3 Common Types of Valves Used in Industrial Settings
Posted by: electime 25th August 2020
What’s one piece of equipment in your manufacturing facility or warehouse that you absolutely could not live without?
I’ll betcha that you didn’t say valves.
Though an underrated, often-forgotten piece of equipment, valves are an absolutely integral component to your overall operations. Consequently, it makes a lot of sense that you are well educated on the types of valves that you should use in your operations.
In this article, we’ll take a quick look at three of the most common types of valves that you’ll see in industrial buildings.
- Gate Valve
One of the first kinds of valves that are used in industrial settings is the gate valve. The gate valve is the classic, quintessential valve that most people will be familiar with.
The gate valve operates much like you would expect it to given its name. Closing the valve results in a gate being pressed into the fluid flow through the pipe or hose. When the valve is fully closed, the gate fully restricts fluid flow.
Gate valves are often used for on-off applications, such as starting or halting the flow of fluid. As a general rule, gate valves are not ideal for a situation where one looks to control fluid flow below a maximum threshold. This is due to the fact that the nature of the gate valve causes a lot of turbulence in the fluid flow.
This added turbulence can result in a loss of fluid pressure as well as an uneven distribution of that pressure across the hose or pipe.
- Butterfly Valve
A butterfly valve has one of the more intricate operations of the various types of industrial valves out there. With a butterfly valve, there is a hinge in the middle of the pipe or hose through which fluid flows.
On that hinge will swivel a surface that, when the valve is closed, will fit perfectly into the cross-sectional area of the pipe or hose. Butterfly valves are best used in a situation where fluid flow must be regulated. The primary benefit of a butterfly valve is its ability to very accurately control that flow to a high level of precision.
- Ball Valve
Last but certainly not least, we have the ball valve. The ball valve is also fairly self-explanatory.
A ball blocks fluid flow as necessary. Ball valves are also able to accurately control fluid flow and can be used far beyond simple on-off applications, while also being able to provide a very tight closing. Check out the Parker valves collection of ball valves to learn more.
Know the Various Types of Valves
There you have it. Now that you know the various types of valves that exist in the industrial market today, you should have a much better idea of what valves are best for your application.
For more industrial advice, check out the rest of the articles on the website before you leave!
