Control Valves
Control Valves
Control Valves
6
Actuators
Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 1
Lesson
25
Control Valves
Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 2
Instructional Objectives
At the end of this lesson, the student should be able to:
Introduction
The control action in any control loop system, is executed by the final control element. The most
common type of final control element used in chemical and other process control is the control
valve. A control valve is normally driven by a diaphragm type pneumatic actuator that throttles
the flow of the manipulating variable for obtaining the desired control action. A control valve
essentially consists of a plug and a stem. The stem can be raised or lowered by air pressure and
the plug changes the effective area of an orifice in the flow path. A typical control valve action
can be explained using Fig. 1. When the air pressure increases, the downward force of the
diaphragm moves the stem downward against the spring.
Classifications
Control valves are available in different types and shapes. They can be classified in different
ways; based on: (a) action, (b) number of plugs, and (c) flow characteristics.
Diaphragm
Spring
Stem
Flow
Plug
Fig. 1 Control valve
(a) Action: Control valves operated through pneumatic actuators can be either (i) air to
open, or (ii) air to close. They are designed such that if the air supply fails, the control valve will
be either fully open, or fully closed, depending upon the safety requirement of the process. For
example, if the valve is used to control steam or fuel flow, the valve should be shut off
completely in case of air failure. On the other hand, if the valve is handling cooling water to a
reactor, the flow should be maximum in case of emergency. The schematic arrangements of
these two actions are shown in Fig. 2. Valve A are air to close type, indicating, if the air fails, the
valve will be fully open. Opposite is the case for valve B.
A B
• Fail open or Air to close : A
• Fail closed or Air to open : B
Fig. 2 Air to open and Air to close valves
(b) Number of plugs: Control valves can also be characterized in terms of the
number of plugs present, as single-seated valve and double-seated valve. The difference in
construction between a single seated and double-seated valve are illustrated in Fig. 3.
But the double-seated valve suffers from one disadvantage. The flow cannot be shut off
completely, because of the differential temperature expansion of the stem and the valve seat.
If one plug is tightly closed, there is usually a small gap between the other plug and its seat.
Thus, single-seated valves are recommended for when the valves are required to be shut off
completely. But there are many processes, where the valve used is not expected to operate
near shut off position. For this condition, double-seated valves are recommended.
Stem
Packing gland
Stem
Packing gland
Flow
Plug
Flow Plug
Single-seated
control valve Double-seated
control valve
(a) (b)
Fig. 3 Single-seated and double-seated valves
(c) Flow Characteristics: It describes how the flow rate changes with the movement or lift
of the stem. The shape of the plug primarily decides the flow characteristics. However, the
design of the shape of a control valve and its shape requires further discussions. The flow
characteristic of a valve is normally defined in terms of (a) inherent characteristics and (b)
effective characteristics. An inherent characteristic is the ideal flow characteristics of a
control valve and is decided by the shape and size of the plug. On the other hand, when the
valve is connected to a pipeline, its overall performance is decided by its effective
characteristic.
Let us define
q z
m= and x=
qmax zmax
where, qmax is the maximum flow rate, when the valve is fully open and zmax is the corresponding
maximum lift. So eqn. (2) can be rewritten in terms of m and x as:
m = f ( x) (3)
and the valve sensitivity is defined as dm dx , or the slope of the curve m vs. x. In this way, the
control valves can be classified in terms of their m vs. x characteristics, and three types of control
valves are normally in use. They are:
(a) Quick opening
(b) Linear
(c) Equal Percentage.
The characteristics of these control valves are shown in Fig. 4. It has to be kept in mind that all
the characteristics are to be determined after maintaining constant pressure difference across the
valve as shown in Fig.4.
For a linear valve, dm dx = 1 , as evident from Fig.5 and the flow characteristics is linear
throughout the operating range. On the other hand, for an equal percentage valve, the flow
characteristics is mathematically expressed as:
dm
=βm (4)
dx
where β is a constant.
The above expression indicates, that the slop of the flow characteristics is proportional to the
present flow rate, justifying the term equal percentage. This flow characteristics is linear on a
semilog graph paper. The minimum flow rate m0 (flow rate at x=0) is never zero for an equal
percentage valve and m can be expressed as:
m = m0 e β x (5)
Rangeability of a control valve is defined as the ratio of the maximum controllable flow and the
minimum controllable flow. Thus:
maximum controllable flow
Rangeability =
minimum controllable flow
Rangeability of a control valve is normally in between 20 and 70.
H2
Ho
Flow
ideal
qmax characteristics
Flow (m3/sec)
decreasing zmax
pipe diameters
O
Lift z (m)
Fig. 7 Effect of pipeline diameter on the effective flow characteristics of
the control valve
The nonlinearity introduced in the effective characteristics can be reduced by mainly (i)
increasing the line diameter, thus reducing the head loss, (ii) increasing the pressure of the source
H0, (iii) decreasing the pressure at the termination H2.
The effective characteristics of the control valve shown in Fig.7 are in terms of absolute flow
q
rate. If we want to express the effective characteristics in terms of m (= ) in eqn. (3)
qmax
deviation from the ideal characteristics will also be observed. Linear valve characteristics will
deviate upwards, as shown in Fig. 8. An equal percentage valve characteristic will also shift
upward from its ideal characteristic; thus giving a better linear response in the actual case.
% Flow (m)
50
ideal characteristics
0
0 50 100
% Lift (x)
Fig. 8 Comparison of ideal and effective characteristics for a linear valve
Thus linear valves are recommended when pressure drop across the control valve is expected to
be fairly constant. On the other hand, equal percentage valves are recommended when the
pressure drop across the control valve would not be constant due to the presence of series
resistance in the line. As the line loss increases, the effective characteristics of the equal
percentage valve will move closer to the linear relationship in m vs. x characteristics.
Conclusion
A control valve is the final control element in a process control. Thus the effectiveness of any
control scheme depends heavily on the performance of the control valve. The proper design and
fabrication of the valve is very important in order to achieve the desired performance level.
Moreover control valves are of different size and shapes. Only few types of control valves have
been discussed here, leaving a large varieties of valves, those are in use, to name a few, globe
valves, butterfly valves, V-port valves etc. We have discussed here the pneumatically actuated
control valves, though electrically and hydraulically actuated valves are also not uncommon.
The shape of a valve plug is not the only deciding factor for determining its effective flow
characteristics, but other equipment connected in the line along with the control valve, also affect
its flow characteristics. Thus the effective flow characteristics of a linear valve may become
nonlinear, as has been shown in this lesson. For this reason, equal percentage valves are
preferred in many cases, since their effective characteristics tend to be linear, in presence of head
loss in the pipeline. There are distinct guidelines for selecting the valve size and shape depending
on load change, pipeline diameter etc. Bypass lines are sometimes used with a control valve in
order to change the flow characteristics of the valve.
References
1. D.R. Coughanowr: Process systems analysis and control (2/e), McgrawHill, NY,
1991.
2. D.P. Eckman: Automatic process Control, Wiley Eastern, New Delhi, 1958.
3. B. Liptak: Process Control: Instrument Engineers Handbook
4. W.L. Luyben and M.L. Luyben: Essentials of Process Control, McgrawHill, NY,
1997.
5. P. Harriott: Process Control, Tata-McGrawHill, New Delhi, 1991.