Cause of Fail-Safe Condition: Loss of Air Pressure

A. LINEAR SPRING/DIAPHRAGM AC!A"RS. Used with sliding stem control valves: i.e. globe-style valves. Can be accomplished two ways:
#. Fi$ed seat rin%/&lu% orientation. S&rin%s are inter'(an%ed to eit(er a)o*e or )elo+ a'tuator dia&(ra%,.
-. Fi$ed s&rin% orientation. Plu% and seat rin% &ositions are re*ersed relati*e to ea'( ot(er. In t(e Fail "&en desi%n. &lu% tra*el is a)o*e t(e *al*e seat. In t(e Fail Closed desi%n.
&lu% tra*el is )elo+ t(e seat.
Rotar/ S&rin%/Dia&(ra%, A'tuators
Used with rotary control valves; i.e. butterfly, eccentric plug. Reversing the fail mode for this type of valve is normally accomplished by reversing the location of lever arm and
plug. In order to maintain consistency, !"-#C action will be considered as $Reverse$ action for rotary or sliding-stem control valves.
A'tuators
Feature Co,&arison
Control 0al*es Do 1(at (e/ Are old2
%eing the #inal Control &lement in a system is not an easy 'ob. !o start with, you are blamed
for any and all problems that crop up in the process. (ou are sub'ected to corrosion, high velocity,
cavitation, flashing li)uids, cryogenic temperatures, high temperatures, abrasion, and thermal
shoc*. (ou are e+pected not only to throttle along through all this, but most li*ely, you are also
being as*ed to act as a bloc* valve and shut off tight.
s you wor* with control valves always *eep in mind that a control valve only does what it is
Control ,alve is a power-operated device used to modify the fluid flow rate in a process
system. -ell, what happens if the power is cut off. -hen a Control ,alve is si/ed or selected to
do a particular 'ob, one of the first )uestions you should consider is how that valve will respond in
the event of a loss of signal or power. !his is called its $fail-safe mode$ and knowing the fail-
safe mode is the key to troubleshooting it.
In most applications 0about 1234, it is desirable for valves to fail closed. In other applications,
fail open or fail in place. 5afety concerns and process re)uirements
will mandate the fall mode of the valve.
When a valve is not sitting in its fail position, is is being told how and when to move by some
%y the comments one hears, you would be led to believe that control valves sit around and
thin* up things to do on their own. 6erhaps this will some day be true when all control valves are
If a Control ,alve is observed in an unstable condition or appears to not be responding
correctly to an input signal, remember that something is telling the valve to behave that way.
A control valve is only as strong as its weakest link.
-hen the 789: #ord ;ustang first appeared, it was powered by a 9-cylinder engine with a <-
speed transmission - but it had a 7=2 m.p.h.0>>: *.p.h.4 speedometer. !he fact that it had a 7=2
m.p.h.0>>: *.p.h.4 speedometer did not mean it could actually travel that fast. In the same way, a
control valve with a 922? rated valve body cannot throttle and shut off against 7==2 pounds of
!here are two basic types of control valves: rotary and linear. @inear-motion control valves
, gate, diaphragm, or pinch - type closures. Rotary-motion valves have
closures. &ach type of valve has its special generic features, which may,
in a given application, be either an advantage or a disadvantage.
Linear 0al*e Features
!"R!U"U5 #@"- 6!A
CB !AR"!!@& 5;@@ #@"- R!&5
"##&R5 ,RI&!( "# 56&CI@ !RI; C&5IDB5
5UI!&C !" AIDA-6R&55UR& 66@IC!I"B5
U5U@@( #@BD&C "R !AR&C&C
5&6R%@& %"BB&!
Rotar/ 0al*e Features
5!R&;@IB&C #@"- 6!A
@&55 6CEIBD -&R
CB ABC@& 5@URR( BC %R5I,&5
IB!&DR@ %"BB&!
AIDA RBD&%I@I!(

In addition to linear and rotary, control valves are also classified according to their guiding
systems and the types of services they are used in.
Control 0al*e Classifi'ation
Control 0al*e Flo+ C(ara'teristi's
!rim design will affect how the valve capacity changes as the
valve moves through its complete travel. %ecause of the variation
in trim design, many valves are not linear in nature. !A&
R&@!I"B5AI6 %&!-&&B ,@,& C6CI!( BC ,@,&
!R,&@ I5 EB"-B 5 !A& #@"- CARC!&RI5!IC "#
!A& ,@,&. ,alve trims are specially designed, or characteri/ed,
in order to meet the large variety of control application needs. !his
is necessary because most control loops have some inherent
nonlinearities, which you can compensate for when selecting
Charts similar to #igure 7 0see below4 are used to illustrate
various control valve flow characteristics. !he percent of full flow
through the valve is plotted against valve stem position. !he curves
shown are typical of those available from valve manufacturers.
