applications. Slurries or other thick liquids tend to solidify or clog inside of the valve cavities, causing a significant increase in the operating torque and, in some cases, rendering the valve inoperable.
Ball valve is evolved from the plug valve. Its opening and closing part is a sphere. The sphere is rotated 90 ° around the axis of the valve stem to achieve the purpose of opening and closing. The ball valve is mainly used to cut off, distribute and change the medium flow direction of the pipeline. The ball valve designed as a V-shaped opening also has a good flow adjustment function.
Advantages:
①The lowest flow resistance (actually 0)；
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②Because it does not get stuck during work (without lubricant), it can be reliably used in corrosive media and low boiling liquids.
③Fully sealed can be achieved over a wide range of pressures and temperatures；
④It can achieve fast opening and closing, the opening and closing time of some structures is only 0.05 ~ 0.1s to ensure that it can be used in the automated system of the test bench. Shock-free operation when opening and closing the valve quickly；
⑤Spherical closure can be positioned automatically at the boundary position；
⑥Reliable sealing of working medium on both sides；
⑦When fully open and fully closed, the sealing surfaces of the ball and valve seat are isolated from the medium, so the medium passing through the valve at high speed will not cause erosion of the sealing surface；
⑧Compact structure and light weight, it can be considered as the most reasonable valve structure for cryogenic medium systems；
⑨The valve body is symmetrical, especially the welded valve body structure, which can well withstand the stress from the pipeline
⑩The shut-off parts can withstand the high pressure difference when closing.
⑪The fully welded ball valve can be directly buried into the ground, so that the internal parts of the valve are not eroded, and the maximum service life is 30 years, it is the best ideal valve for oil&gas pipelines
Disadvantages：
①The main valve seat sealing material of the ball valve is PTFE, it is inert to almost all chemicals, and it has comprehensive characteristics such as small coefficient of friction, stable performance, not easy to age, wide temperature range and excellent sealing performance. However, the physical characteristics of PTFE, including higher expansion coefficient, sensitivity to cold flow and poor thermal conductivity, require that the design of the valve seat seal must be based on these characteristics. Therefore, when the sealing material becomes hard, the reliability of the seal is damaged. Moreover, PTFE has a low temperature resistance grade and can only be used at temperatures below 180 ° C. Beyond this temperature, the sealing material will age. In the case of long-term use, it is generally used at or below 120 ° C.
②Its regulating performance is worse than that of globe valves, especially pneumatic valves (or electric valves)
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