Investigation of pressure control valves in case of failed valve opening

Abstract

The authors met the following problem in connection with previous industrial assignments: the maximum mass flow through a given pressure control valve which determined according to a sizing guide recommended by some control valve manufacturer, underestimates both the actual value and the value calculated according to EN 60534. In this article, the authors compared these estimations with the calculations according to the EN 60534 standard, as well as with the results provided by the ARI Armaturen fitting manufacturer's own sizing software and the ChemCad simulation software. Our tests were performed on water and nitrogen at 20°C. Pressure of the medium entering the control valve was varied between 3 bar_a and 30 bar_a, while the outlet pressure was kept at 2 bar_a. The maximum flow factor of a globe type valve with V-port plug was taken to be in each case.