!hese curves are based on C"B5!B! 6R&55UR& CR"6 across
the valve and are called IBA&R&B! #@"-
!he )uic*-opening characteristic provides large changes in flow
for very small changes in lift. It usually has too high a valve gain
for use in modulating control. 5o it is limited to on-off service,
such as se)uential operation in either batch or semi-continuous
!he ma'ority of control applications are valves with linear, e)ual-
percentage, or modified-flow characteristics.
- flow capacity increases linearly with valve travel.
- flow capacity increases e+ponentially
with valve trim travel; e)ual increments of valve travel
produce e)ual percentage changes in the e+isting Cv.
A modified parabolic characteristic is appro+imately
midway between linear and e)ual-percentage
characteristics. It provides fine throttling at low flow
capacity and appro+imately linear characteristics at higher
-hen valves are installed with a pump, pipes, fittings, and other
process e)uipment, the pressure drop across the valve will vary as
the plug moves through its travel. -hen the actual flow in a system
is plotted against valve opening, the curve is called the
IB5!@@&C #@"- CARC!&RI5!IC.
Fi%ure #
In(errent Flo+ C(ara'teristi's For Co,,on 0al*e ri, Desi%ns
Control 0al*e Pa'3in%
6ac*ing is a sealing system which normally consists of a
deformable material such as !#&, graphite, asbestos, Ealre/, etc.
Usually the material is in the form of solid or split rings contained in a
pac*ing bo+. 6ac*ing material is compressed to provide an effective
pressure seal between the fluid in the valve body and the outside
t one time it was believed that the more pac*ing you had in a
control valve the better it would seal. 5ince FUG!"# #$%%&'%
has become a concern, e+tensive studies have been made which have
better sealing can be obtained by minimi(ing the
Bew standards are being developed to which manufacturers will be
as*ed to test their control valves. !est results from using these
standards will allow a user to predict with some certainty how well a
particular valve and pac*ing combination will hold up.
6ac*ing consolidation is the shortening of a pac*ing
stac* under load due to the elimination of voids in, between, and
around the pac*ing rings. !his causes a reduction in pac*ing stress
0Radial @oad4 and conse)uently an increase in lea*age. Consolidation
can occur when the pac*ing wears, cold flows, is sub'ected to thermal
gradients, or if a non-uniform stress distribution in the pac*ing e+ists.
-hen pac*ing is loaded to its proper stress level it has a
tendency to cold flow and will e+trude between the stem and the
follower. ny increase in temperature will increase the tendency of the
pac*ing to cold flow. 6!#& is very susceptible to this because the
hotter it is the )uic*er it will cold flow and because 6!#& has an
e+pansion rate roughly ten times that of carbon steel. s the pac*ing
tries to e+pand in the fi+ed volume of the pac*ing gland, e+trusion will
occur. !his material loss due to e+trusion will relieve the a+ial stress,
which rela+es the radial stress and results in a loss of seal.
6ac*ing migration occurs when a portion of the pac*ing is
caught by a rough stem and is removed from the pac*ing bo+ as the
stem slides in and out of the pac*ing bo+. 0pplies only to @inear
Pa'3in% S/ste, Desi%n Prin'i&les
7. In order to minimi/e stem friction and wear on the pac*ing,
the stem surface finish should be in the 1 to 79 R;5 range.
>. !he stem of the valve should be held concentric with the
pac*ing bore. !his helps to uniformly compress the pac*ing.
!his is best accomplished by guiding the stem at the top and the
bottom of the pac*ing bore.
<. !o minimi/e pac*ing e+trusion under load, the inner
diameter of pac*ing spacers should be held as close to the stem
diameter as possible. nti-e+trusion washers can also be helpful
in minimi/ing e+trusion.
=. It is desirable to use a wiping mechanism. !he stem-wiping
device should be at least a stro*e distance away from the
pac*ing to prevent damage to the stem and pac*ing by dragging
particles and deposits into the pac*ing area.
Li*e-Loaded Pa'3in% Arran%e,ents
Internal Li*e-Loadin%
E$ternal Li*e-Loadin%
S&rin%-Loaded Pa'3in%
4a,,ed Pa'3in%
!he live-loading pac*ing spring is replaced by a fi+ed spacer of the
same material as the trim material.
Dual Pa'3in%
6ressure inside the valve is alternately greater than or less than 0i.e.
vacuum4 ambient pressure.
Dual Pa'3in% 1it( Lea3-"ff Conne'tion
,alve has a 7F=$ 09mm4 B6! tapped opening on its bonnet.
Complete with removable steel plug for all body materials. !he
opening is located between primary and secondary pac*ing sets when
the valve is e)uipped with dual pac*ing.
Internall/ Pressuri5ed 6ello+s Ste, Seal
lthough it is the most e+pensive way in which to seal off the
bonnet assembly from escaping fluids, it is also the most effective way
of handling lethal, to+ic, e+plosive, and corrosive fluids. s we head
toward $G&R" &;I55I"B5$ control re)uirements, the bellows seal